SAFETY FIRST: Hunter beat Michael Oher to sack Newton in the end zone in the first quarter for Minnesota’s first safety since Jared Allen had one on December 4, 2011.
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The third week of the National Football League season includes a battle between two solid Pennsylvania teams, a rematch of the biggest regular-season game in Saints history and a game in Charlotte, North Carolina, where there is a heavy police presence outside the stadium after a fifth day of protests prompted by the fatal shooting of a black man by a police officer.
There was a heavy police presence around Bank of America Stadium before Sunday’s game.
(AP Photo/Bob Leverone). Carolina Panthers’ Cam Newton wears a shirt with a quote by Martin Luther King as he warms up before an NFL football game against the Minnesota Vikings in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Everson Griffen saw where defense got the Denver Broncos last season.
The Vikings sacked Newton a total of eight times, which tied the team’s third-highest total in a road game.
If you tuned in at the start of the second half, you would be forgiven for thinking that the Vikings offense had looked as consistent all game long.
“I was sick, but I fight for my team”, Griffen said. “It’s team sacks. We came from every area on the field and we get sacks”.
With key injuries to Teddy Bridgewater, Adrian Peterson and Matt Kalil on offense, the defense is leading the way.
“Whatever they were doing was effective”, Newton said. “Funchess, we weren’t anxious about him”.
Vikings cornerback Captain Munnerlyn has a message for Panthers wide receiver Devin Funchess: You’re not that good.
“I think in the first half we just never really found the rhythm”, Bradford said. “Funchess, we weren’t anxious about him”. After 21 targets in two games, Kelvin Benjamin wasn’t targeted until late in the fourth quarter. “I think the first two drives we were sluggish for whatever reason, but once he got that sack, that really just kind of got us going”.
Now in his third season with the Vikings (3-0), he said he’ll take satisfaction in the game’s outcome. In his second Vikings game, Bradford went 4 of 11 in the first half but 14 of 17 in the second, and finished 18 of 28 for 171 yards and a touchdown. The Vikings held the Panthers, missing starting running back Jonathan Stewart due to injury, to 105 rushing yards, their lowest since last year’s season opener at Jacksonville.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, their inconsistency and lack of discipline on offense played right into the hands of a defense built to rush the passer, and the Vikings sacked quarterback Cam Newton eight times on their way to a 22-10 victory.
Carolina lost its first home game since November, 2014, but coach Ron Rivera said it was unfair to blame the unrest in Charlotte for the way the Panthers played.
“If you want to be a playoff team you have to win at home”, Panthers offensive tackle Michael Oher said.
Newly released police video of a black man’s fatal shooting, sought by protesters for days, isn’t settling questions about whether the man threatened police with a gun before he was felled by a black officer. He played five seasons for the Panthers after competing in college for SC. “We have to have answers for it so that can’t happen again”.
“Part of it is that we have smart players”.
SAFETY FIRST: Hunter beat Michael Oher to sack Newton in the end zone in the first quarter for Minnesota’s first safety since Jared Allen had one on December 4, 2011.
Meanwhile, Carolina gave up a 54-yard punt return for a touchdown to Marcus Sherels and Graham Gano missed a 54-yard field goal.
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Factor in 10 penalties for 65 yards on the hosts, including having a sensational 56-yard touchdown catch and run by Fozzy Whittaker called back via an illegal block by Benjamin, and it was a long day offensively. He was a seventh-round draft pick of the Panthers in 2009 and holds the team’s career record for interceptions returned for touchdowns with five.
