This post concludes our series on the most memorable plays of last season. You might be surprised to find that this week's play comes from the same game from which last week's play did, but as I said then, this was my favorite win of the season, and it was certainly jam packed full of great plays by Carolina. So, without further ado, I present to you Stephen Garcia punking highly regarded Florida safety Will Hill:
Stephen Garcia runs over Will Hill (via bkincamden)
Why do I love this play so much? For one thing, like the Marcus Lattimore TD we talked about last week, it was a nail-in-the-coffin moment in one of the most impressive Carolina wins ever. Secondly, it's great to see a punk player who is trying to make a dirty play get showed up. Lastly, I love watching Garcia knock the crap out of people. It's kind of a funny thing, because I know that Garcia needs to be much more careful while running the football, but when I see him make a play like this, it speaks to the things that I love about football most and gets me really fired up.
The last thing I'd like to say about this play is that I think it speaks for what's best about Garcia. Garcia is a player with lots of problems, most having to do with maturity, which is an issue for him both on and off the field. However, let it never be said that Garcia isn't a passionate player who isn't willing to lay it on the line for his team in a tight game situation. You'll notice that I didn't say Garcia is a player who's always willing to make the necessary sacrifices for his team. He's proven time and time again that he's willing to sacrifice team concerns for a little bit of fun. However, the guy still has a lot to say for himself, and if he could ever consistently channel his on-field toughness into total devotion to his craft, he could be a really great player. He's got one last chance to do that here at Carolina. That chance will likely start very soon, as I expect he's going to be reinstated sooner rather than later.