The Carolina Panthers overcame an avalanche of penalties, some justified and a lot not, to defeat the New Orleans Saints on a last second field goal, 20-17.
First Quarter
Ryan Fitzgerald started the game out right by kicking the opening kickoff out of bounds. After a few stops, the defense forced the Saints into a 4th and 1. Tyler Shough tried to find Chris Olave, but the pass was tipped and picked off by Devin Lloyd. He ran it all the way back to the New Orleans 23. Chuba Hubbard broke off a nice run to start the drive.
The Panthers inched closer to the goal line but ended up in their own fourth and short. Bryce Young tried to scramble out of a collapsing pocket, but he stumbled when trying to make a cut and was touched down just short of the line gain.
The defense took the field with the Saints backed up against their own goal line. They made three straight stops and forced a punt. Trevor Etienne let the punt bounce which added a bunch of extra yardage to it, but he was able to pick it up and get a few of those yards back on the return. The offense rode Chuba Hubbard into Saints territory. The offense picked up a 3rd and 9 on a pass to Darren Waller, but he was called for a phantom offensive pass interference to end the drive. Sam Martin pinned the Saints inside the five with his punt.
The defense had the Saints in a 3rd and 4, but Derrick Brown jumped offsides. It was the team’s fifth penalty of the first quarter. It didn’t hurt though. The defense got off the field three plays later after Jaelan Philips got a fingertip on Tyler Shough’s third down pass.
Second Quarter
The Chuba show continued into the second quarter. He caught a check down to pick up a first down into Saints territory then broke a big run down to the 30. On the next play, Bryce Young had Darren Waller wide open down the sideline, but Waller dropped it. McMillan also failed to reel in a catchable ball on third down. Ryan Fitzgerald took the field to miss a field goal and keep the score knotted at zero.
Tyler Shough found Juwan Johnson with a third down pass to get into Panthers territory. On the next play, he and Audric Estime dropped the exchange on a handoff, and Jaelan Phillips scooped it up.
Tommy Tremble took a screen pass into the red zone. A couple plays later, Hubbard ran it in for a touchdown. However, it was called back for a late holding call that also seemed questionable. Dave Canales used a Saints timeout to give the refs a hard time while the broadcast team discussed the second time the officials screwed over Carolina. Young found Waller to eventually pick up the first down. Chuba Hubbard ran it down to the one. Two incompletions set up another nervous fourth down, but Hubbard ran it in, and the officials couldn’t find anything to flag.
The Saints picked up a few quick first downs while the broadcast talked about turduckens for an extended period of time. When they stopped talking about turduckens, the defense stuffed a couple of runs. On 4th and inches, they tried a fullback dive, but Lee Hunter broke through the line to stuff the run deep in the backfield.
Young found Tetairoa McMillan to move the offense out to midfield. That’s as far as they’d get though. On third down, Young checked it down to a heavily covered Hubbard for no gain. After the punt, Jaelan Phillips got pressure and forced Shough into a sack by Pat Jones. A couple plays later, he got his own sack to end the half with the Panthers up 7-0.
Third Quarter
The Panthers got the second half kickoff and immediately got backed up 15 yards because Trevis Gipson tapped a Saints player on the back of the helmet. Dave Canales made a gutsy call to go for it on fourth and short deep in New Orleans territory. It worked, but the offense ultimately had to punt a few plays later anyway.
The Saints picked up a long gain on a diving catch and Devin Lloyd was flagged 15 yards for diving on the un-downed wide receiver. A few plays later, Alvin Kamara checked into the game for his first touch, and he punched it in for a touchdown to tie the game.
The Panthers responded with a field goal drive. Their two biggest gains were a short completion to McMillan and a defensive pass interference on another pass to McMillan. It wasn’t much, but it got the offense into long field goal range. Dave Canales trusted his guy, and Ryan Fitzgerald drilled the 55 yard field goal right down the middle.
The Saints went to the air three straight times on their ensuing drive, and the Panthers stopped each one. On third down, Jaelan Phillips collapsed the pocket and forced Shough to step into the waiting arms of Derrick Brown. Feleipe Franks got called for a 15 yard penalty for blocking someone apparently? The drive went nowhere and ended in a sack of Young. It also ended the third quarter.
Fourth Quarter
The defense kept up their strong play and got off the field quickly once again. They forced Shough into a one yard gain on a near sack and forced two incompletions to force a quick three and out. The offense didn’t fare any better. They got one first down on a completion to Darren Waller but otherwise didn’t do anything and punted the ball right back.
Shough made a couple of completions to move the Saints into Panthers territory. Jaelan Phillips appeared to set the drive back with a huge sack of Shough, but he was called for a horse collar tackle. The Saints moved to the goal line with a pass interference on Corey Thornton on an underthrown ball. Two plays later, Kamara scored his second touchdown of the day to put the Saints up 14-10. It felt like nearly the entire drive was picked up via penalty yards.
Chuba Hubbard broke a couple of tackles on the first play of the ensuing drive and scampered down the sideline for a 29 yard gain. Two plays later, he did the same thing for another 33 yards to get the players down to the one yard line at the two minute warning. Two plays later, Hubbard extended to reach for the goal line. He was ruled short, but the play went to review. It looked pretty clear on replay that the ball was the first thing to touch the ground, and it did so on the goal line, but the call stood somehow. Fortunately, Hubbard was able to punch in the score on the next play.
The Saints got a boost by a defensive face mask in which the defender grabbed the Saint’s shoulder pad. That penalty was enough to put the Saints into field goal range, and they made a 55 yarder to tie the game.
The Panthers had 41 seconds to manufacture a game winning drive. In a bit of poetic justice, the Saints were called for a defensive pass interference on a heave from Bryce Young to Jalen Coker. That was enough to get the Panthers into field goal range. Ryan Fitzgerald drilled the 54 yard field goal as time expired.
Overview
It’s normally pretty lame to complain about the officiating, but this game was an exception. The Panthers out-penalitied the Saints 17 to 3 and out-penalty yardaged the Saints 152 to 46. A number of the calls were questionable to outright bad, and the vast majority of those were significant, game altering penalties. There was an offensive pass interference, offensive holding, two personal fouls, and horse collar tackle that all could easily be argued were very incorrect. They also incorrectly rule Hubbard short of the goal line before he ultimately scored his second touchdown of the game. I don’t know if it had the same effect on the players, but as a spectator, it felt like the Panthers had to walk on eggshells to avoid flags, and it’s hard to play football that way.
On the football side of things, the defense looked really, really good under Todd Wash. They lived in the backfield on both run and pass plays. Tyler Shough was the Saints leading rusher, and a lot of that was him getting flushed out by defensive pressure. The offense wasn’t as impressive, other than Chuba Hubbard. He was a monster. Love that guy.
The Panthers move back into sole possession of the lead in the NFC South. They’ll try to add to that with a win over the hobbled Ravens in Charlotte next week.
