The Panthers were looking for their first win of the season following two depressing losses to start the season. Luckily for them, they faced the Atlanta Falcons, a matchup nobody can ever truly predict! And needless to say, I don’t think many Panthers fans predicted this result. Let’s dive right in!
First Quarter
The Falcons started the game off hot with several easy completions from Michael Penix. The Panthers rush defense was pretty good, and they managed to hold the first drive in field goal range, which naturally
the Falcons kicker missed horrifically, giving the Panthers offense decent starting field position. A couple of completions later, the Panthers were staring at 4th and 3 in decent scoring range, which Dave Canales elected to go for. Surprisingly, instead of the play going bad, Bryce Young hit Tetairoa McMillan for a beautiful 23 yard pass and catch. A 12 yard completion to Tommy Tremble put the Panthers on the 4 yard line, and then Bryce Young scampered in for the touchdown, giving the Panthers a 7-0 lead on their first drive on offense! The Panthers then managed a 3 and out after a Falcons clock management snafu, and everything seemed to be going the Panthers way. Until Trevor Etienne muffed the punt return, Falcons took over with nice field position. Luckily, the Panthers defense once again held up, forcing another long field goal. Which the Falcons, once again, missed. The Panthers could not capitalize and were forced to punt as the first quarter winded down. Falcons took over on their own 10.
Second Quarter
The Falcons managed to get past the 50 yard line again, but two short completions and an incompletion later, they punted for the first time in the game. The Panthers offense took over on their own 13 yard line. They leaned heavily on Tetairoa McMillan and the rushing game, but unfortunately a false start penalty and a missed timing throw by Bryce Young to Hunter Renfrow cut the drive off just as they were getting closer to the RedZone. Rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald nailed a 57 yard field goal to bring the lead to 10-0 for the Panthers. The Falcons took over, leaned on Bijan Robinson, but again were held to a punt after a nice pass deflection by Chau Smith-Wade on 3rd down. A bad looking punt gave the Panthers the ball on their own 31. Unfortunately, a penalty and a trip by Rico Dowdle forced a quick Panthers punt with 1:10 to go. With no timeouts, the Falcons ran out of time to position for a field goal. The Panthers open the second half with the ball.
Third Quarter
The Panthers first drive ended with a dropped screen pass by Tetairoa McMillan that would have likely seen him hitting paydirt if he could corral it. The Panthers punted to the Falcons with good kick coverage to tackle the returner immediately. However, the Panthers defense once again came up strong, with arguably the biggest play of the year so far. Chau Smith-Wade broke beautifully on a pass from Penix, and took it to the house. Even the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty didn’t matter, as Ryan Fitzgerald nailed a LONG PAT attempt. 17-0. The Falcons tried to get something going on the following drive but were met with a 4th down situation, they elected to go for it. Penix put the ball in the turf for an open receiver, Panthers took over. The Panthers drove it into the redzone after multiple pass attempts to T Mac resulted in defensive pass interference, but the Falcons defense stood with a sack on Bryce Young. Another Fitzgerald field goal brought the score to 20-0 Panthers. The Falcons took over and went into throwing mode, getting into decent scoring position but again were faced with a 4th down decision. They went for it again, and Mike Jackson joined the action with a pick of his own, which would have went for six if Penix didn’t manage to get in his way! Panthers took over around the Falcons 30!
Fourth Quarter
With a short field, the Panthers drove the ball with several runs and a couple of completions to Ja’Tavion Sanders, unfortunately he came up limping and was taken out following a really big first down play. The Panthers capped off the drive with a rushing touchdown by Rico Dowdle. 27-0. Kirk Cousins came in for the next Falcons drive following another bad fielding of a kickoff by their return team. On 4th down, he threw the ball just outside of Darnell Mooney’s reach. Panthers take over again. The Panthers churned out some clock, but a holding penalty ended up cutting the drive short. Another field goal by Fitzgerald put the Panthers up 30-0. The Falcons went for garbage time yards to try and score, but a forced fumble by Lathan Ransom preserved the shut out! Panthers win!
Final Thoughts
The Panthers defense showed up in a huge way today. Before the game got completely out of hand, they held the Falcons to field goal attempts, which as always are not a guarantee to score points. The Falcons missed those attempts. They didn’t allow 200 yards rushing, they held Michael Penix to 172 yards passing, 50% of his attempts completed, zero TDs, and 2 interceptions. They didn’t sack him at all, but I don’t think this Panthers defensive unit is going to produce a ton of sacks. But they pressured him enough with some exotic blitz packages, and generally played very technically sound defense. Special shout out to Chau Smith-Wade, obviously he had the pick six, but beyond that he had a nice pass deflections and several great tackles in coverage.
On offense, the Panthers didn’t shoot themselves in the foot. Bryce Young only threw for 121 yards, but he did run one in to start the game off strong. They generally leaned on the running game, threw the ball a lot to Tetairoa McMillan, and did what they needed to. Ryan Fitzgerald nailing every kick he needed to helped, but the bottom line is the Panthers didn’t have the back breaking mistakes on offense that killed them the last two weeks.
I won’t over scrutinize too much beyond these thoughts. The Panthers won, and its on to a beatable Patriots team in Foxborough next week. Thank you all for keeping with us throughout a challenging start to the season, hopefully this is the catalyst for better days ahead. KEEP POUNDING!
