There was a big return to the gridiron in Charlotte in today’s Panthers/Packers matchup, but the return that will matter for an extended period of time may have come a week ago against the Minnesota Vikings.
After going without a catch with only one target in his return from a broken foot last week, Greg Olsen would turn in a vintage Greg Olsen performance with nine catches for 116 yards and a touchdown, establishing himself once again as Newton’s security blanket as the Panthers head into the stretch run of the season and into the playoffs as Newton outshined Aaron Rodgers in his return from a broken collarbone to lead the Panthers to a 31-24 win over the Green Bay Packers to boost the Panthers record to 10-4 and make it a near impossibility for the Packers to reach the playoffs.
“It felt good,” Olsen said after his best game since his nine-catch, 181-yard performance against Tampa Bay last season. “I got the catch early; something easy. [It was] just nice to kind of get back in the game, get tackled, hit, knocked down, bounced around a little bit; then we just started clicking. We started hitting some of the plays we’ve been hitting for a long time around here. Nothing special, just stuff that we’ve been very good at, very productive with, and once you kind of get going, it’s funny how the game- you start getting into a rhythm and you feel like every balls going to come your way.”
Olsen wasn’t the only one with a big game.
Much ado has been made about rookie running back Christian McCaffrey’s role in the offense and with many fans wishing for more touches from the lightning fast rookie from Stanford, the first drive of the game may have been Mike Shula’s way of granting them. McCaffrey was heavily involved in the game plan, beginning with McCaffrey touched the ball nine times and had 60 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown catch to cap off the 15-play, 85-yard opener, which made for the third consecutive week with a touchdown on the opening drive for the Panthers.
“It’s the new shiny toy. What we can do with all the different things, and we saw it. We saw we could run the ball with him, we could throw the ball to him, we could split him out. But at the same time, you put him in there with different combinations of players and he ends up playing different positions for you. He plays wide receiver, he plays running back, he plays the slot.”
-Head Coach Ron Rivera on Christian McCaffrey
If the Packers thought they would get away from McCaffrey, they were anything but correct, as McCaffrey would continue his breakout game with his largest output of the season, piling up 136 yards from scrimmage, 73 of them on the receiving side of the column. He had previously been averaging under 65 yards per game.
Aaron Rodgers made his return to action after eight weeks off with a broken collarbone, and after an overthrow to Jordy Nelson on his first drive which led to a punt and a Panthers touchdown to go up 7-0, Rodgers would respond with a vintage Rodgers drive that covered 75 yards and featured two scrambles for first downs by the quarterback who said before the game that his collarbone was “80% healed”. He would cap it off with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams in which it appeared that Thomas Davis, James Bradberry and Kurt Coleman failed to adjust to the presnap motion and Adams was all alone up the seam for the score. Adams would finish with five catches for 57 yards and the first quarter touchdown.
“It wasn’t a pretty throw,” Rodgers said. “But it was a throw we kind of talked about during the week on that play to Davante Adams. A semi-blind throw, couldn’t see exactly where he was at, but based on a brief snap of the linemen and the safeties, I felt confident he was going to be able to get inside.” Whether or not he was able to get inside was likely a moot point as the Panthers didn’t have a player within five yards of him.
It was not all puppy dogs and ice cream sundaes for Rodgers in the first half, however, as he would throw an underthrown ball down the sidelines that would be intercepted by a leaping Daryl Worley, marking the second-year corner’s second straight game with an interception and the third in the past two weeks for a Panthers cornerback after going the first twelve games without one. Unfortunately, the Panthers, after picking up 146 yards on their way to their 10-7 first half lead, the team would only manage 15 on their next two drives as the Packers mounted their comeback to take the lead.
“We had a lull right there in the second quarter and had to pick up the intensity,” remarked Cam Newton.
Rodgers, who would end the day with a very un-Rodgeresque three interceptions to go with his 290 yards and three scores, would lead the Packers to a touchdown before the half, scoring on a 33-yard touchdown pass play to Randall Cobb that was vintage Rodgers as he flipped the ball to a crossing Cobb as the two-time MVP was being pulled down for a would-be sack by Wes Horton and Cobb did the rest, dashing thirty yards and avoiding two would-be tacklers as he dove into the endzone to put the Packers up 14-10 as they headed into halftime.
The Panthers would start their second half much like the first, putting together a 78-yard drive that ended with Newton throwing a 30-yard touchdown to a wide-open Greg Olsen for his first touchdown of the season. Another interception, this one by Colin Jones, would lead to Newton’s third touchdown pass of the day, this one coming via Ron Rivera challenge after Newton winged a dart to Damiere Byrd in the back of the endzone; Byrd bobbled the pass in double coverage but managed to secure it as he came down with half of his rear end in the field of play and half on the chalk. After initially calling it incomplete, the referees ruled that one cheek equals two knees in today’s NFL, aand the Panthers were ahead 24-14.
“I guess it pays to have little cheeks,” joked Newton after the game. Again, the jokes are a lot funnier after a win.
Plenty of time left, but the #Panthers convert the Aaron Rodgers 2nd INT to a touchdown pass by Cam Newton. Had good field position to start following the turnoverpic.twitter.com/g4soypL6yv
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) December 17, 2017
Greg Olsen on Damiere Byrd touchdown. Turn that sound on for this one. pic.twitter.com/LP8DhyJE87
— The Riot Report (@RRiotReport) December 17, 2017
Cam Newton had a performance fit for a dual-threat quarterback of his stature, besides the 242 yards and four touchdowns in the air, Newton would also add 58 yards on the ground, and the read-option threat of Newton opened up lanes for McCaffrey and Stewart, although after rushing for 103 yards last week, Stewart would only finish with 27 yards on 11 carries against the Packers 3-4 front. Newton would finish with a quarterback rating of 128.0, while Rodgers would lag behind with a 71.5 in his return.
“I feel like Cam was solid,” said Rivera about his quarterback. “Again, he has been on point; he has done the things we asked and he has been solid. We have been very pleased with those things; again, I think that as we continue to go forward this is the type of energy we need from our quarterback and from our key players.”
One of those key players going forward will be third-year pro Damiere Byrd, who would follow up the most catches and yardage in his career last week with his first multiple-touchdown game of his career, catching his second score with 12:29 left in the game on a 13-yard slant to put the Panthers up 31-17 and finish out the Panthers scoring on the day.
“One thing about our offense is we take turns making plays,” Byrd said about an offense that is averaging 30.6 points in their last five games. “We all do our jobs every play. It doesn’t matter who’s getting the ball or what coverage it is, everybody’s doing their job and whoever has the ball in their hands is making plays with it.
Tight end Richard Rodgers had two catches for 60 yards, including a 24-yard score to pull the Packers to within one score at 31-24 and 2:48 remaining in the game before the Packers recovered an onside kick. After losing an 11-point lead last week in the fourth quarter to the NFC North- leading Minnesota Vikings, the Panthers were determined not to fail again after the onside kick gave the Packers possession at their own 48-yard line. Three passes in quick succession followed by a defensive holding pattern appeared to have the Panthers on their heels before James Bradberry forced wideout Geronimo Allison to fumble and Mike Adams would recover to seal the win for the Panthers.
“I’m just happy that we’re winning,” said Cam Newton. “I always say that we know how to keep a game interesting.”
Additional Notes:
- Cornerback Captain Munnerlyn, who the Panthers signed to a four-year, $17.5 million contract before the season was among the inactives for the Panthers; Munnerlyn walked out of practice early on Wednesday for “personal” reasons, but said he was “ready to roll” after practice Thursday. He was on the sideline in sweats and appeared to be involved in the defensive adjustments and scheming as the game.
- Thomas Davis was cited for an unnecessary roughness penalty on a peelblack block in which he absolutely crushed wide receiver Davante Adams; Adams was evaluated for a concussion and did not return.
- Olsen eclipsed 100 yards receiving for the first time since Week 5 of the 2016 season.
- Both Daryl Worley and James Bradberry had interceptions for the second week in a row; Colin Jones had the third, the first time Aaron Rodgers had thrown three interceptions since 2009.
- Julius Peppers and Mario Addison split a fourth-quarter, fourth-down sack of Aaron Rodgers to boost both of their totals to ten on the season, the fifth time a pair of defenders have each reached double digits on the season.
- The Panthers are averaging 30.6 points per game in their last five after averaging 18.7 in their first nine.
- Newton now has 28.943 total yards as he passes Matt Ryan for second-most total yards through a quarterback’s first seven seasons. Only Peyton Manning (30,062) has more.
- Olsen became the fifth different player with a 100-yard receiving game for Carolina, a number that ranks first in the NFL and is a franchise record.
- Christian McCaffrey tied Kelvin Benjamin for the franchise record for receptions by a rookie with 73 catches. He already holds franchise records for most receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns by a running back.
