Nobody’s perfect: Panthers take first loss of the season
All good things must come to an end.
The 14-0 Panthers went to 14-1 Sunday in the Georgia Dome at the hands of the rival Falcons 20-13.
The Panthers offense didn’t show any signs of life in the second half, settling for two field goals and turning the ball over on downs on the final drive. Carolina only had 113 passing yards on the day.
Meanwhile, Carolina couldn’t overcome a dreadful showing on third-down defense. The Panthers allowed nine Atlanta third-down conversions in 13 tries, and gave them another one with a personal foul penalty in the first quarter.
“We didn’t take this team lightly,” Panthers coach Ron Rivera said. “This was a bump in the road. A big bump, but it’s not the end of our season.”
Julio Jones’ 70-yard touchdown in the third quarter served as the game-winner, though the Panthers had opportunities. A Matt Ryan fumble in the fourth quarter gave the Panthers the ball on Atlanta’s side of the field, but three plays later they could only get three points.
Carolina, which had won 18 straight regular-season games, had an opportunity with just more than a minute left, but Vic Beasley beat right tackle Mike Remmers and forced a Cam Newton fumble to end the game.
At 14-1, the Panthers remain atop the NFC but have not yet clinched the No. 1 seed. Carolina can clinch the No. 1 seed with an Arizona loss this afternoon against Green Bay.
Three who mattered
Cam Newton: The frontrunner for the MVP couldn’t muster his fifth fourth-quarter comeback of the season. He had an average day for the season he’s had.
Kawann Short: The Pro Bowl-bound defensive tackle followed up his two-sack day against Atlanta in Week 14 with another two-sack performance on Sunday.
Julio Jones: After three games of being held mostly in check by Josh Norman, Jones got the better of Norman on the day. He caught at least five passes on Norman for 80 yards, though Norman did have one pass breakup. Jones finished with nine catches for 178 yards and a touchdown.
Observations
▪ A rare personal foul penalty on Charles Tillman gave Atlanta life on its first series of the game. The Falcons faced a three-and-out but Tillman was flagged for unnecessary roughness when he got tangled up with Roddy White after the play.
▪ Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan took a big hit from Kurt Coleman to his right hip/ribs area in the first quarter and it seemed to bother him throughout the game. Thomas Davis laid a hit on him in the third quarter that caused Ryan to get up slowly.
▪ Shayne Graham appeared to badly mishit his 43-yard field-goal attempt in the third quarter. Kawann Short got his hand up in the middle of the line and Norman sped around the corner, but no Panthers’ player appeared to get a hand on it.
▪ Philly Brown saved his quarterback from an interception in the second quarter. Newton threw a deep pass on third down that Phillip Adams had in his grasp, but before he got his second foot down Brown knocked the ball away to make it incomplete.
▪ Jones’ 70-yard touchdown catch is as good as you’ll see. He went up vertically and grabbed the ball on top of Luke Kuechly and ran the rest of the way for the touchdown.
Worth mentioning
▪ Running back Fozzy Whittaker left the game in the fourth quarter with a right ankle injury. Depending on how he heals, that could make for an interesting decision at running back next week.
▪ Rivera is now 9-of-13 on challenges this year after getting a second-quarter call overturned to get the first down on a Newton rush. Rivera is 15-of-32 all-time on challenges.
They said it
“We battled really hard all day. It wasn’t perfect, but we knew this was the kind of game it was going to be. We were happy to get it done today.” – Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan.
“I didn't really run a route. Would love to have that one back.” – Greg Olsen on the fourth-down incompletion in the final minutes, when he said he had trouble getting the play call.
This story was originally published December 27, 2015 at 6:20 PM with the headline "Nobody’s perfect: Panthers take first loss of the season."