In an NFC South match-up between the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons, the Falcons arose to the occasion with getting the Panther’s uncomfortably on all sides of the ball and it had paid off in a 48-33 victory. In the first half, Carolina Panthers’ QB Cam Newton was not looking like his normal self. Time in and Time out, the Falcons had brought different looks that confused Newton and it caused inaccurate passes to his receivers. He was getting hurried and hit often on second and third down attempts. The Panthers’ offense looked pretty stomped with getting any type of help with protecting their QB.
On the defensive side, the Falcons attacked the Panthers aggressively and the Panthers were caught napping plenty of times. With a 14-0 lead early in the first quarter, the Panthers had to stop the Falcons from scoring. As Matt Ryan was trying to fit the ball in a tight window, it was intercepted and brought back to the house. The interception was one of the factors that kept the Panthers in the game. Throughout the first half, it looked like Carolina could get their swing back with getting back into the game, but they could not convert on third downs. The Falcons kept the pressure on the Panthers with their speedy receivers. Julio Jones stepped up to the plate big time. Just by himself he had over 300 receiving. By the end of the game, both Ryan and Jones had set records against the Panthers. Ryan passed for 503 yards and Jones finished with 300 yards receiving, both single-game records against the Panthers.
“They’re a good offense for a reason,” linebacker Luke Kuechly said. “Our guys are going to rebound from this. We’ve got a real resilient bunch. We take a lot of pride in what we do and this whole defense is going to come out better next week.”
In the second half with some quick scores of their own, the Panthers were rolling. They were getting stop on the defensive end, forced a couple of three and outs, but the key that opened the Panthers’ success in the second half was running the ball. Running the ball took some of the pressure off of Newton and it really opened up the field for some play action passes, bootlegs to the left , some post corner slants, and some end arounds. All of these had contributed to the success of the Panthers. However the unexpected had happened in the fourth quarter. Cam Newton was taken out of the game for a slight concussion after a helmet to helmet hit in the end zone. Newton looked a little woozy after the hit and do to protocol Newton did not return back in the game.
“If you guys know Cam like we know Cam, he’s going to come back with resilience and the attitude of a winner,” linebacker Luke Kuechly said. “That’s what we love about him – he’s a fighter.“I don’t know exactly that the situation is, but Cam is one of the toughest guys I know. He’ll get back out there as soon as he can.”
Without Newton in the game, the Panthers looked out of sync and it had cost them big time with only 8 minutes left in the game and down by a couple of touchdowns. The Panthers’ tried to run a couple of “safety” plays, but the Falcons’ defense looked like they knew ever play. The nail that put the game away was a a long ball bomb that was touchdown gift wrapped to Jones with 5 minutes left in the game.
Newton finished 14-of-25 for 165 yards and one touchdown. He rushed five times for 30 yards and was sacked once, while Matty Ice was freezing his opponents. He had 28 out of 37 for 503 yards. Matt Ryan is the 15th QB who has thrown over 500 yards in a game since the AFL and NFL merger.
The Panthers are now 1-3, while the Falcons are 3-1.
