The Carolina Panthers almost pulled off the most improbable of comebacks, but they ultimately fell short to the Arizona Cardinals, 27-22.
First Quarter
The game got off to the most disastrous start possible from a Panthers perspective. A couple of ineffective plays set up a 3rd and 7, and the Cardinals brought the house. Young got swarmed by pressure and lost the ball, which was picked up and run in for a Cardinals touchdown.
The second drive was only marginally better. The Panthers moved the ball a little bit,
but two designed touches for Xavier Legette went backwards and set up another third and long and Cardinals blitz. They again got to Young, who tries to throw while being hit, and his fluttering duck was easily picked off.
The defense made their own mistake when Mike Jackson committed a pass interference on a deep ball, though in his defense, he tried to play the badly underthrown ball and ran into the receiver. The defense was able to hold up after that and limit the Cardinals to a field goal.
The Panthers finally found their footing on their third drive. A good return was quickly followed by a 41 yard gain from Young to Tetairoa McMillan on a crossing route. They couldn’t punch it in with three straight incomplete passes and set up a Ryan Fitzgerald field goal.
Second Quarter
The defense also found a bit of a groove once the game got going. They didn’t commit any catastrophic penalties and did a pretty good job making life difficult for the Cardinals offense. They forced a punt to give the offense a chance to tie the game. They did not do that despite another decent gain to McMillan and had to punt it back.
The Cardinals got a big gain from Trey McBride to start the ensuing drive but committed a couple of penalties to stop the drive in Panthers territory. They kicked another field goal.
The Panthers got one more chance to put points on the board before the half, but they couldn’t get their drive going. Young threw a low ball to Ja’Tavion Samders, who apparently cannot catch a ball this season. He let the ball hit the turf, forcing the another punt. It was run back into Panthers territory. The Panthers defense couldn’t hold this time, and Kyler Murray found Michael Wilson open up the seam for a touchdown to put the Cardinals up 20-3.
Third Quarter
The first drive of the second half looked like it came from the 2024 season. Murray completed eight straight passes as the Cardinals effortlessly moved down the field and into the end zone. Fortunately the Panthers were able to answer this time. They picked up a 4th down on their own long scoring drive. Young found Hunter Renfrow in the end zone for his first Panthers touchdown. They tried a run up the middle for two, but it was stuffed.
The quarter ended with the Cardinals in a 3rd and long after a couple of run stuffs.
Fourth Quarter
It looked like the Panthers were going to get off the field to start the fourth quarter, but Murray escaped and scurried down the sideline for 30 yards to set the Cardinals up inside the red zone. After a penalty got the Cardinals behind the sticks, the front was able to get pressure on Murray and force an errant throw that was deflected in the air and hauled in by DJ Wonnum.
That set up the Panthers best drive of the game. Young picked apart the Cardinals little by little. McMillan narrowly missed a spectacular catch but landed out of bounds. Eventually they worked into the red zone, where Young escaped pressure on fourth down to find Chuba Hubbard wide open in the flat for a touchdown. Another Hubbard handoff on the two point conversion failed.
The defense built off the momentum and forced a three and out after Murray’s third down pass attempt was thrown to Jo one. The punt block team almost got home but didn’t quite get there.
The drive looked like it would be over before it began after a second down sack and third down throwaway, but Young found Brycen Tremayne over the middle on 4th and 16 to keep the drive alive. Young found McMillan with another dart to set up the offense in the red zone. A pass to Renfrow set the Panthers up at the one, and another dart found Renfrow between two defenders to make it a one score game.
Sam Martin’s onside kick hit a member of the Cardinals coverage team and was recovered by Demani Richardson after a couple of ricochets. It looked like it would end there when Bryce got run down about 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage on fourth down, but the Cardinals were called for a defensive holding to keep the drive alive. The teams traded penalties for what seemed like about 20 real life minutes as the ball hovered around midfield. The drive finally stalled out with a few incomplete passes and a fourth down sack. Young looked a little flustered in the drive with some sped up looking decisions.
Overview
What looked like another embarrassing waste of a Sunday ended up having some silver linings. Bryce Young cleaned up his play after the early mistakes, and his receivers finally started making plays. Bryce Tremayne looks like he might be a guy, and Tetairoa McMillan definitely is one. The defense had spurts of competence outside of the expected poor linebacker play.
Carolina will try to build off their second half in their home opener against the Falcons next week.
