A story of revenge looms as the Carolina Panthers head to Washington, DC. 

As he puts on his pads and tightens his laces, he yearns to spoil any lingering playoff hopes for his former team. Their parting was awkward. They didn’t think he was good enough, he remembered. Monday, however, he can have his revenge, even if it takes wearing ballerina slippers to do so. In Prime Time, Graham Gano hopes to kick his former team, the Washington Redskins, right between the goal posts. Sweet, sweet revenge!

It will be Gano’s first time playing in FedEx Field after being released by the Redskins in 2012, after making only “73.8 percent of his field goal attempts since joining the Redskins (No. 25 in the AP Pro32) late in the 2009 season.” Gano had the second-worst percentage in the league over the last three seasons.”

Gano described being released as “best thing that has happened to him” at the time. In November, he signed with a surging Panthers team, where his 82% field-goal percentage rate helped Carolina make the playoffs. By the time Gano had joined the Panthers, Washington had released replacement, Billy Cundiff, already. Cundiff was awful, making only 58% of his kicks and missing 4 of 6 in his last two games. Since 2012, Gano has made a Super Bowl appearance and signed a 12-million dollar contract extension with Carolina.

Questions about Gano’s return to Washington will surely dominate pre-and post-game press conferences. "Did he mark this one on the calendar?" "Has he lived up to the contract?" Was this game satisfying?"

The Panthers kicker, who hasn’t had the steadiest of years, will want to silence the noise by showing the Redskins just what they let go—the 20th best kicker in the league!

By the Professor, aka Tony Dunn
Follow him on Twitter @Cat_Chronicles
Credit to Clip Brock, host of The Sports Bar on Pirate Radio 1250, for the Gano revenge match idea.