The Carolina Panthers defeated the Buffalo Bills 9-3 in an ugly, physical, defensive game. Carolina becomes 2-0 to start the season, while Buffalo drops to 1-1. Buffalo trailed for the entire game, but game the Carolina a scare in the final moments, nearly executing the two-minute drill to perfection. Bills’ quarterback Tyrod Taylor worked the sidelines on a drive that began at Buffalo’s 25-yard line with just over two-minute remaining. A string of completed passes and couple of scrambles gave Bills a shot at the end zone from 38 yards out with 14 seconds left. Rookie Zay Jones broke free near the right pylon, but couldn’t haul in Taylor’s slightly overthrown pass to steal the victory. Carolina Panthers Kicker Graham Gano made field goals of 34,28 and 20, last of which gave Carolina a 9-3 lead with 2:38 to play. Gano is 6-6 on field goals this season. Neither team scored a touchdown in today’s game.
The MVP for the Panthers for this game would be the defense in general. Holding Bills star running back LeSean McCoy to 9 yards on 12 carries, sacking QB Taylor 3 times and only allowing the Bills to have 10 first down in this game. Most importantly in the first two games of this season, Panthers defense has only given up 6 whole points and haven’t given up a touchdown yet. Julius Peppers made 6 tackles, 2 sacks in his home opener since re-signing with the Panthers. Before today the Panthers were injury free but that quickly changes, center Ryan Kalil dressed but didn’t play after waking up with a sore neck and the biggest injury for the Panthers left in the first half of what he confirmed afterward is a broken right foot. Cam Newton was 20 of 32 for 228 yards, 0 TD, and 0 INT. Kelvin Benjamin, after being targeted only twice in the season opener at San Francisco, caught six passes on eight targets for 77 yards.
Even though the Panthers won this game, there’s clearly something the Panthers need to work on. McCaffrey had another rough day, Offensive coordinator Mike Shula needs to learn how to use him correctly and not force play him. Cam Newton, even though he played a great game, was throwing the ball with great velocity, and still can scrambles very effectively. But he must learn to not overthrow his receivers. Ever since joining the league one of his biggest problems is overthrowing receivers, Gettleman drafted Benjamin and Funchess, both receivers are 7 feet tall but Cam still overthrows them. With little over two minutes left in today game, it was third and goal on the three-yard line, Cam overthrew a wide-open McCaffrey who would’ve scored and sealed the game. Cam almost cost the game for the Panthers. He also needs to learn clock management; every game Panthers burn at least one timeout because Cam can’t hike the ball before the game clock hits zero and in today’s game burn two timeouts and called for delay of game. I know this sounds like I hate Cam Newton, I don’t, I love Cam. He’s a top 10 quarterbacks in the NFL and one of the greatest QB in Panthers history just needs to fix major flaws in his game. Carolina Panthers (2-0) host the New Orleans (0-2) next Sunday.
What did you think of today's’ Panthers victory? Tell me in the comment section below! And make sure to check back here sometime in the middle of the week for a preview of the Saints game but till then Follow me on Twitter @CarolinaFlights and subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/mOeZ564dOnE!
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| Cam brought back the Dab in the first quarter of this game. |
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