Atlanta beats Carolina Panthers 19-17, leads NFC South
Final. 19. 44. 17. 87
This was one of those games where you scratched your head for where fault lay. The Carolina Panthers dominated the first quarter and the Panther defense played a good game throughout. There were some rough patches in the third quarter where the Falcons seemed like they might pull away, but then somebody remembered the old Panthers-Falcons blood feud.
More from Carolina Panthers
- Carolina Panthers: Secondary battles to watch in training camp 2020
- Carolina Panthers: 2020 training camp kicks off on Tuesday
- Carolina Panthers: Familiarity should help offense in 2020
- Carolina Panthers: Better or worse at running back in 2020?
- Carolina Panthers: Ranking the NFC South quarterback rooms
The Panthers comeback started when Devin Hester decided to spear himself head long into a scrum between Panthers corner Josh Norman and Falcons receiver Harry Douglas. That took the wind out of a Falcons drive and the Panthers found life as Cam Newton MacGuyered the Panthers to the end zone.
Hester was not done giving as he coughed up the ball on a well placed hit by linebacker Thomas Davis. All of the sudden, Newton found Philly Brown in the end zone and the Panthers had a lead, a tenuous 17-16 lead, but a lead.
Matt Ryan and the Falcons summoned one final drive that got them in field goal range to take the lead back at 19-17, but had to give the Panthers the ball back with plenty of time to mount a drive.
Live Feed
BuffaLowDown
And mount a drive they did, as the Panthers took the ball down around the thirty yard line. That is when things got interesting, more for what did not happen than what did. ‘Riverboat Ron’ Rivera decided at that point to play for the field goal he had and ran it into the line three times. Graham Gano then came out and missed the field goal.
While the decision to play for the field goal and not screw up makes some sense, why make that call from the thirty? Why not grab ten more yards with a suddenly hot Cam Newton and his accompaniment? That will be the call that haunts Rivera over the next week as the Panthers are now tailing both Falcons and Saints in the division. The only good news is that they are not out of reach.