The biggest knock against the Carolina Panthers was the inconsistent play of quarterback Cam Newton. Greg Olsen is one of the better TE’s in the game, but he is really the only established star that Newton has to work with.
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In the first game under interim head coach Mike Mularkey, Marcus Mariota’s five-yard touchdown pass in overtime to tight end Anthony Fasano gave them a 34-28 win.
Newton said the secret for opening the game with 11 straight completions was “clear weather”. “I’ve got to do a better job of helping those guys out in terms of protection and getting the ball out and allowing our guys to make plays”.
The Panthers defense looked soft against the run at times but the Titans didn’t run the ball enough to hurt them.
The Falcons offense has become stagnant after a fast start to the season. “Eventually the dam is going to break”.
Newton also scored on a one-yard touchdown run in the final minutes, as the Panthers sealed the win. Tight end Delanie Walker also had a good day, with three receptions for 52 yards, and at least a few of that blame is attributed to the linebackers.
“He was teasing on the sideline, saying ‘I don’t think they put me in the game plan.’ I told him I don’t care, I’m going to keep giving you the ball”.
BUCCANEERS 10, COWBOYS 6: In Tampa, Florida, Jameis Winston scored on a 1-yard quarterback keeper with 54 seconds remaining as Tampa extended Dallas’ longest losing streak since 1989 to seven games. Current score is 14-10.
Months later, Oher is back on his feet – professionally speaking – and prepared to come back to town Sunday as the Carolina Panthers’ starting left tackle.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera said protecting Newton will be crucial because the Titans can send blitzers from any direction.
“They continued to do what they haven’t been doing”, Mularkey said.
Everyone agreed on this: the Titans should’ve done more to prevent it.
Newton completed 21 of 26 passes for 217 yards.
“We knew coming in it was going to be a tough battle but we left a lot of points out there”, Mariota said.
“We have an opponent that we need to go get”, Panthers wide receiver Jerricho Cotchery said. The Titans appeared to have more players on the field than the Panthers.
For the most part, the Titans played pretty well in the first half of Sunday’s game, but the reality of this being a bad team came back quickly in the second half.
Ryan Succop’s 45-yard field goal narrowed the deficit to 14-10 with 7:45 left in the half. “I don’t know the exact specifics, but it’s not good”. A better offense would make the Panthers pay for the missed opportunities caused by sacks. Neither Bishop Sankey nor Antonio Andrews has consistently produced out of the backfield this season, and the Titans shouldn’t have to count on the return of sixth-round draft pick David Cobb from the injured reserve to give a boost to the running back corps. You can watch a replay of what happened here. If necessary, Cam Newton should run well vs. this defense.
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Life is sweet when you’re the quarterback of a 9-0 team.
