Note to readers: I was so impressed with the Carolina Panthers’ 29-23 double-overtime win against St. Louis on Jan.10, 2004, that the game is all over my new book “Tales from the Carolina Panthers Sideline.” Steve Smith’s end-zone celebration made the book’s cover and I also began the book’s introduction with a description of the game. No one who ever saw this one – in person or on TV – will ever forget it. Even if the Panthers had lost, I would have considered this game the best NFL game I ever saw in person. The following column was published in The Observer the day after the Panthers’ victory. Copyright 2004 The Charlotte Observer All Rights Reserved Charlotte Observer (North Carolina) January 11, 2004 SPECTACULAR GAME THAT AGED US IS ONE FOR THE AGES By SCOTT FOWLER, Staff Writer ST. LOUIS -- Carolina had lost it. And won it. And lost it. And won it. Think this guy was happy when Steve Smith caught that touchdown pass against St. Louis in double overtime? And when this extraordinary, ragged, wonderful playoff game ended - on the first play of the second overtime - the Panthers won it one final time, upsetting St. Louis 29-23. This was one of those "location" events. You'll always remember where you were when you saw it. No matter whether you were in your living room, or in a sports bar, or in shocked Edward Jones Dome on Saturday night. Has your breathing returned to normal yet? Do you realize that if Green Bay beats Philadelphia this afternoon that the NFC championship game will be played in Charlotte in exactly one week? If you're a Panthers fan, revel in this. Understand its uniqueness. No matter what happens now, the Panthers have provided a playoff memory that rivals anything Kellen Winslow or Dwight Clark or John Riggins ever did. "I've never seen a game quite like that," Panthers coach John Fox said. Has anybody? We could just as easily be talking today about the Panther mistakes that allowed this game to slip away. Carolina led 23-12 with three minutes to play in regulation, but allowed 11 straight points - and it could have been more if Rams coach Mike Martz hadn't turned into a chicken - to let the game go into overtime. Then Carolina, after a fine drive to begin the first overtime, got a delay of game penalty that negated John Kasay's apparent game-winning field goal. Kasay barely missed two plays later from 45 yards. And still the Panthers won. "We never laid down our sword," Fox said. The game ended on the biggest pitch-and-catch in the lives of both Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith, a 69-yard gem of a play called "X Clown" that Smith said he had messed up 10 times in practice this past week. But the game could have ended a half-dozen other times. That's what made it so nerve-racking. And so superb. St. Louis kicker Jeff Wilkins, who had made five straight field goals and converted one of the prettiest onside kicks you'll ever see, was barely short from 53 yards out on the Rams' first possession of OT. Then St. Louis also had a great chance to win on its second possession of overtime, with a first-and-10 at the Carolina 38. But Carolina rookie cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. stuck out his left arm and ripped the ball from Torry Holt and made the best interception in Panthers franchise history. Said St. Louis quarterback Marc Bulger, who was intercepted three times and only got the Rams into the end zone once: "I thought worst case it would be broken up because he had to go through Torry to get to it, but he (Manning) made a great play." Bulger and St. Louis might have won it in regulation if the supposed riverboat gambler, St. Louis coach Martz, hadn't made a terrible move by turning into a buttoned-down conservative. With Carolina on the ropes and the ball at the Panthers' 19, Martz had 42 seconds left and a timeout. Down 23-20, St. Louis needed a field goal for overtime or a touchdown to win. All Martz did was run Marshall Faulk once for 4 yards, then let the clock run down to 0:03 and let Wilkins tie the game and send it to OT. That was a horrible decision. St. Louis could have taken one or two shots at the end zone and still kicked the field goal. Fox defended Martz, saying he would have done the same thing. But Fox doesn't have Holt, Isaac Bruce and Marshall Faulk jetting down the field. So the game went on - in a dome that was sometimes loud but sometimes so deathly silent you could hear the faint chant, "Let's go Panthers! Let's go Panthers!" from the upper deck. How many people had to reprogram their VCR? How many people had to cancel Saturday-night plans? How many people turned the game back on and found, to their astonishment, that it was still going on? "They were trying to give us the game at the end," Bulger said of the Panthers. Carolina did look bad at times. The Panthers' onside-kick coverage was ridiculous - the Rams had the ball so surrounded that four of them could have recovered it. But the Panthers kept clawing. Muhsin Muhammad, the guy you want at the bottom of any scrum, recovered a fumble for a key early touchdown. Carolina's defense kept attacking Bulger. Even though the entire first half seemed to be played inside the Carolina 10, the Panthers somehow led 10-9 at halftime. Of course, that wasn't really halftime, since the game went into the sixth quarter. There's so much to remember. Jot down a few notes today. Save this newspaper and a videotape. You're going to need it when the grandkids ask about this one.