Huge win has Carolina Panthers taking big leap in Week 6 NFL power rankings

The Panthers pulled off an unlikely comeback against the Dolphins and earned themselves a serious jump in Sportsnaut's weekly power rankings.

Oct 5, 2025; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Carolina Panthers running back Rico Dowdle (5) reacts after scoring a touchdown with Carolina Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble (82) and Carolina Panthers tight end Mitchell Evans (84) during the fourth quarter against the Miami Dolphins at Bank of America Stadium. | Cory Knowlton-Imagn Images

Wins don't get any more must-win than the Carolina Panthers' comeback victory over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.

After falling behind 17-0 it looked like the were about to get blown out again by another team that missed the playoffs last season. However, they turned it around and scored a huge win, improving to 2-3 on the year.

With another victory over the Dallas Cowboys next week, the Panthers can even their record to 3-3 and set themselves up to competefor a Wild Card spot in the second half of the season.

As they should, the team got a big bump in Sportsnaut's weekly power rankings. Carolina is up four spots from No. 27 last week to No. 23 now.

"No matter what happens to the Carolina Panthers for the rest of the season, head coach Dave Canales needs to stick around... Dowdle proved instrumental in the comeback, and Young chipped in late, engineering a game-winning drive to push Carolina to 2-3."

We're going to have to agree to disagree with the take on Canales, whose team once again got off to an atrocious start. He also took a huge risk by calling a pass play on third down on the last possession when Dowdle looked unstoppable. He was only bailed out by a hold from Jack Jones.

In any case, the Panthers made just enough adjustments and got just enough break-through performances to beat a really bad team at home. That doesn't make them a playoff team, but it does give them something to build on going forward.

If Canales could just get his team to stop tripping right out of the gate, who knows what they might be capable of.

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