Carolina Panthers: Top 5 Rivalries 2.0
1. Atlanta Falcons
Series Record: 17-25
Key Panthers Win: 2014
Final. 3. 44. 34. 87
The neighbor down I-85 is the one team on this list that the Panthers do not have a winning record against. The reasons can be linked to quarterback play.
More from Carolina Panthers
- Carolina Panthers: Secondary battles to watch in training camp 2020
- Carolina Panthers: 2020 training camp kicks off on Tuesday
- Carolina Panthers: Familiarity should help offense in 2020
- Carolina Panthers: Better or worse at running back in 2020?
- Carolina Panthers: Ranking the NFC South quarterback rooms
The Falcons owned the series when Michael Vick was his prime, sometimes finding impossible ways to beat the Panthers. Vick was doing this when the John Fox teams were at their best too. It was incredibly frustrating.
Matt Ryan owns a five game win streak against the team that ended a couple of years ago. The Falcons are always around it seems and always competitive with the Panthers regardless of record. The series has personal rivalries too. There was Steve Smith vs DeAngelo Hall for a few years.
The first game in 1995 tells the story of much of the series. That game went down to the final gun and then into overtime. The Falcons won, but the Panthers had shown they were here to do more than show up as an expansion team.
Both teams turned in bad 2014 seasons, but the division was so bad that both were still in contention for the playoff berth for winning the NFC South.
The Panthers went on a remarkable streak, but it all could have ended in Atlanta where the Panthers had suffered reverses before. Not this time, the Panthers took care of business and held off the Falcons and Saints for that final playoff berth.
To complete the frustration of playing Atlanta, the Falcons were the only team to defeat the Panthers during the 2015-6 regular season.