Panthers Overwhelm Falcons, Grab First Place

The Carolina Panthers trumped the Atlanta Falcons 24-9 Sunday afternoon at Bank of America Stadium, taking first place in the process.  It was a day for the books.

The win marked the 100th in Panthers franchise history.

Quarterback Jake Delhomme had his best game of the season as he completed 20-of-29 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns.  The second touchdown was Delhomme's 100th as a Panther.

Receivers Muhsin Muhammad and Steve Smith dominated as the duo the Panthers brought Muhammad back from Chicago to create, as they caught 14 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns.   Muhammad's touchdown catch broke the record held by former tight end Wesley Walls for most career touchdowns as a Panther.

Running back Jonathan Stewart also ran for 52 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.

But perhaps the biggest plus for the Panthers offensively was the fact that the offensive line, which looked porous in Week Three against the ferocious Vikings D, didn't give up a sack.  Not even to NFL sacks leader John Abraham, a Falcons defensive end.  In fact, Abraham only had one tackle.

 The dominant Panthers defense subdued the supposedly-potent Atlanta running offense.  Michael Turner gained 56 yards on 18 carries and Jerious Norwood picked up 51 yards on three carries.  But 40 of those yards came on one run, which was by far the longest play of the day for the Falcons attack.

Falcons QB Matt Ryan only completed 21-of-41 throws and threw for only 158 yards.

The biggest bright spot for the Falcons offensively was receiver Roddy White's seven receptions for 90 yards.

For the Falcons, on the defensive side of the ball, second-year cornerback Brent Grimes posted ten tackles; one assisted, and MLB Curtis Lofton tallied eight tackles, one assisted.

Middle linebacker Jon Beason led the Panthers D with seven tackles, all solo. 

Julius Peppers registered his second sack of the season.

But the most groundbreaking feat was rookie Hilee Taylor earning his first sack.  Taylor was a seventh round pick in this year's NFL Draft.  He played college football at UNC, posting 59 tackles, 10.5 sacks, and three forced fumbles in his senior year.

Penalties were still a major problem for the Panthers.

However, this time, only one of the infractions was a false-start.  Most of them weren't even on the offense.  But this isn't any better—penalties are penalties. 

The Panthers got lucky.  Most of their penalties were committed by defensive players, but the defense was still good enough and the Falcons offense was still bad enough that it didn't make a difference. 

If they had been playing a more offensively-adept team, it would have had an effect on the outcome of the game. 

The Panthers have chalked up another win.  They're playing well this season for the most part, showing that they can beat good teams.  They demonstrated today that they aren't going to slack off just because they're playing a team that will presumably be a pushover.