The Carolina Panthers were reminded throughout the week not to look past the New York Jets with a huge divisional matchup looming next week in New Orleans, and for three quarters, it appeared that they might be doing just that. But with the Panthers down two in the fourth quarter, it was not Cam Newton, but the quarterback on the other side of the ball that made the big play to lift the team to victory.
Luke Kuechly picked up a Josh McCown fumble forced by Wes Horton and raced 34 yards to the endzone to put the Panthers ahead to stay in the fourth quarter of their 35-27 win over the New York Jets and punt returner Kaelin Clay put the icing on the cake with a 60-yard punt return a moment later to put the Panthers ahead two scores; the team had gone from down two to up twelve in just three minutes without running an offensive play.
“We had edge pressure and I just slanted into the b-gap; the tackled fanned out and I just put on the jets,” said Wes Horton about his second strip-sack of the season. “Before McCown could even really throw the ball, I was on top of him. Luke was luckily in position to pick the ball up and take it to the house.”
“I think it sparked the whole team.”
While the Panthers came away with a win in a game in which they may not have played their best, they were hoping to get more from a couple of key contributors After Ron Rivera said that the Panthers would work Greg Olsen back in slowly after he missed eight games with a broken foot suffered in Week 2, he added that the Pro Bowl tight end would play “judiciously”.
It didn’t take long for Olsen to make an impact as he was on the receiving end of Cam Newton’s first pass attempt, a second down throw that the tight end converted for ten yards and a first down but it turned out that missing two months of practice affected the timing between Newton and his “dawg”, as Newton missed an open Olsen on two consecutive second quarter throws, including an end zone try in which the Panthers would settle for a Graham Gano field goal.
Olsen would finish with only that one catch and after playing only 24 snaps, he did not return after he felt some soreness in the surgically-repaired foot during the first half and was late coming out of the locker room after halftime.
“I was ready to come back. I felt good, but the foot wasn’t exactly where we needed it to be to play in the NFL. So we live to play another week; hopefully it will be better next week,” said Olsen in the locker room after the game. “When you’re dealing with your foot there isn’t much you can do. We just thought it would be best to not go crazy out there on the turf.”
The Panthers used Olsen on eight plays of their first drive, which covered 48 yards and including a fourth-and-short conversion from the Jets’ 39-yard line and ended in a Graham Gano 40-yard field goal to stake the Panthers to an early 3-0 lead; the Jets would answer right back with a 10-play, 55 yard drive of their own that probably should have resulted in a touchdown, but tight end Austin Sefarian-Jenkins dropped a wide open pass in the endzone that quarterback Josh McCown placed perfectly. McCown was 3-of-5 on the first drive for 42 yards and would finish the day with over 300 yards and three scores, while Sefarian-Jenkins would only catch two of his seven targets and have an apparent touchdown catch overturned after review.
While the teams would end the first quarter tied at three, the Panthers would embark on their longest touchdown drive of the season, a 10-play, 86-yard opus that fittingly, in Stefon’s home town, had everything. A nicely drawn-up, beautifully-executed Kaelin Clay reverse that went for 29 yards; two Devin Funchess catches that both went for first downs; an opposing player getting called for roughing the passer after a late hit on Cam Newton; and finally, a naked bootleg for Newton in which he outran a linebacker to the endzone. Cam even threw in a Superman celebration for good measure to put the Panthers up 9-3.
After another field goal for Graham Gano and the Jets offense struggling for much of the first half against the Panthers top-three defense, Josh McCown would get the ball back with 2:19 left in the second quarter and engineer a six-play drive that covered 75 yards in just over a minute of game time and was capped off by one of the most impressive touchdown catches you’ll ever see by wide receiver Robby Anderson to send the teams to the locker room with the Panthers leading 12-10; it was Anderson’s fifth straight game with a touchdown catch.
What a phenomenal catch by Robby Anderson for a TD, 😲
🎥: pic.twitter.com/XcGMyDzvxj— New York Jet Fuel (@NewYorkJetFuel) November 26, 2017
Anderson would match his second quarter score with another one in the third, but this one could be attributed to Josh McCown, who extended a play by rolling to his right before waving for Anderson to go deep. Anderson, who was being defended by safety Kurt Coleman, changed direction and streaked downfield for a 54-yard score in which he was open by at least ten yards as he cruised into the endzone. The Panthers secondary, who had gotten lucky with dropped touchdowns by open receivers this season, didn’t get lucky this time as Anderson’s second score of the day put the Jets up 17-12 with 5:52 left in the third quarter.
“We’re always told to plaster the receiver, so when the quarterback starts scrambling, you’ve got to plaster the nearest receiver to you and follow him; lock onto him and follow him. I guess he just slipped out somehow and was open,” said Kevon Seymour. “He’s quick, so that can be pretty tough but you’ve got to keep your eyes on the receiver.”
The Panthers would answer back with a 72-yard drive that was helped along by a Jets offsides penalty on fourth down and a borderline inexcusable 12-men-on-the-field call that occurred as the Jets were backed up inside their own ten-yard line. The penalty was after a three-minute injury stoppage, and the Panthers took advantage of the miscue by having Jonathan Stewart plunge in from two yards out; the Panthers went for two and Ed Dickson was stopped short of the goal line as they retook the lead 18-17.
A field goal would put the Jets ahead 20-18 before Kuechly would put on his cape and save the day for the Panthers.
“Man, Luke is the best linebacker in the league. Hands down. He deserved it,” said Mike Adams.
“We deserved it.”
Additional Notes:
- CB Captain Munnerlyn did not make the trip to New York with an illness and Ladarius Gunter was a healthy scratch; the Panthers only had three CBs active for the first time all season.
- Tyler Larsen started the game at center after being questionable; six-time Pro Bowler Ryan Kalil was active for the first time since Chicago and only the fourth time this season but did not play a snap.
- Fullback Alex Armah, who had played on approximately 25% of the offensive snaps the past two games as the Panthers racked up consecutive 200-yard rushing totals, was declared inactive before the game. Armah had been on the practice squad the first two weeks of the season, the only two games tight end Greg Olsen has been active before his return in New York.
- With nickel cornerback Captain Munnerlyn not making the trip to New York, the Panthers used safety Jairus Byrd as their nickel cornerback; the first completion of the game was to wideout Jermaine Kearse on third down as he was matched up with the safety.
- Christian McCaffrey had the longest run of his career in the second quarter, a 40-yard burst over right tackle. McCaffrey finished with seven rushes for 62 yards and two catches for 35 yards; his backfield mate Jonathan Stewart would only have 26 yards on 15 carries.
- Graham Gano missed his second extra point of the season in the second quarter after the Panthers first score.
- The Panthers converted on fourth down twice, once on the McCaffrey completion, and once on a Jets offsides penalty in which the resulted play would have been a turnover.
- Kaelin Clay’s punt return touchdown was the first punt return for a score since October of 2014 when Philly Brown picked up a loose punt and took it to the house.
- The Jets would answer back with a final touchdown after the two Panthers scores to cut the lead to 32-27, but the Panthers would hold the ball for over five minutes and kick a field goal with 21 seconds left to put them up eight. They were assisted by another roughing the passer penalty, this one coming on third down just before the two-minute warning on a third down pass that fell incomplete and would have given the Jets the ball back.
- A bright spot on the offense for the Panthers was wideout Devin Funchess, who finished with seven catches for 108 yards on 12 targets. He is the fourth player to eclipse the 100-yard mark for the Panthers this season.
