Panthers’ Week 8 grades: How Carolina fumbled away an overtime loss to the Falcons
The Carolina Panthers were trailing the Atlanta Falcons by six points with 23 seconds left in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s NFC South showdown at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It turned out, the Panthers only needed 11 seconds to tie the score.
After dropping a fourth-down pass on the previous offensive series, wideout DJ Moore made up for the blunder with a 62-yard grab in the end zone for a touchdown. Quarterback PJ Walker, who struggled to find consistency throughout the game, hit Moore perfectly in the hands for the score.
However, despite that eye-opening play, the celebration — or really the momentum — ended when Moore took off his helmet in an act of emotion, leading to an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. That penalty pushed the Panthers’ follow-up extra point to the 30-yard line, and kicker Eddy Piñeiro missed the 48-yard attempt.
That miss then sent the game overtime in a whirlwind sequence that sucked the life out of the home crowd.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, a C.J. Henderson interception in overtime led to a missed 32-yard field goal by Piñeiro. The Falcons were able to answer back with a 41-yard game-winning field goal by Younghoe Koo to end the overtime road loss, 37-34.
Here are our grades for Sunday’s overtime loss to the Falcons:
Rushing offense
A. With Chuba Hubbard (ankle) on the shelf, D’Onta Foreman took charge in the backfield and never looked back.
With a nasty streak running through the offensive line, led by center Bradley Bozeman, Foreman smashed through defenders for a 4.5 yards-per-carry average. Foreman is a bulk-carry back, and he made the most of his constant handoffs against the Falcons.
Foreman was instrumental in building up much-needed momentum for the Panthers’ offense in the second quarter. With Foreman threatening the defensive front, the Falcons needed to buy into play-action fakes. That helped Walker get situated in the pocket after a miserable first quarter.
During the first four drives of the game, Foreman produced 50 rushing yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. He was aided by rotational backs, Raheem Blackshear and Spencer Brown, who was elevated from the practice squad on Saturday. Blackshear and Brown received early reps on offense and combined for 28 rushing yards on eight carries on Sunday.
Despite the help of Blackshear and Brown, the ball was totally in Foreman’s court throughout the afternoon. Foreman continued to pound the trenches with his gritty style, collecting 118 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 26 total carries.
And while Foreman’s ground dominance deserves a ton of praise, so does the offensive line’s consistency in the rushing attack. The group of five did an excellent job of moving defenders out of Foreman’s way. Bozeman and right guard Austin Corbett were particularly effective in the ground game.
Passing offense
C. Sunday was a snap back to reality for Walker, who started the game with a 2-of-7 completion ratio for 4 yards. Walker wasn’t the cool, calm and collected quarterback from last week’s win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo opened up the deep passing game, Walker came up empty early, especially after he missed a wide-open Moore on a potential touchdown target. Moore had plenty of space in coverage and the ball was too far in front of him, as Walker launched it from a clean pocket to no avail.
Walker eventually found some rhythm in the second quarter. He tossed a well-placed throw to wideout Terrace Marshall for a 27-yard gain to get the Panthers into Atlanta territory. A few plays later, Walker hit Moore on a slant for 20 yards, putting the Panthers in the red zone.
However, after leading a touchdown-scoring drive, Walker threw a game-changing pick-six to Falcons pass rusher Lorenzo Carter. Walker was attempting to set up a screen pass to Foreman, but Carter leaped as Walker threw the ball and intercepted it. Carter then ran through a Walker tackle to take the ball to the end zone, giving the Falcons a four-point lead with 14 seconds left in the first half.
Walker had a putrid stat line at halftime, completing just 6-of-15 passes for 67 yards and an interception. His passer rating was 26.2 at the break.
Walker led a field-goal scoring drive to begin the third quarter. He hit backup tight end Stephen Sullivan for a 33-yard catch-and-run play that helped the Panthers game some momentum and points on the scoreboard. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Walker was late to release on a few throws in the red zone, and Carolina had to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown following the explosive play.
Walker battled back a bit after the Falcons put up another touchdown to end the third quarter. Walker had perfect timing on a crossing route throw to Moore, who caught the ball and surged up the field for 29-yard gain. The duo connected again on the very next play, as Walker hit Moore on an out route for a gain of 16 yards and a first down. The play kept the drive going and eventually led to Foreman’s back-to-back trips to the end zone to tie the score.
Walker made a pair of gutsy throws later in the fourth quarter, connecting with Moore and Marshall on explosive plays. Marshall collected 39 yards on a huge catch-and-run play. Walker hit Marshall with perfect timing on a shallow crossing route, and the wideout did all the rest as he barreled through defenders. That play eventually set up Foreman’s third touchdown of the game, which gave the Panthers the late lead.
With the team down by four points with 23 seconds left, Walker launched a 62-yard bomb to Moore for the game-tying touchdown. And while the Panthers should have walked off the field with a chip shot extra point, Moore’s celebration after the score put Piñeiro in an unenviable situation and he came up short and sent the game to overtime.
Walker completed 19-of-36 passes for 317 yards, a touchdown and an interception on the afternoon. He led six scoring drives and was sacked once. Moore was Walker’s top target, as he caught six of 11 passes for 152 yards and a touchdown. Marshall contributed 87 yards on four catches.
Rushing defense
C. The Panthers did a nice job of reading and reacting to the Falcons’ running game early on. The Falcons were able to create a consistent pulse with their rushing attack, but the Panthers didn’t really give up explosive plays on the ground early on.
Outside of a 13-yard run by Tyler Allgeier in the first half, there weren’t many breakout moments for the Falcons as runners. Former first-round pick, defensive tackle Derrick Brown, made an excellent read-and-react play in the second quarter to take down Mariota for a loss on third down. Overall, the Panthers were sturdy — but not spectacular — defending the Falcons’ ground attack, and that was OK, especially in the first half.
The Panthers did a nice job of swarming to the ball throughout the game. Their tackling efforts, for the most part, were solid and the group seemingly read runs overall pretty well.
Mariota ran for 43 yards on six attempts, and Allgeier finished with 14 carries for 39 yards. However, the Panthers did give up 91 yards on 16 carries to backup running back Caleb Huntley. The group produced 167 rushing yards overall.
Passing defense
C. The Panthers’ pass defense started off strong — producing a pick and two sacks on the first two series of the game — but tapered off considerably as the game went on.
Cornerback Donte Jackson was able to get excellent outside leverage on the second play of the game, and he out-muscled wideout Damiere Byrd on a deep shot by Mariota for a one-handed interception.
On the next drive, the Panthers produced back-to-back sacks on Mariota to force the Falcons off the field for a three-and-out. First, defensive tackle Derrick Brown and defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos created a Mariota sandwich. On the next play, linebacker Frankie Luvu brought Mariota down on the third down.
Despite that strong start, the Panthers eventually gave up a 2-yard passing touchdown to the Falcons. Following an excellent play-action design by the Falcons, Mariota tossed a ball to tight end Kyle Pitts in the end zone to start the second quarter.
Mariota used the short-passing game to counter the Panthers’ aggressiveness in the second half. The veteran quarterback led an impressive third-quarter touchdown-scoring drive where he connected with Allegier on a 25-yard score off a screen pass. Mariota didn’t do anything flashy, but he took what the defense gave him, and that gave the Falcons an edge in the passing game.
The Panthers’ biggest blunder in Atlanta came late in the game, as cornerback C.J. Henderson poorly played a seam route, and Mariota was able to connect with wideout Damiere Byrd for a touchdown, which saw the receiver run away from defenders for a gain of 47 yards on the score, putting the Falcons up by three with 2:14 left.
Still, Henderson was able to bounce back, like Moore, with the game on the line, as he intercepted a pass from Mariota in overtime. Henderson leaped for a jump ball, intended for Byrd, for the pick and then returned it into the red zone on a 54-yard scoot up the field.
Mariota completed 20-of-28 passes for 253 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions for a 105.2 pass rating. Pitts caught five passes for 80 yards and a touchdown.
First-round rookie wideout Drake London was held to four catches for 31 yards.
Special teams
D. Shi Smith had an excellent punt return of 22 yards in the first quarter.
That return set the Panthers offense up at the Atlanta 35-yard line to start the unit’s second series, leading to a 37-yard field goal by Piñeiro.
The Panthers’ kicker made a 42-yarder in the second half. But his luck ran out in the fourth quarter and overtime, as he missed the 48-yard extra point in the fourth quarter that was pushed back due to a penalty and then a 32-yard potential game-winner in the extra period.
Punter Johnny Hekker booted the ball three times on Sunday. He averaged 47 yards per attempt. Smith averaged an impressive 11.5 yards per punt return on four attempts.
The only major blemishes on special teams besides the missed kicks: A 19-yard punt return by running back Avery Williams and an illegal block in the back penalty by Cory Littleton, which wiped out a 30-yard punt return from Smith in the second quarter. Henderson also had a block in the back penalty on a Smith return, but the return only went for a 1-yard gain.
This story was originally published October 30, 2022 at 5:10 PM with the headline "Panthers’ Week 8 grades: How Carolina fumbled away an overtime loss to the Falcons."
