What Cam Newton did during the 2015 season is the best individual performance by a player in Carolina Panthers history. He dragged a mediocre offense that was bereft of weapons (Greg Olsen was the only real playmaker) to a 15-1 record, an MVP award and a Super Bowl appearance. What often gets lost in the shuffle was how tough Carolina’s defense was that year.
While Newton deserves a lot of the credit, the Panthers definitely wouldn’t have gotten as far as they did without an exceptional defensive unit. At long last, this group is finally getting some recognition. According to ESPN, the 2015 Carolina defense was the sixth-best of the last 10 years.
“The 2015 Panthers would rank lower if we just included the regular season, but they get a boost from shutting down the powerful Arizona Cardinals offense in the NFC Championship Game. Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, and Josh Norman were all first-team All-Pros.”
In addition to those special individual performances, the group was elite statistically. Carolina allowed 19.3 points per game during the regular season, ranking sixth in the league. They also ranked sixth in yards allowed per game (322.9).
What really powered their run was turnovers, though. The Panthers led the NFL with 24 interceptions that season and tied the Redskins for the league-lead with 15 forced fumbles.
This team probably would have won a ring if they hadn’t run into a buzz-saw in the Super Bowl. The 2015 no-fly-zone Broncos were ranked the top defense of the decade on ESPN’s list.
