Cat Scratch Reader
The Carolina Panthers lost to the Steelers, but the most important thing is that no one got hurt.
The Panthers started the game on defense and rookie safety Lathan Ransom immediately became a main character. He extended the drive with a hold on tight end Pat Freiermuth but bounced back with a couple of nice tackles in run support. The defense eventually got off the field thanks to a nice tackle in space by Shemar Bartholomew on Freiermuth. On offense, Trevor Etienne broke through tackles and bobbed and weaved for a 28 yards on the first offensive play that didn’t feature a penalty. A few more plays moved the Panthers into field goal range, and rookie Ryan Fitzgerald banged home the 43 yarder to put the Panthers on the board.
The defense held serve once again on the second drive. They forced a three and out with rookies Princely Umanmielen and Cam Jackson combined to flush Mason Rudolph out of the pocket and force the throw away. The Panthers offense didn’t do any better on their own drive after some pretty poor throws by Jack Plummer.
Ransom returned to the spotlight on the first play of the second quarter. He dropped underneath a crossing Freiermuth to pick off a fluttering pass from Rudolph and ran it back to the Steelers half of the field. The offense drove inside the Steelers 10 yard line but came away with zero points as a scrambling Plummer airmailed a pass over his receiver’s head into the waiting arms of a Steelers defensive back in the endzone.
Skylar Thompson checked in to play quarterback for the Steelers and proceeded to dice up the Panthers defense. He completed passes in chunks with little resistance and capped it off with a touchdown pass down the left sideline to a wide open Lance McCutcheon, who cooked Bartholomew on a double move.
The Panthers offense responded with their most productive drive of the evening to that point. David Moore broke off a big run out of an end around and Raheem Blackshear picked up a couple of chunks on more traditional run plays. Plummer ran the team inside the 10 on a 3rd down scramble. A couple of plays later, Plummer floated a ball to a wide open James Mitchell for a touchdown. The throw was a little closer to the sideline than was comfortable, but a tuddy is a tuddy.
Freshly signed Bryce Perkins led the Panthers to start the second half and had the offense moving before a bad news bears type of play ended with the ball on the ground and eventually in the hands of the Steelers. They took over around midfield and marched into the redzone, but a penalty backed them up and derailed the drive. The defense did their part and limited the Steelers to a field goal.
Perkins found training camp fan favorite Jimmy Horn on a quick slant to move the Panthers...
