For the majority of three quarters, the Carolina Panthers struggled to move the ball. There were flashes – the brilliant first drive that saw the Panthers jump to a 7-0 lead, the eye-popping DJ Moore catch-and-run that started inside the Panthers ten-yard line and ended at the Lions 12 – but aside from the Moore catch-and-run, the Panthers had only 41 net yards in the six drives that followed their first drive – so entering the fourth quarter, when Cam Newton came alive, to the tune of 13-for-18 for 163 yards and two scores in three drives, Ron Rivera felt as if his team had offensive momentum.
After a Newton eight-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore with 1:07 left, Rivera eschewed an extra point that might have tied the game at 20 if Graham Gano had made it – no guarantees after Gano had missed a 34-yard field goal in the third quarter and his most recent extra point attempt that might have put the Panthers ahead one in the fourth quarter – in order to go for the win.
“I went for two to win the football game, that’s all I’m going to say about it,” Rivera stated emphatically. “That was my mindset, we didn’t come here to tie, we didn’t come here to lose, we came here to win the football game – I just felt that was our best opportunity to win.”
“I think you go for two on the road to win the game and that’s what I did.”
While Rivera wouldn’t say whether the kicker’s previous misses entered into his decision-making, the rest of the offense trusted his decision completely – in fact, it didn’t phase them in the slightest.
“I wasn’t surprised,” said guard Greg Van Roten, who would have been on the field for an extra point or a conversion attempt. “I kind of felt like that’s where the game was going and that we had an opportunity to win it and we just didn’t get it.”
“I kind of expected it. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way – he trusted in me and I’ve got to uphold my end of the bargain and I didn’t do that,” Cam Newton said after the game, taking all of the blame on himself. “I let this team down and I’ve got to be better.”
“I’ve got to make that play – that’s what it comes down to.”
After a Panthers timeout in which both teams changed their approach – Rivera said the Panthers changed their look after seeing the Lions defensive set – with Greg Olsen double covered and Christian McCaffrey blanketed in the back half of the end zone, Newton had plenty of time to float to his left as Jarius Wright ran a drag route across the end zone. The veteran wide receiver, who always seems to make clutch catches at the right time – including a key third-down catch on the Panthers’ first drive – bounced off linebacker Christian Jones and broke back towards the middle, where he was open in the middle of the end zone. It may have been the exact wrong time – the exact moment when Newton thought about pulling the ball down and running for the end zone, which caused the quarterback to make a split-second decision and throw to a wide-open Wright without setting his feet.
And Newton missed him.
“That’s the unfortunate part; they rushed three, so we knew we had time – Jarius broke his route off and came back to the middle and presented a nice target and unfortunately, the ball was a little bit high,” Rivera said.
“We had a chance.”
They had a chance, but ultimately, the pass sailed over Wright’s head and the Panthers fell to 1-4 on the road and 6-4 overall, a full three games behind the division-leading Saints, who have now won nine straight games.
“I think today was just a perfect indication of guys taking turns making mistakes and that’s unacceptable. With the caliber of team that we are, with the caliber of team that we know we can be, the caliber of team that we need to be; it’s just unacceptable. Perfect example – that two point conversion. I’ve got to make that play.”
“Jarius did a good job with improvising,” Newton said somberly before repeating the phrase again that he said multiple times throughout his postgame press conference, the words that likely ran through his mind continuously as he sat in the locker room in full uniform with his head in his hands as his teammates came in and out of the shower and spoke to the media around him. “I’ve just got to make the play.”
“I’ve got to make that play.”
