Panthers vs. Giants: Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 Regular Season

The Carolina Panthers are two wins away from completing the second 16-0 regular season in NFL history thanks to a 43-yard field goal from Graham Gano to defeat the New York Giants, 38-35, in a wild affair at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.    

The Giants trailed 35-7 late in the third quarter before reeling off 28 unanswered points, capped off by wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.'s 14-yard touchdown catch on 4th-and-5 to tie the game. Quarterback Eli Manning had four touchdown passes, with two coming in the last six minutes of the game. 

The Panthers did start to tense up in the fourth quarter after taking a 35-7 lead in the third, having a field-goal attempt blocked and botching a fumbled read-option to give the Giants a chance to cut into the huge deficit. 

It was after the Giants squared things up that Carolina quarterback Cam Newton came back to life, leading the offense 49 yards to set up Gano's game-winning field goal to preserve perfection. 

Newton continued to strengthen his MVP resume, throwing for 340 yards and five touchdowns, running for 100 yards and setting NFL records along the way, per ESPN Stats & Info:

CBS Sports' Will Brinson explained why Newton is the deserving NFL MVP this season beyond just the impressive stats he's put up:

Another reason Newton's MVP star continues to rise is because he's getting better down the stretch, which is often when narratives are at their peak. 

Randall Liu, the NFL's director of NFC football communications, provided more statistical evidence of Newton's outstanding play after he set another NFL record:

With the possibility of an undefeated season closer than ever, Panthers head coach Ron Rivera will have to decide how much to use Newton in the final two games.

Newton did have two brief injury scares in the game, holding his chest late in the second quarter after a hard hit from Giants defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins and then limping off the field after teammate Ryan Kalil accidentally stepped on his ankle in the third quarter.

Fortunately for the Panthers, their star quarterback did not miss a snap and showed no lasting effects as the game went on. 

The Giants had an opportunity to strike first on their opening drive, when Manning found Beckham running past Panthers cornerback Josh Norman—in the marquee individual matchup of the day—down the middle of the field. 

Beckham should have cruised into the end zone, but the ball hit right off his hands and fell to the ground. Given OBJ's knack for making spectacular plays, it's no surprise ESPN Stats & Info noted he hadn't dropped a pass for a long time:

This was a game of missed opportunities and mistakes for the Giants, who had a bad stretch late in the second quarter, as ESPN.com's Ian O'Connor pointed out:

Following those miscues, the Panthers would get two touchdown passes from Newton in the last two minutes and 14 seconds of the first half to take a 21-7 lead into the break. 

After those two scores, ESPN's Michael Wilbon had no problem putting Newton alongside some of the NFL's top-tier quarterbacks:

Carolina's vaunted defense has shown some cracks in the armor recently, allowing 38 points to New Orleans two weeks ago and 35 to the Giants, but the group did have some excellent moments before the fourth-quarter insanity happened. 

As an example of how good the Panthers defense was, the group did something against Beckham no other team has been able to do, per B/R Insights:

"

This is the first time in Odell Beckham Jr.'s career he has not had a catch in the first half (26 games). #CARvsNYG pic.twitter.com/Ikt8Zzk97f

— B/R Insights (@BR_Insights) December 20, 2015"

Beckham's drop in the first quarter played a key role in his being shut out in the first half, but that doesn't diminish the 30-plus plays in the first half where he was unable to get one catch. 

Frustration clearly mounted for Beckham in the fourth quarter when he launched himself at Norman and made hard helmet-to-helmet contact with Carolina's star cornerback. OBJ finished with 76 yards and one touchdown on six catches.

The Giants have developed a reputation over the years—mostly from their two Super Bowl wins over the New England Patriots—as being able to slay Goliath. They did everything possible to make things closer than they had any right to be after getting blown out for the first 44 minutes. 

It's also a nice bit of symmetry that the final score to this game was 38-35, just as it was when the 2007 New England Patriots defeated the Giants in Week 17 to end the regular season 16-0. 

The Panthers weren't supposed to do this when the season started, especially coming off an uninspired 7-8-1 record last year and sneaking into the playoffs because the NFC South was so bad. But every week Newton finds ways to amaze, and he bailed out his defense on the final drive. 

No one said going undefeated is easy. There will be good weeks and bad weeks, but the great teams find a way to win. The Panthers proved to any doubters that they are great with their perseverance in the final minutes on the road against a good Giants team. 

Postgame Reaction

The main topic of conversation after the Panthers' victory centered on Beckham's hit targeting Norman. 

Per Josh Person of the Charlotte Observer, Rivera was disappointed with the way his team reacted in that situation:

Norman was not mincing words about Beckham and clearly had not calmed down after the game, based on some of his word choices, per Steve Overmyer of CBS-2 in New York:

Per Jenny Vrentas of Sports Illustrated, Norman said with "110 percent" certainty that if a defensive player did what Beckham did, he would have been ejected from the game. 

James Kratch of NJ Advance Media caught Norman describing Beckham's maturity level like that of "a little kid."

Beckham refused to engage reporters on the topic, with ESPN.com's Dan Graziano noting the star receiver said he "feels like we should have won the game" when someone asked if he lost his composure. Jesse Spector of Sporting News also shared another exchange with reporters involving the Giants wideout:

Another player who knows a lot about getting into skirmishes on the field, Panthers cornerback Cortland Finnegan said Beckham's actions during the game may be "in his blood. Maybe it's female-related," per Black & Blue Review. 

Newton tried to take the high road when discussing how physical things got on the field, per Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observer: