On Sunday in New York, the Panthers defense and special teams scored two touchdowns 131 seconds apart which ended up deciding the game. The first came with just over 12 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter and the Panthers down by two when Wes Horton stripped Josh McCown and Luke Kuechly scooped it up and returned it for a touchdown. The second came four plays later when Kaelin Clay returned a punt for 60 yards and a score.
Let’s take a look at exactly how the first score happened.
Both Kevon Seymour (27) and James Bradberry (24) are in man coverage on the outside, the difference being that Seymour is in off coverage, but when Austin Seferian-Jenkins (88) moves inside before the snap both Seymour and Kurt Coleman (20) move towards the line of scrimmage while Mike Adams (29) starts to back up and Shaq Thompson (54) follows Sefarian-Jenkins as if he is in man coverage as well.
When the play snaps into action, Coleman blitzes, Seymour continues his off-man coverage against Robbie Anderson (11) while Thompson, Thomas Davis (58) and Kuechly (59) drop into zone coverage. For the Jets, Lawrence Thomas (44) and Jenkins both initially stay in to block before running shallow routes; Jenkins runs to the flat while the fullback Thomas curls just behind the line of scrimmage. Star Lotulelei (98) and Kawann Short (99) occupy three blockers between the two of them, which leave running back Elijah McGuire (25) and Brandon Shell (72) to block both the blitzing Coleman and Wes Horton (96).
“We had edge pressure and I just slanted into the b-gap; the tackled fanned out and I just put on the jets. Before McCown could even really throw the ball, I was on top of him.”
-Wes Horton
Shell blocks Coleman while Horton breaks inside and McGuire, who is outweighed by over 50 pounds by the defensive end, can’t get a good angle on him which results in Horton simply powering through what little contact that McGuire makes. The ball slips out of McCown’s hand as he tries to make an ill-advised throw, and the second the ball is in the air Kuechly starts rushing towards the edge; when it pops out of the pile he scoops it up and takes it to the house.
If Horton had not gotten to Josh McCown when he did, Jermaine Kearse (10) had inside leverage on Bradberry and Anderson had just enough cushion that McCown could have thrown it to either of them and they would have had a chance at a first down. Although even if he had, both Bradberry and Seymour were in a position to contest the catch and all three linebackers were underneath their routes and might have had a chance to break on the ball.
As it stands, this play gave the Panthers a lead they would not relinquish, and was not only a turning point for this ugly win over the Jets, but may just be the play that propels them forward towards the playoffs.
Want to read about the other play that may have turned the game?
-Video clips Courtesy of NFL.com
