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A Thrilling Turnaround: Panthers dig out of early hole to win
AP Photo
Steve Smith of the Panthers beats Roderick Hood of the Cardinals on this 18-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter.
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Published: October 27, 2008
CHARLOTTE
The Carolina Panthers lead the NFC South at 6-2 at the midway point of the season.
They remain unbeaten at Bank of America Stadium at 5-0.
As impressive as that sounds, the way they got there yesterday in beating the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 was even more impressive.
The Panthers rallied from a 17-3 deficit with three third-quarter touchdowns in a six-minute span -- including two in a span of 44 seconds -- after being thoroughly outplayed for more than a half.
It was a stunning turnaround, filled with a long list of big plays by both the offense and defense.
Coach John Fox called it a "character win" and defensive end Julius Peppers explained why.
"We never panicked," Peppers said. "We felt a sense of urgency when it got to 17-3, because you need that sense of urgency. But we always felt comfortable that we could come back and make it a game, and we did."
Losses by Tampa Bay and Atlanta yesterday gave the Panthers sole possession of first place in the division, with an open date next week.
"Being 6-2 compared to 5-3 going into the break is huge," quarterback Jake Delhomme said. "Hopefully we can look back on this game down the line and say that it was a pivotal game for us."
Delhomme did his part in the comeback, on a day when he finished 20 of 28 for 248 yards. He hit Steve Smith for touchdowns of 18 and 65 yards in the third quarter. Smith wound up with five catches for 117 yards. Running back DeAngelo Williams had the other touchdown, on a 15-yard third-quarter run, and finished with 108 yards.
Kurt Warner victimized the Panthers' defense most of the day, completing 35 of 49 passes for 381 yards and two touchdowns. But the defense forced two turnovers in the second half -- a fumble recovery by linebacker Thomas Davis that set up one touchdown, and an interception by linebacker Jon Beason that saved another.
"I wouldn't call it stealing a win, but let's just say we put it together at the right time," defensive tackle Damione Lewis said. "This is a four-quarter game. We grinded it out. We got the momentum and then we stayed on top of it. The defense put one together when we needed to and our offense came up huge."
The Cardinals, who lead the NFC West at 4-3 despite the loss, seemed to be in control after Tim Hightower's 2-yard touchdown run pushed the lead to 17-3 with 10:13 left in the third quarter.
Then the fireworks started.
Williams capped an 80-yard drive with a 15-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 17-10 with 6:54 left in the third quarter. Two plays later, defensive tackle Maake Kemoeatu forced an Edgerrin James fumble at the Arizona 18, with Davis recovering. Delhomme found Smith on the first play for the first of two touchdowns, and the game was tied 17-17 with 6:10 left in the third.
The Cardinals answered quickly to retake the lead, with Warner capping an 11-play, 78-yard drive by hitting Anquan Boldin from 2 yards out with 58 seconds left in the quarter. But the Cardinals botched the extra-point attempt as holder Dirk Johnson dropped the ball and was quickly tackled.
"That," Lewis said, "was probably the biggest play of the game because that's when we got the momentum."
After the kickoff, the Panthers needed three plays to take the lead for good at 24-23 with two seconds left in the quarter. On third-and-two from the Carolina 35, Delhomme found Smith in the left flat at the 47, broke one tackle, then barely stayed inbounds and raced 65 yards untouched. The Cardinals challenged, saying that Smith stepped out of bounds at the Arizona 48, but the play was not overturned.
"That is a typical Steve play," Delhomme said. "Instead of a heel touching, it stayed up. You grin and laugh and you're glad he's on our side."
The Panthers still hadn't stopped the Cardinals at that point, though, and Warner moved them quickly to the Carolina 15 on the next series. Warner's second-down pass over the middle bounced off J.J. Arrington's hands and Beason was in position to pick it off at the 5-yard line. Beason returned it 44 yards to the Carolina 49.
"We had tight coverage but I don't know what happened," Beason said. "The ball got tipped. I saw it and I made a play on it and got a decent return. We were just waiting on it. Those two turnovers were huge for us today."
The Panthers picked up one first down from there and John Kasay came on to kick his second field goal of the day, a 50-yarder, to push the lead to 27-23 with 9:09 left.
From there, the defense held again and then the offense ran out the final 5:57 with an 11-play drive that included two third-down conversions -- a 10-yard pass from Delhomme to Smith and a 17-yarder from Delhomme to Dwayne Jarrett.
"At halftime, we were more upset with ourselves offensively," Delhomme said. "We left some points on the board and we didn't play good football. That was the thing -- one play at a time. Don't get caught up in everything else. We had to change a few things during the game, but it was just ‘The next play, the next play.' That's what we did."
The defense did, too.
"Guys are extremely happy," Beason said. "It was tough for me, because I'm spent right now. I'm on E. I have nothing left in the tank, I'm on E. That's how you should finish the game. It was a real emotional game for me. I was trying to refrain from dropping a few tears because I really get emotional when guys go out there and fight for each other like that."
The Panthers' next game will be at Oakland on Nov. 9.
■ John Delong can be reached at jdelong@wsjournal.com.
Arizona 3 7 13 0 -- 23
Carolina 0 3 21 3 -- 27
First Quarter
Ari--FG Rackers 21, 6:56.
Second Quarter
Ari--Boldin 5 pass from Warner (Rackers kick), 11:16.
Car--FG Kasay 23, 5:42.
Third Quarter
Ari--Hightower 2 run (Rackers kick), 10:13.
Car--Williams 15 run (Kasay kick), 6:54.
Car--Smith 18 pass from Delhomme (Kasay kick), 6:10.
Ari--Boldin 2 pass from Warner (run failed), :58.
Car--Smith 65 pass from Delhomme (Kasay kick), :02.
Fourth Quarter
Car--FG Kasay 50, 9:09.
A--72,010.
TEAM STATISTICS
Ariz. Car.
First downs 25 22
Total Net Yards 425 351
Rushes-yards 14-50 29-113
Passing 375 238
Punt Returns 2-0 0-0
Kickoff Returns 5-103 3-86
Interceptions Ret. 0-0 1-44
Comp-Att-Int 36-51-1 20-28-0
Sacked-Yards Lost 2-16 1-10
Punts 3-55.7 3-44.3
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-1
Penalties-Yards 7-60 3-25
Time of Possession 32:37 27:23
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Ariz., Boldin 1-30, James 7-17, Hightower 6-3. Carolina, Williams 17-108, Stewart 8-10, Hoover 1-3, Delhomme 2-(minus 2), Smith 1-(minus 6).
PASSING--Ariz., Warner 35-49-1-381, D.Johnson 1-1-0-10, Arrington 0-1-0-0. Carolina, Delhomme 20-28-0-248.
RECEIVING--Ariz., Breaston 9-91, Boldin 9-63, Fitzgerald 7-115, Urban 4-51, Tuman 3-41, Hightower 2-18, Arrington 1-7, Doucet 1-5. Carolina, Smith 5-117, Muhammad 5-38, King 3-41, Jarrett 2-25, Williams 2-15, Hoover 2-12, Stewart 1-0.
MISSED FIELD-GOAL ATTEMPTS--None.
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