Football is sometimes wild. The physical and mental battle it takes to perform at the highest level regularly is challenging, and players often do baffling acts out of excitement during games. Things aren’t easy for the fans or those on the sidelines, especially since it’s hard to control your emotions if your team is having a wild game at the end of the regular season.

Former Panthers RB Mike Tolbert didn’t care that the “keep pounding” drum was a part of the team’s history. During their Week 16 game vs. the Packers, Tolbert broke the drum out of excitement with repeated hits in the fourth quarter. Surprisingly, he didn’t even take four hits to break it, which is the team’s ritual.

Watch — Mike Tolbert hammers a drum as the Panthers trail by 14 points

The Panthers went neck to neck with the Packers for four quarters, occasionally getting the better of them. Things got heated in the fourth quarter as they climbed a 14-point deficit to level the scoreline. But amid everything, one sideline act from former RB Mike Tolbert caught everyone’s attention.

According to their ritual, Tolbert took the bass drumstick and kept hitting it four times. The drum, named “keep pounding,” broke with the first hit, but the former RB kept hitting it until pieces started falling off.

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One might wonder why the Panthers have such a strange ritual. Actually, there’s a short history behind it.

The history of the Panthers’ ‘keep pounding’ drum

Former Panthers coach and player Sam Mills had first used the term “keep pounding” to motivate his players before a 2004 NFL playoff game against the Cowboys. The phrase became synonymous with the team’s battle cry, and they started a ritual of hitting the six-foot drum before coin toss at every home game. Tolbert, however, went way too hard with his “pounding” that the drum gave up.

On the other hand, QB Bryce Young also tried hard, but it all went in vain. After getting repeated criticisms for being sub-par and not living up to the hype, Young finally justified his first overall pick of the 2023 draft. But even his 312-yard, two-TD display couldn’t give the Panthers a Christmas gift, and the already diminished Panthers succumbed to a new low with 2-13: the worst in the league.

People on the sideline should consider themselves lucky that Tolbert’s giant drumstick was busy with the drum only!

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