Cat Scratch Reader
The Carolina Panthers reverted to their substandard level of play and were blown out by the New England Patriots, 42-13.
Bryce Young completed a pass to David Moore in the flat to get the game started, and Moore was tackled awkwardly and immediately forced to leave the game. The offense was still able to keep its rhythm though, as Young completed all four of his pass attempts to four different receivers. The last of those was a ball over the top to Tommy Tremble from just inside the ten for a Panthers touchdown. Ryan Fitzgerald shtoinked the extra point off the left upright to keep the score 60
The defense carried their momentum from last week and stifled the Patriots on the first drive. They forced a three and out to get the ball back for the offense. Young kept up his completion streak for a few more passes before the drive stalled out around midfield. The Panthers punted and seemed to be caught off guard by the lack of a fair catch at the ten yard line. The first tackler missed and everyone else was scattered, leaving no one near the returner and let him run 87 yards for the touchdown. Their kicker made his extra point to put the Patriots on top.
Rico Dowdle responded with a slashing kickoff return out to the 40 yard line and then picked up a first down on a toss a few plays later. The Panthers crossed midfield, but again stalled out there. Young threw behind an open Tetairoa McMillan on third down that would have at least moved the Panthers into field goal range, so they had to settle for a punt that bounced into the end zone.
The defense no longer had the momentum from the week prior on the ensuing drive. They let the Patriots pick up huge chunks of yardage on three plays that were all either handoffs or screen passes. The quarter ended with the Patriots inside the five.
Drake Maye rolled out off play action on the first play of the second quarter and had no resistance running into the end zone. The Panthers took over on offense needing to make something happen. They once again moved over midfield but couldn’t make anything happen from there. Young fell down trying to escape pressure which took the Panthers out of field goal range. They tried a field goal anyway, but Fitzgerald’s 55 yard field goal came up short.
Maye hit Diggs on a big pass play to get the Patriots back inside the 10, but a somewhat questionable facemask penalty on the Patriots backed them up to 1st and goal from the 25. The Panthers returned the favor with a Nick Scott tripping penalty to give New England a free first down. They took the extra opportunity and punched in their third touchdown of the game with a handoff to TreVeyon Henderson. The Panthers did nothing on offense again and had...
