Thursday night’s National Football League matchup between the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints turned out to be a nail-biter.
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This time, the Saints fell to the Carolina Panthers in a tight 23-20 loss on Thursday Night Football. And Addison – the team leader with 6.5 sacks – left the game late in the fourth quarter after a two-sack performance against New Orleans.
The panthers converted off several New Orleans mistakes, including when Kuechly returned a blocked field goal (by defensive tackle Vernon Butler) into Saints territory. Kuechly’s primary backup, A.J. “If we come up short we have to be able to kick a field goal that’s a makeable one”. The Panthers wound up with the ball and scored the first points of the game.
No worries for the Panthers though, on the next play, Cam Newton threw a 40-yard touchdown strike to Ted Ginn Jr. The play sealed the score – a 23-20 victory for the Panthers – but really, it did even more. But I do know (center Ryan) Kalil has a shoulder, (defensive end) Mario (Addison) has a foot and (cornerback) Leonard (Johnson) has a chest contusion.
“I always have the mentality to be prepared to play”, Mayo said.
Alex Smith was held to less than 200 yards passing with an interception, Spencer Ware was plugged up on the ground and the rest of the offense was rendered entirely ineffective.
It seemed like deja vu all over again Thursday night in Charlotte. This is a defense that thrives on you getting impatient.
“You never want to see a guy go down like that”, Panthers safety Kurt Coleman said. I tried to let him know that I’d be praying for him.
“We’ll find out what we’re made of”, Rivera said. The team has been outscored 34-3 by Kansas City and New Orleans in the second half. Wil Lutz, whose second-quarter field goal was blocked, tacked on another three points to help the cause.
Ron Rivera said in a news conference Friday that Kuechly is in concussion protocol but said he didn’t have any additional information. I’m not sure exactly what it was, but obviously for that guy to go down like that I think you think the worst.
Carolina dropped its first matchup this season against the Saints, 41-38, at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans. But we won’t do that until they’re ready, until they’re right. One of the issues plaguing the club over the last two games has been multiple turnovers. Nothing has been determined at this point. David Mayo saw his first snaps on defense this season in Kuechly’s place. And on Thursday, they didn’t surrender one until almost 50 minutes into the game, finished with three sacks and held the Saints to 107 yards rushing. Carolina’s lead, once just three points, skyrocketed to 17 going into halftime. He was then taken back to the team’s locker room to be evaluated for a concussion, according to another report from CBS Sports.
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The Saints lost running back Mark Ingram to a concussion in the third quarter.
