Bryce Young and Tetairoa McMillan dominated all game long as the Carolina Panthers marked their return to Sunday Night Football with an electrifying win over the Detroit Lions, 32-26.
First Quarter
The Lions leaned on their stars in the first drive. Jahmyr Gibbs picked up a few nice gains and Amon-Ra St. Brown had a big catch over the middle to take the Lions across midfield. The defense was able to deflect a Jared Goff third down to force a long field goal for the game’s first points.
Bryce Young hit a couple of
quick completions in the middle of the field to John Metchie and Tetairoa McMillan on RPOs, though the former was called back for a penalty. The Panthers ended up in a third and short and elected to air it out since the run hadn’t worked to that point, and full-in left guard Corey Bullock was walked back to Young by Alim McNeil for a sack.
A Lions penalty backed them up near their own goal line after the punt, and the Panthers defense took advantage to force a punt right back. Young picked apart the Lions defense with a handful of quick completions along with some good runs from Chuba Hubbard. Hubbard capped off by breaking free on an off tackle run to the left for a 15 yard run to put the Panthers up 7-3.
A Trevis Gipson personal foul for hitting Jared Goff low helped the Lions out to midfield as the first quarter came to a close.
Second Quarter
Devin Lloyd blew up a Gibbs run on the second play of the second quarter, but the Lions back answered with a long run off the left side on the next play. Goff hit Gibbs in the middle of the field for what looked like a first down completion, but Latham Ransom jarred the ball free with a big hit to the back of Gibbs. Dan Campbell challenged the call but did not get his way. Jake Bates hit his second field goal to make it 7-6.
Alim McNeil was allowed to blow up another play, this time a second down run by Hubbard, to put the Panthers behind the sticks. No matter. Bryce Young climbed the pocket and Tetairoa McMillan with a little jump pass for a big gain and a first down. A few plays later, on fourth down, Young hit John Metchie on a crosser to pick up another first and his 11th straight completion to start the game. A throwaway on the next play marked his first incompletion, but he rebounded from that to hit McMillan over the top for a 32 yard touchdown. Ryan Fitzgerald shtoinked the extra point, so the Panthers took a 13-7 lead.
The Lions finally found some offensive rhythm on their ensuing drive. They picked up a few third downs on passes to Jameson Williams. The Panthers tried to heat up Goff with pressure, but he got the ball out quick to his play makers. Akayleb Evans was called for pass interference in the end zone with the Lions threatening from inside the ten. On the next play, Gibbs slipped through the line for his team’s first touchdown of the game.
Young and the offense took possession with the game tied and just over two minutes left in the half. McMillan took a bubble screen for a quick first down to start the drive and take the game to the two minute warning. Young continued to spam McMillan all the way into field goal range. The offense stalled there, and a questionable non-call on what should have been an intentional grounding kept the Panthers in field goal range. Ryan Fitzgerald just snuck it through the left upright to put the Panthers up 16-13 in the final seconds of the half. Young finished the half with 178 passing yards, and 147 of those were to McMillan.
Goff took a shot down field on the first play after the kickoff and Jameson Williams was able to pull it while taking a hit for a 49 yard gain that immediately put the Lions on the edge of the red zone. Akayleb Evans made amends for his earlier pass interference with a very good pass breakup in the end zone. The Lions ultimately settled for a field goal to tie the game at 16 heading into the half.
Third Quarter
Young hit McMillan with a swing pass to start the second half and keep the good times rolling. Some strong runs by Hubbard and completions to Brycen Tremayne and John Metchie earned a couple more first downs. The Lions resorted to interfering with McMillan to stop him, and that moved the Carolina offense to just outside the red zone. A completion to Darren Waller set the Panthers up around the ten, and that set up yet another touchdown to McMillan, this time on a slant to the middle. Ryan Fitzgerald missed the extra point again though.
The Panthers caught a break with a personal foul on the Lions offense after they picked up a first down. Moment after Cris Collinsworth said the Panthers defense cannot give up a first down when set up with a 1st and 25, they let Isaac TeSlaa run wide open behind the defense for a 57 yard completion that was very reminiscent of the play they gave up late in the first half. Fortunately they were bailed out by Derrick Brown, who swatted away a third down pass to force a Lions field goal.
Young found Waller and Tremayne across the middle for some more nice gains. The throw to Tremayne was on a dime despite Young taking a hit while delivering the ball. Two plays later, it was Metchie’s turn to catch a ball across the middle. Unfortunately, in between those plays, Monroe Freeling left the game after having his leg fallen on. Stone Forsythe stepped in and held up. Chuba Hubbard broke free from a few tackle attempts run the ball all the way down to the two. He was rewarded for his efforts and given the ball again on the next play to punch it in for another touchdown. This time Fitzgerald was true on the extra point to put Carolina up 29-19.
The third quarter ended with the Lions driving into Panthers territory. The defense almost got a stop from another Derrick Brown tip, but Amon-Ra St. Brown was able to reel in the pass anyway for a first down.
Fourth Quarter
Will Lee kinda broke up a pass to Jameson Williams on second down and then Goff sailed a ball on third down to force the Lions to actually punt the ball.
Chuba Hubbard broke free down the left sideline for a 32 yard gain on the first play of the ensuing drive. Two plays later, he pounded forward for another 12 yards and a first down. He had to step out, and AJ Dillon struggled to find space. The offense was faced with a 4th and 4 on the 37 yard line after one of the stuffs. Dave Canales kept his foot on the gas and left the offense on the field. Young found Waller across the middle for the conversion. A few incompletions forced a field goal attempt, and Fitzgerald made that to put the Panthers up 32-19 with 8:59 to play.
The Panthers defense left Sam LaPorta uncovered in the middle of the field for a big gain on the first play after the touchdown. Jaelan Phillips joined the injury party looking like he was pointing at his hamstring. Goff continued to pick apart the Panthers ailing defense with little resistance. The Lions worked into the red zone, and that’s where the defense finally put up a fight. Goff missed a couple of throws into tight-ish coverage and then some pressure resulted in a batted ball at the line of scrimmage. The Lions were called for back to back penalties on 4th and 10, a delay of game and a false start, to make it 4th and 20. The Lions tried a hook and ladder, but the defense snuffed it out and forced the turnover on downs.
The offense went three and out with two incompletions, which was not an ideal way to try to put the game away. The Lions knocked over Sam Martin on the punt but were fortunately (for them) called for running into the kicker. The Panthers declined the penalty since Martin did get a good punt away anyway. The Lions took possession on their own 32 and immediately went back to dicing up the defense with intermediate completions. Just like in previous drives, the coverage tightened up in the red zone. They got the Lions into another fourth down, but this time the Lions picked it up with a short completion to Sam LaPorta. The tight end caught a ball in the seam on the next play to make it a 32-26 game with 3:38 left.
Young found McMillan for a huge first down pickup on 2nd and 9, but it was called back because Stone Forsythe lined up too far off the line of scrimmage. On 3rd and 14, Young found McMillan with a ridiculous toe drag catch to pick up the first down. He hit him with another RPO pass for a short gain, and McMillan got up all fired up from the big plays he had made. After a run from Hubbard went nowhere, Young tried to scramble but was tripped up at the line of scrimmage, and the Panthers had to punt.
Sam Martin’s punt backed the Lions up to the 11 yard line with just over two minutes to play. Fitzgerald’s two missed extra points loomed large with the Lions taking possession with only a six point deficit. Princely Umanmielen picked up a huge sack on second down to put the Lions behind the chains. After an incompletion, the Panthers just needed a stop on 4th and 13 to seal the win. Goff threw it short of the sticks to Isaac TeSlaa, and Will Lee came up to make the hit and stop him short of the marker. The Panthers kneeled out the game to seal the win.
Overview
It would have been easy to chalk this game up as a loss with how banged up the Panthers are, but Bryce Young and Tetairoa McMillan stepped up to cover pretty much all of the absences. It was far from a perfect game on the defensive side of the ball, but that would be expected with no starting cornerbacks. They did just enough to support what was a nearly perfect night for the offense. Jalen Coker’s absence threatened to make McMillan’s job more difficult with the extra attention, but he rose to the occasion. And Chuba Hubbard added some big runs at key moments.
The Panthers get a well timed bye week. Monroe Freeling left the game with a knee injury and Jaelan Phillips with a hamstring injury. Hopefully the week off helps the roster get closer to full health. They’ll be back in action in two weeks to visit a struggling Eagles team.
