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Pack Pros: Burris Comes Up Big For Panthers

Safety Justin Burris came up big when the Carolina Panthers needed him on Sunday to help seal a win against the Atlanta Falcons and highlight this week's action among NC State alumni in the NFL

Juston Burris dropped the ball the first time he had a chance to make a big play for the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

He wasn't about to let it happen a second time, especially with the game on the line.

The safety from NC State intercepted a pass from Matt Ryan in the end zone with nine minutes remaining on Sunday to prevent a tying score and propel the Panthers to a 23-16 victory against their NFC South rival.

"Just go up and get the ball," Burris said in a postgame Zoom, when asked what he was thinking while the ball was in the air. "Be a playmaker. Be a thief."

Burris had an opportunity to do that earlier in the game.

But after teammate Brian Burns knocked the ball free on a second quarter sack, Burris failed to pick it up with nothing but open field between him and the end zone. 

"I just didn't get my hands underneath it," Burris said. "That's on me. I should've had that."

Instead of a Carolina touchdown, Atlanta retained possession. And to add insult to injury -- literally -- Burns suffered a concussion on the next play.

"It did bother me," Burris said. "I just had to let it go."

The former Wolfpack star made amends in the fourth quarter when he stepped in front of receiver Russell Gage and made his game-saving interception -- his first as a member of the Panthers -- on a third-and-4 play from the 5-yard line.

"It was a safety on a slot receiver. They thought they had a mismatch," Burris said. "But I couldn't panic, and I was just trying to make a play. The coaches made that call because they have faith in me to cover the slot receiver. So I just wanted to prove them right."

In addition to his pick, Burris also contributed three tackles and a pass breakup to the Panthers' third straight win.

But he wasn't the only former State player to produce some late-game heroics on Sunday.

Russell Wilson strengthened his MVP credentials by driving the Seattle Seahawks 94 yards in the final two minutes to pull out a 27-26 victory against the Minnesota Vikings.

Wilson completed a 39-yard pass to D.K. Metcalf on a fourth-and-10 play early in the possession before hitting Metcalf in the end zone -- again on a fourth down play -- for the winning six-yard touchdown with just 15 seconds remaining.

Wilson finished the game completing 20 of 32 passes for 216 yards and three scores. He also led his team in rushing with 58 yards on the ground in leading Seattle to the first 5-0 start in franchise history.

Among the other Wolfpack alumni in the NFL:

  • A.J. Cole III of the Las Vegas Raiders punted only twice against the Kansas City Chiefs, but both went for 53 yards -- including one that was downed inside the 20 -- in his team's 40-32 win against the defending Super Bowl champs. 
  • Philip Rivers went 21 of 33 for 243 yards. But he was also intercepted twice, once for a touchdown, and was called for intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety in the Indianapolis Colts' 32-23 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
  • Nyheim Hines had two catches for 22 yards and a punt return for seven yards for the Colts in that game.
  • Germaine Pratt had six tackles for the Cincinnati Bengals in a 27-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens
  • James Smith-Williams had his first career tackle for loss in Washington's 30-10 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
  • Finally, Stephen Hauschka didn't help his chances of sticking with the Jacksonville Jaguars by missing both of his field goal attempts -- from 24 and 49 yards -- in a 30-14 loss to the Houston Texans.

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