Panthers Williams and Stewart Sink Tampa Bay's Buccaneers

So often in football all the glory goes to the generals. You know their names, Favre, Montana, Elway, Unitas, Aikman, quarterbacks who have reigned supreme on the field and are carried high above the shoulders of teammates victoriously celebrating the perfection of their game.

But this past Monday, all the glory belonged to the running back, as both DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart had a magnificent game, running around, over and through the Tampa defense.


Stewart strong arms the Tampa Bay defense. Photo Charlotte Observer

I'll not bore you with the statistics, as numbers are for those who can't believe the truth they see with their own eyes. Not that watching Williams and Stewart run circles around one of the toughest defenses in the country wasn't unbelievable, it was.

But numbers can't describe the beauty and perfection of a 200 pound athlete as he changes direction midfield and finds the end zone, in a game that is normally measured, decided and celebrated in yards passing.


Williams on his way to the end zone. Photo Charlotte Observer

Williams and Stewart are at the peak of their craft, excellence in motion, domination of strength and agility and above all else they both have the commitment to keep pushing ahead.

Watching Williams and Stewart is like watching the epic car chase where the hero crashes into a burning building only to exit the other side unscathed, leaving behind only burning rubble and smoking ruins, and bewildered assassins. It is simply beautiful.


Williams scrambles past Tampa's Defense. Photo Charlotte Observer

Williams and Stewart together put 4 touchdowns and 300 yards on the record books, and put Carolina on top of the NFC South.

In the end the Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Dehome took a knee, twice, and with 21 seconds on the clock and the scoreboard high above the Bank America Stadium showing Tampa 23 Carolina 38 there was nothing else left to do or say, the exclamation point had already been added.

The Charlotte Observer Panthers vs Bucs Slide Show