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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CHARLOTTE SPORTS LIVE) — It has been 20 years but talking about Super Bowl XXXVIII still gets Panthers legend Muhsin Muhammad all fired up.
“Let me just clarify: I still haven’t recovered,” Muhammad said, reflecting on the team’s 32-29 loss to New England in Miami, Florida.
He came this close. They all came this close to beating the Patriots, and winning it all back in 2004. Over the years, it’s gotten easier to accept. But then Super Bowl weekend rolls around and “Moose” admits the emotions came flooding back.
“Not only does it replay in my mind, it replays on TV, and then I get a bunch of calls and texts [from] people reminding me how close that game was,” he explains.
What if?
That’s a question the former wide receiver asks himself a lot.
What if the Panthers’ offense kicked in a little earlier? What if John Kasay’s late kick didn’t go out of bounds? And lastly, what if the game went into overtime?
“No disrespect to their defense,” Muhammad told Charlotte Sports Live Thursday. “But they were missing quite a few good players. I think had that gone into overtime, we could have went back on the field, [and] at a minimum put ourselves in field goal position.”
Oh, the agony.
But that begs the question: Is it better to have played and lost in the big game than to have never played at all? If you know the type of competitor Muhammad is, well, his answer shouldn’t surprise you.
“I have been blessed enough to play in that game multiple times and have really good performances both times I played in that game. To love and lost. I’ll go with that,” he says, smiling.
So don’t feel bad for him, which is ultimately what he’s saying. Despite coming up short again in the big game a few years later with the Bears (Super Bowl XLI vs. the Colts), Moose still has no regrets. Hey, it’s been two decades, and his 85-yard score still stands as the Super Bowl’s record for longest TD reception.
“I’ll be embracing it until someone goes out there and beats it.”
But even when that happens, he’ll always be a part of history. Yeah, it’s easy to get fired up about that.
