At the onset of today’s game, one could conclude that the Carolina Panthers are not a good football team right now and simply turned the channel. But you would have missed what turned out to be a rather thrilling game with a bit of promise although the Cardiac Cats came up short. Carolina expounded on last week’s abysmal season opener by giving up a sack fumble recovery for a touchdown on the third play from scrimmage. Josh Sweat forced the fumble with Zaven Collins recovering the ball for the score. Facing an almost instantaneous 7-point deficit, quarterback Bryce Young was intercepted by Baron Browning after pressure and a hit from Mack Wilson Sr. The Cardinals took advantage with Chad Ryland connecting on a 29-yard field goal to give Arizona a quick 10-0 lead, all assisted by Panthers turnovers.
A 27-yarder by Ryan Fitzgerald put the Panthers on the board toward the end of the first quarter. Ryland connected on his second field goal of the day in the second quarter to push the lead back to 10, giving Carolina the ball back with 1:55 left in the half. A quick 1:04 possession put the ball back into Arizona’s hands with what would be enough time to tack on a touchdown pass from quarterback Kyler Murray to Michael Wilson and Carolina went into the locker room down 20-3 for the second week in a row.
Since Arizona won the coin toss and deferred, they got the ball to start the half and added to the lead with another touchdown – this time running back James Connor ran it in from 2 yards out to grown the burgeoning lead to 24 with 9:32 to play in the third quarter. That touchdown ended up being Arizona’s final points of the day as Panthers defensive end DJ Wonnum intercepted Murray on the next possession and the Panthers held the Cardinals scoreless in the final period.
On the other side of the field, the Panthers were finally finding their footing and the offense was sputtering to life. A 14-play drive that exceeded seven minutes culminated in a Hunter Renfrow touchdown reception to slice into the lead on Carolina’s sole possession of the third quarter. Defensive pass interference was called during the 2-point conversion attempt but the Panthers still couldn’t convert, leaving the score 27-9 going into the final period.
That’s when it got interesting. Fueled by Wonnum’s interception early in the fourth quarter, the Panthers responded with a 5-yard touchdown reception by Chuba Hubbard. Another two-point conversion attempt failed, and Carolina trailed by 12 points with 5:05 left to play. The defense forced a three-and-out, giving the Panthers the ball back with 4:31 to play. Big completions exceeding 20 yards each by Brycen Tremayne and rookie Tetairoa McMillan set up Renfrow’s second score of the day. The point after attempt was good and suddenly the Panthers found themselves within 5 points with 1:58 to play. Carolina recovered the onside kick and the roller coaster emotions of a Panthers fan went haywire. A series of penalties gave the Panthers the chance to mount the largest comeback in franchise history. A sack on 4th & 15 at the Arizona 38 yard line with 33 seconds remaining finally sealed the win for the Cardinals who narrowly escaped State Farm Stadium with a win.
The loss drops Carolina to 0-2 as they prepare to face divisional rival the Atlanta Falcons next week in their home opener. They will likely have to do so without the services of two of their starting offensive linemen. Center Austin Corbett and right guard Robert Hunt both left the game with injuries. The severities are unknown at this time but both figure to miss some time. After shaking the early miscues, Young finished with a career-high 328 passing yards, including three touchdowns. In the second game of his young NFL career, McMillan eclipsed 100 yards with six receptions. In addition to his two touchdown grabs, Renfrow finished with seven catches for 48 impactful yards.
