The Carolina Panthers overcame a dismal second half on the back of RB DeAngelo Williams, who scored four rushing touchdowns, to edge the Green Bay Packers 35-31 at Lambeau Field. Williams' superb effort tied him with Philadelphia RB Brian Westbrook for the highest-scoring player in the NFL for this week with 24 points.
Backup Jonathan Stewart picked up 58 yards on four carries, with 43 of them coming on one run early in the second quarter. Stewart also had the ball stripped on the Green Bay two yard-line on that play. Fortunately for the Panthers, left guard Travelle Wharton hustled all the way from nearly midfield to recover the loose ball and set up QB Jake Delhomme's one-yard touchdown run.
Steve Smith only had four catches (none until early in the second half), but two of them went a long way toward saving the game for the Panthers.
On a 3rd-and-11 from the Green Bay 37, Delhomme fired a pass across the middle to Smith, who got in front of the safety, reeled in the pass, and took the ball down to the one before getting tackled. This big play set up DeAngelo Williams' third touchdown run of the day and tied the game at 28-all.
With less than two minutes to play in regulation, with the Packers up 31-28, on a 1st-and-10 from the Carolina 45, Delhomme and Smith connected again, this time for a 54-yard gain that got the Panthers down the Packers' one again. Just like earlier in the quarter, Williams punched the ball into the end zone for his fourth rushing score of the afternoon. This touchdown made the score 35-31, the end result of a key Panthers victory.
However, the win didn't come easy—Aaron Rodgers and Brandon Jackson two resilient, 11-point comebacks for the Packers.
Rodgers had an outstanding game, going 29-of-45 for 298 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception. Rodgers' favorite receiver was WR Greg Jennings, who had eight receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown. Jennings surpassed 1,000 receiving yards for the first time in his short three-year career. He got close last year when he accumulated 920 yards. It's scary to think that Jennings is already such a dangerous threat in just his third year in the NFL.
Fellow receiver Donald Driver contributed five catches for 83 yards and a score. TE Donald Lee also caught a touchdown pass.
Rodgers' only mistake was a Hail Mary with less than 30 seconds left in the game that Panthers LB Jon Beason intercepted to seal the game.
When starting Packers RB Ryan Grant struggled, backup Brandon Jackson burned the Panthers for 80 yards on 11 carries, an average of 7.27 yards per carry.
Green Bay's offensive line allowed two sacks; both to Julius Peppers, who now has 11 sacks on the year.
Carolina QB Delhomme played well enough to make sure he didn't cost his team the game, completing 12-of-17 passes for 177 yards for no touchdowns or interceptions. He also rushed for a one-yard touchdown.
As important as Steve Smith's late-game heroics were to nabbing the victory, LG Travelle Wharton's less-glorified work behind the scenes is really what made things happen at crucial times. Wharton recovered Stewart's careless fumble early in the second quarter (this set up one of DeAngelo Williams' touchdowns) and threw finishing blocks on one of Williams' touchdown runs as well as Delhomme's scoring scamper.
Carolina's Jon Beason was the all-around best defensive player, amassing 11 tackles (9 solo) and picking off a pass to seal the game.
Linebacker AJ Hawk had racked up nine tackles for the Packers (7 solo), and CBs Charles Woodson and Tramon Williams helped force a fumble in addition to notching 6 and 4 tackles, respectively. DE Aaron Kampman registered Green Bay's two sacks.
Kick/punt returner Mark Jones provided a special teams boost for Carolina, as he turned in multiple exceptional returns to give the Panthers excellent field position throughout the day.
The Panthers played a mostly disciplined game, getting whistled for only 2 penalties covering 12 yards.
The Packers, on the other hand, were less focused, and got called for 8 infractions amassing 49 yards.
Carolina's issues with slow starts came to a screeching halt, as the Panthers scored 14 of the game's first 17 points. It appears that John Fox's decision to change the layout of the team's practices in order to eliminate the slow starts that have plagued the team for weeks worked like a charm. Now they just have to be able to finish.
The Panthers scored 35 points while only maintaining possession for 22:08 and gaining only 300 yards of total offense. They gave up 438 yards of total offense, the most the Panthers have allowed all season.
The only way that a team could win against those kinds of odds is with a spectacular special teams effort and a bevy of explosive offensive plays.
That's just what the Panthers did, and they got a huge win that will allow them to stay in the heat of the race for the NFC South title.
6 comments Last one added 7 months ago — Leave a Comment
Mike 7 months ago
GREAT Article if the Panthers Defense could learn to hold on to some passes for INT's some of these games wouldn't be so close, 2 INT's could have been had on the drive that the Packers went ahead of the Panthers in the game at 28-21 .
Edit Comment Cancel
Matt Gilmartin 7 months ago
Thanks, Mike! Glad you liked it! Yes, our defense needs to get better at holding onto interceptions. We'd be near the top of the league in picks if our defense didn't have butterfingers. I remember two plays in particular where we definitely should have had interceptions but didn't. The first was a play where Richard Marshall leapt above everyone else to snatch a tipped pass out of the air, grabbed it, came down and hit the ground, and lost the ball on impact with the ground. That should have been ruled an interception.
The second play was, I believe, on the Packers' go-ahead drive. Another pass got tipped, and No.30 for the Panthers was in prime position for a pick, but a Packers offensive linemen put a cut block on him and took his legs out.
I'm glad that we're 9-3, but the division is on the line next week against the Bucs at home on Monday Night Football! You'd be hard-pressed to find a bigger stage than that in the regular season.
Edit Comment Cancel
Mike 7 months ago
Yup those are the two i was talking about. Thks
Edit Comment Cancel
David Trent 7 months ago
Im glad we beat the cheezeheads haha and were 9-3
I also agree with you Mattt, if we could hold on to the ball better we might one of the best
And we need to get better at getting our opponents offense off the field as quick as we can, or its going to be like the Falcons game and against the Packers.
Man wont it be a good game, they better remember whats on the line next week 1st place
Go Panther!!!
Edit Comment Cancel
Austin Penny 7 months ago
Well written man. This one was a classic nailbiter, and if we do good things in the postseason you may be able to look back at this game and say this is where it all started. The win gives us some positive energy and momentum heading into Monday night against the Bucs; another must win!
Good article bro
P.S. if Jake scores a rushing TD Monday we're officially going to have to call him Jake the Snake (no relation to Jake Plummer)
Edit Comment Cancel
Matt Gilmartin 7 months ago
Thanks, Austin. Glad you liked it. This one was a real nailbiter, even though it shouldn't have been. That's a huge if you mentioned. True, if we get on a roll we may well be looking back on this game in the days leading up to the NFC Championship or even the Super Bowl and saying, "If we hadn't won that game, we wouldn't be here." But we still have the biggest game of the season coming up on Monday Night Football.
BTW—I doubt we're gonna have to call Jake, "The Snake".
Edit Comment Cancel
Leave a Comment
You must register to post a comment.