The week that was for Luke Kuechly

Langton has been shepherding this broadcast for more than three decades (he’s produced every game in franchise history), so he can tell the difference between a good one and a bad one. And if there was a lack of energy from the Hall of Famer, he couldn’t sense it in the fourth quarter of a game in which both defenses only occasionally participated.

“No, he was as fired up and engaged at the end as he always is,” Langton said. “Not just physically but mentally he was sharp and prepared and ready to do the game. There was nothing different.

“And he even helped clean up the front row of the booth after the game was over.”

When the game was over, the coffee buzz had worn off, and his friends in equipment could tell me was on fumes when they saw him afterward.

“I got done, and then I went to sleep, and I slept a little longer than I normally did on a Monday morning,” he admitted midweek. “But I think you get through that, that first day back, and you’re busy, busy, busy, busy. And then you get home, and it’s like, I’m ready to go to sleep.”

It hit him at a certain point. Even Superman has to go back to the Fortress of Solitude every now and then.

So as he walked back out of Bank of America Stadium last Sunday night, he was tired, but knew he didn’t have to get back in another airplane for at least six days.

“I’m like, OK, I just have to drive 20 minutes back to my house instead of flying across the world, right?” he laughed. “Yeah, that’s the best part. Just get in the car, drive down Providence Road, and you’re there.”