Sunday, we watched Carolina Panthers rookie receiver Devin Funchess grow up. Meantime, they also lost running back Justin Forsett with a broken arm in the first quarter.
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The loss was especially discouraging for the Redskins after beating the New Orleans Saints 47-14 last week at home.
“We’ve had a tendency here of when we have a couple of bad things happen, they get magnified and some more things happen”, Gruden said.
The Panthers are just one of two undefeated teams remaining in the National Football League, and the only one left in the NFC. Other than that, all I can point to is that punter Tress Way played well and the special teams didn’t give up any big plays.
Sunday might be a good indication that those people will get to know a lot more about him – both in how he attacks the ball and how he challenges opposing corners. We learn from those and we just keep going.
The Panthers have become the first National Football League team to open its schedule with 10 straight wins following a losing season, doing it in a 44-16 trouncing of Washington.
While the Panthers have looked like legitimate Super Bowl contenders for some time now, their hot start no longer a fluke, they’re quickly becoming the team nobody will want to see in January (or February). They’re the 16th team to get to double-digit wins without a defeat in the Super Bowl era.
Carolina’s defense had five takeaways, set a franchise record with five forced fumbles and held Washington to 14 rushing yards (on 12 carries), the fewest allowed by the Panthers in their 21-year history.
Newton, who improved to 3-0 as a starter vs. the Redskins, threw a franchise-record four first-half touchdown passes.
“It makes for a very short turnaround, and if we do anything, we have to make sure we are getting our rest, hydrating, eating properly and staying off our feet”, Rivera said after Carolina’s 44-16 victory over Washington. “You’ve got to take advantage of them”.
Just when we thought the Redskins were going to be firing up the ground-game, they turned it off and tried to get into a shootout with their opponents.
With the game tied at 14 in the second quarter, Newton led an eight-play, 92-yard touchdown drive, capping it with a 2-yard TD pass to Ginn. “The referee made a decision, made a call, and it’s not challengeable, so there’s really no use talking about it”.
On the next possession, Cousins helped the Redskins even the score by throwing a 56-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver DeSean Jackson. He finished 21 of 34 for 246 yards without an interception.
Mario Addison had 1.5 sacks, Kyle Love and Kony Ealy had one each and Ryan Delaire added an extra half-sack as the Panthers’ defensive line regularly pressured Kirk Cousins.
Benwikere’s strip and sack of Cousins on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter led Newton’s fifth touchdown pass. Head coach Ron Rivera said that is “a little disrespectful” to be the underdog and 10-0. But with six drops and only seven catches for 90 yards in the first seven games, Funchess was nothing more than a supporting cast member. Olsen became the Panthers career leader in yards receiving by a tight end, passing Wesley Walls…. As a team, the Panthers have run for 1,399 yards on the ground, an average of an impressive 139 yards a game.
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Running back Alfred Morris re-aggravated his rib injury, which made him questionable all week leading up to the game, and did not return.
