Panthers Get Their Second Win of the Season

If you have looked on social media anytime in the past few days, you now know that it was ridiculously cheap to attend this game. With the fact that prices for tickets to this game were in single-digit dollars and rumored to in some cases even be selling for cents of a dollar, it seemed as if no one cared about this game on Sunday afternoon. Yes, some people may say this game didn’t matter at all because the Carolina Panthers have long been eliminated from playoff contention, but if you know anything about football you know that is not true. The Panthers might be out of the playoff picture, but the Atlanta Falcons are not. Maybe the Panthers heard no one wanted to come to this game and they came out to show everyone why they should have come. They set out on a mission that if they can’t make the playoffs, the Atlanta Falcons can’t either, and while the Falcons still have a shot to win the NFC South division, the Panthers just made it a little bit harder. With this win the Panthers improve to 2-12 on the season and stay at the bottom of their NFC South division, the NFC, and the entire NFL. With this loss, the Falcons fell to 6-8 on the year and now sit third in the NFC South division. The Falcons will hope to rebound from a loss and get a much-needed win as they head back to Atlanta to take on the Indianapolis Colts next Sunday. The Panthers will hope to get their first back-to-back win of the season next week as they take on Green Bay in Charlotte. Let’s take a look at how Carolina got this win. 

While their offense starting slow is something that Carolina Panthers fans have seen all year, the Atlanta Falcons offense was also struggling throughout this game. The first points of this game were not scored until nearly five minutes were left in the second quarter when Falcons quarterback Desmond Ritter connected with running back Cordarrelle Patterson for a two-yard touchdown and after kicker Younghoe Koo made the extra point, the score of the game was 7-0 Atlanta. However, the Panthers would respond to the Falcons' first points of the game by scoring their first points of the game as their offense set up a 34-yard field goal for kicker Eddy Pineiro. Pineiro would knock down the field goal to send the Panthers down four points as both teams headed into the locker room.

Late in the third quarter of this game Atlanta running back Bijan Robinso would have a costly turnover as he fumbled the ball. The fumble was forced by Panthers’ cornerback Troy Hill and recovered by Carolina linebacker Brian Burns. The Panthers offense would be able to turn this great defensive play into points on the offensive end as Pineiro knocked down another field goal, this one from 25 yards out, to make the game 7-6 Falcons. When Atlanta got the ball back, they would have an even more costly turnover as Ridder threw an interception, a pass intended for running back Cordarrelle Patterson, into the hands of Carolina safety Xavier Woods. This interception would help set up a field goal for Pineiro once again, and he would knock down the 23-yard attempt as time expired to give the Panthers their second win of the season as 9-7 was placed on the scoreboard. 

Carolina Panthers quarterback Bryce Young missed six passes in this game, going eighteen for twenty-four on his attempts and throwing for 167 yards. Running back Chuba Hubbard had twenty-two carries for 87 yards on Sunday. Wide receiver Adam Thielen led the Panthers in receiving yards in the game, catching four balls for 43 yards. Atlanta Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder went twelve for twenty, missing eight of his pass attempts in the game, and finished having thrown for 152 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. Running back Tyler Allgeier had fourteen carries for 45 yards. Tight end Jonnu Smith led Atlanta in receiving yards on Sunday with two receptions for 61 yards but running back Cordarrelle Patterson had the only receiving touchdown in the game.