Colts vs. Panthers: Carolina Grades, Notes and Quotes
It wasn’t pretty, and they nearly managed to blow what seemed like a certain lead, but the Carolina Panthers picked up yet another win on Monday night, beating the Indianapolis Colts 29-26 in overtime.
That leaves the Panthers as the lone undefeated NFC team nearly halfway through the season, as the Green Bay Packers fell to Denver on Sunday. No one expected the Panthers, who sneaked into the playoffs with a losing record last season, to be among the most dominant teams this season. But, while they haven’t exactly looked like the 1985 Bears on the field, the Panthers keep finding ways to be ahead when the clocks hit zero.
This week, they were helped by a driving rain that made offense difficult to come by and the continued implosion of Andrew Luck and the Colts. Before the comeback at the end of the game, Luck had been held to just 40 yards passing, and the Colts looked like the moribund team they had been for most of the year. Greg Olsen had a key touchdown reception to give the Panthers what looked like a comfortable lead, and Jonathan Stewart had pounded out some tough yards on the ground.
Things seemed well in hand.
Then, the clouds cleared, and Luck reminded us why he’s been a Pro Bowl quarterback. As if he had suddenly snapped out of a funk, Luck took advantage of a gassed and short-handed Panthers defense, dodging disaster by the skin of his teeth to fuel a 17-point comeback. With the Panthers out of defensive line reinforcements and the offense unable to continue moving the ball, nerves were high throughout Carolina.
Not for Cam Newton, however. After the Colts kicked a go-ahead field goal on the first possession of overtime, Newton calmly led the Panthers back down the field. He shrugged off a devastating drop by Ted Ginn that would have won the game to give the Panthers a game-tying field goal, and then Newton capitalized on Luke Kuechly’s interception to set up the game-winning field goal.
It was a day that showcased the best and worst of the Panthers, and in the end, the best won out. That’s why they’re sitting undefeated atop the NFC.
Grades
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Position | Grade |
QB | C |
RB | B+ |
WR | C |
TE | B- |
OL | B- |
DL | C |
LB | B+ |
DB | C+ |
Special Teams | B- |
Coaching | B |
Quarterbacks
We saw both good and bad Newton in this one. He finished the day completing less than 50 percent of his passes—going just 16-of-35 for 248 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He put a couple of balls on the ground, too, in bad exchanges with the center and running back on different plays.
He also, however, ran for 41 yards, threw some beautiful touchdown passes and nearly had an amazing touchdown throw that was dropped by Ted Ginn. His athleticism, in other words, helped him out on a day when the conditions did not give him much to work with in the air.
Running Backs
There was some tough sledding for Jonathan Stewart out there with 40 percent of his offensive line out, but he finished the day with 82 yards on 24 carries and an early touchdown. He was the only running back of note, but Mike Tolbert caught an outlet pass and rumbled downfield for 40 yards as well.
Wide Receivers
Ginn dropped an easy game-winning touchdown from Newton but had 60 yards receiving on the day, albeit on 10 targets. Corey Brown was more efficient, catching three of his five targets for 42 yards, and both Jerricho Cotchery and Devin Funchess had key grabs as well.
Tight Ends
Greg Olsen’s receiving line looks just fine—six receptions for 79 yards and a touchdown—but the numbers hide a couple of things he won’t be happy with. He dropped a wide-open catch, for example, and he was flagged multiple times, negating big Panthers plays.
Offensive Line
Considering the unit was without Ryan Kalil and Andrew Norwell for most of the game, the line held up all right. Newton was only sacked twice, though he had to get out of danger a couple of times on his own, and the team averaged 3.9 yards per carry on a night when everyone knew running was the best way to try to move the football.
Defensive Line
The defensive line just got exhausted at the end of the game, as injuries have left the depth at the position rather thin. Before that, however, Kony Ealy had a heck of a game, picking up his first sack of the season and flushing Andrew Luck out of the pocket on multiple other occasions.
Jared Allen was all over Luck all night long, as well—the box score credits him with a sack and five quarterback hits. The grade would be higher had the line not vanished at the end of the fourth quarter and in overtime.
Linebackers
Luke Kuechly made a big impact in pass defense in this game. Not only did he have the interception that set up the game-winning field goal in overtime, but he also nearly had a game-winning interception at the end of regulation, as well as at least one other solid play to prevent a touchdown—all while still leading the team in tackles. The other linebackers had quiet nights, perhaps because Kuechly was eating up all the plays.
Defensive Backs
Before the dramatic finish, this was a much higher grade. Josh Norman nearly blanked T.Y. Hilton for the entire game, Roman Harper had 12 tackles and a pass deflection, and both Kurt Coleman and Charles Tillman came down with interceptions. However, toward the end of the game, the secondary became too soft, and Luck started picking it apart. After having just 40 passing yards halfway through the fourth quarter, Luck finished with 231 and two touchdowns. Clamping down a little bit more at the end could have made this game less interesting.
Special Teams
Graham Gano made all three field-goal attempts but missed an extra point that allowed the Colts to tie the game and take it into overtime. Ironically, that may have helped in the long run—otherwise, the Colts would have taken another shot into the end zone at the end of the game and potentially won outright. Quan Bray burned Carolina’s kickoff coverage teams for 127 yards, which still remains an issue.
Coaching
Full credit goes to Ron Rivera and staff for going for it three times on fourth down in the first half—it was the right decision each time, even if the third one ended up being negated due to a penalty. The coaches receive less credit for taking the foot off the defensive gas a bit too early, letting the Colts make up a 17-point deficit.
Rain Makes for Ugly Football
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With showers turning heavy at times throughout the night, both teams ended up playing a sloppy game.
The teams combined to put the ball on the ground four times in the first half, with each team losing one fumble to the other side. Each quarterback threw an interception, and neither had a QB rating above 30 in the first half. Luck and Newton combined to complete 10 of 27 passes in the first half for just 125 yards.
Both teams struggled to get anything at all going in the first half.
Carolina was buoyed by getting turnovers close to the end zone, which it turned into 10 points in the first quarter; Indianapolis could only get a field goal after Carolina’s two turnovers. In a sloppy game where neither team can move the ball, taking advantage of key opportunities becomes even more crucial—the fewer scoring chances you’re likely to get, the more you need to make each one count.
The other area where the Panthers made up for sloppy play in the first half was on fourth down. Ron Rivera went for it on fourth down three times in the fourth quarter, and all three plays were successes, although one was called back due to a penalty.
Yes, we hear how “Riverboat Ron” gambles and has all these unorthodox decisions, but when you have a power rushing quarterback like Cam Newton and a runner like Jonathan Stewart, you’re going to maximize your chances to win by going for it on those fourth down deep in opposing territory. The fact that the general consensus among coaches is to take the points doesn’t change the fact that, mathematically, Rivera is making the wise decisions over the long term. It’s even more critical to ace those decisions in a sloppy half like we saw Monday night.
Things improved moderately in the second half as the rain let up, but Newton had a key fumble on a center exchange at the goal line. Again, the defense stiffened, and the Colts were unable to capitalize, but the weather made both offenses look worse than normal.
Andrew Norwell Leaves with Hamstring Injury
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Of course, some of Carolina’s offensive issues Monday night came because the heart and strength of its offense—the center of the offensive line—was not operating at full strength.
Ryan Kalil missed the game with an ankle injury—his first missed game since 2012. The focus will be on getting him ready for the big matchup against the Green Bay Packers next Sunday, and there was little reason to risk his injured ankle in the wet and sloppy conditions present Monday night.
That should have been all right, with Fernando Velasco flanked by a couple of great guards, but Andrew Norwell limped off to the locker room early, to be replaced first by Chris Scott and then Amini Silatolu. According the Charlotte Observer's Joe Person, Norwell suffered some sort of hamstring injury.
The loss of two-thirds of that stellar interior had an impact on Carolina’s offensive performance. The Colts defense was bad enough not to make it a massive problem, but there were poor exchanges on snaps and increased pressure up the gut compared to what we had seen over the first six weeks.
The Panthers will need Norwell and Kalil next week against Green Bay, but Norwell will have just the short week to recover. His status will be one to watch over this week.
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Protesters Disrupt Game
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Before the thrilling finish, it looked like the biggest event in the second half would have been the presence of a couple of protesters who rappelled from the upper deck of the stadium and unfurled a banner.
The banner read "BoA Dump Dominion," a reference to a liquefied natural gas facility in Maryland. Bank of America is financing the construction of the facility.
According to the Charlotte Observer, the protesters were arrested just after 11 p.m. local time, and no injuries were reported.
The most interesting thing about the incident is that the pair was able to bring in full rappelling equipment and the banner through the security checkpoints in place at the stadium. The bag policy for Bank of America Stadium indicates that backpacks and things of that nature are prohibited from being brought into the stadium, and it’s hard to imagine that equipment not being discovered. The rules also prohibit “items that in the judgment of stadium management pose a safety hazard or diminish the enjoyment of an event by other patrons." If a selfie stick or a laptop isn’t allowed in the stadium, surely the ropes and hooks and whatnot would be considered problematic as well.
According to the Charlotte Observer, the Panthers and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Police Department are investigating the incident.
Ron Rivera: Confidence in Graham Gano Never Wavered
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Graham Gano’s missed extra point allowed Indianapolis to tie the game with a field goal at the end of the game. That sort of miss could cause a kicker to second-guess himself—or a coach to be more cautious about using him.
That didn’t seem to be the case with Rivera, who sent Gano out for field goals of 42 and 52 yards in overtime to tie and win the game, respectively. The 42-yard field goal was a must-kick, thanks to the fact that the Panthers were down three, but you could imagine a team playing the field-position game on the potential game-winning kick if it wasn’t sure about Gano’s leg.
After the game, Rivera was asked if his confidence level in Gano had fallen after the missed extra point.
“You know, it’s funny, because everybody’s missing extra points, but guys are making kicks still," Rivera said. "I had a lot of confidence in Graham. It’s just one of those things. A kid like him who’s just fearless, and I promise you he wasn’t even thinking about that—he was thinking about making it."
Kickers have one of the oddest jobs in sports—they’re ignored for nine-tenths of the game and then asked to come on in the most critical situations to be the difference between winning and losing. Nerves and self-doubt can wreck a kicker’s career, but Gano didn’t let his earlier mistake affect him in overtime. That’s a large part of the reason the Panthers sit at 7-0.
Cam Newton: Never a Doubt
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After the game, a happy Cam Newton was in a kingly mood.
“Never a doubt,” Newton said, talking about the nail-biting ending. “As long as we’ve got Captain America—Luke August Kuechly on our team, I like our odds.”
It certainly looked like the game had been put away. According to Brian Burke’s Win Probability Calculator, the Panthers had a 99 percent chance to win when they were up 17 points with just over 10 minutes left in the game. That’s when they should sew up the game, but Andrew Luck and the Colts had other ideas. By the time the Panthers got the ball for the first time in overtime, the odds of winning had dropped to just 21 percent.
It would have been remembered as an epic collapse had the Panthers blown it—but they did just enough to hold on and claim the victory.
Never a doubt.
Graham Gano: Just Hoping for an Opportunity
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After hooking an extra point that gave Indianapolis the chance to tie the game, kicker Graham Gano knew his week could have been horrible. All he wanted was one more chance to make up for his mistake.
“At the end of regulation, I put my head down and said, ‘Lord, your will be done,’” Gano said, per Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observer. “And I had a calmness come over me. I was hoping for that opportunity.”
Was he bothered by missing the extra point?
“I don’t even view it as a PAT anymore; I don’t think any kicker does,” Gano said. “It’s just a field goal. It is a shorter field goal, I should make them all, but with the conditions out there today things happen.”
The missed extra point will be forgotten because Gano had an opportunity to redeem himself. If the missed extra point had ended the undefeated season, however, he would have had to put up with nasty comments and fans calling for his head for at least one week, if not longer.
Instead, he got the opportunity and won the game, and therefore he’s a hero. Football is a finicky game sometimes.
Bryan Knowles is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report, covering the Carolina Panthers. Follow him @BryKno on Twitter.
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