Panthers Handle the Broncos, 23-10

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - It took Sam Darnold a couple of drives to get settled in, and after two punts, the Panthers notched the game's first points. Earlier in the scoring drive, interim head coach Steve Wilks called for a fake punt which kept the drive alive thanks to Sean Chandler running it right up the middle for the first down. A pair of explosive plays, a 26-yard pass to DJ Moore and a 15-yard run by D'Onta Foreman, moved Carolina into the red zone. Just a few plays later, Darnold connected with Moore again in the back corner of the end zone for a touchdown on a beautiful throw off his back foot and across his body.

DJ's got it.

Yeah, he does 💫 pic.twitter.com/QW0p3JV8yZ
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 27, 2022

Carolina's special teams unit had a strong start to the game, downing two punts inside the 10, the fake punt, and received a 21-yard punt return from Raheem Blackshear. However, a special teams blunder led to the first points of the game for Denver as Blackshear muffed a punt return, giving the Broncos a short field to work with starting at Carolina's 27-yard line. Denver moved the ball inside the 10, but Frankie Luvu and Brian Burns stuffed Latavius Murray on 3rd and goal, holding the Broncos to three.

Panthers offensive coordinator went back to his unit's strength and that's running the ball. D'Onta Foreman busted loose for an 18-yard gain at the start of the drive, but it was Chuba Hubbard who did most of the damage going for 29 yards on five carries to set up a 42-yard field goal for Eddy Piñeiro.

Latavius Murray busted loose for a 52-yard run on the first play of the ensuing drive, but that would be all the excitement Denver would generate on the series. Brian Burns got a hand on the ball as Russell Wilson went to throw and was ruled as a fumble recovered by Yetur Gross-Matos. The sack marked the 10th of the season for Burns, a new single-season career high. Carolina couldn't do anything with the ball following the turnover but it did prevent the Broncos from putting points on the board.

With just seconds left in the opening half, Wilson completed a 22-yard pass to Courtland Sutton while getting dragged to the ground by Marquis Haynes Sr. Brandon McManus missed a 56-yard field goal as time expired, keeping the score at 10-3 in favor of Carolina.

Darnold and the Panthers pieced together a methodical scoring drive on their first possession of the third quarter, going 72 yards on 10 plays while eating up over six minutes of game clock. A swing pass to Laviska Shenault and a 20-yard dart over the middle of the field to DJ Moore quickly moved the Panthers in plus territory. Foreman carried the offense inside the five but it was Darnold who capped the drive off with a touchdown. He kept the ball on a read option, fumbled the ball at the goal line, recovered it, and rolled into the end zone for the score.

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Darnold dropped one in the bucket to DJ Moore deep downfield for a gain of 52. Aside from PJ Walker's game-tying touchdown pass to Moore against Atlanta a few weeks back, it may have been the best throw by a Panthers quarterback this season. The drive, however, resulted in a field goal.

Jalen Virgil had a solid return on the kickoff, but TJ Carrie, who the Panthers signed two weeks ago, ripped the ball away at the last second and recovered to give Carolina the ball back. Once again, the Panthers tacked on three off the foot of Piñeiro.

The Broncos would finally reach the end zone via a short touchdown pass to Brandon Johnson with 3:24 remaining in the game. Sam Franklin had the onside kick recovered initially but it popped out once he was greeted with contact and fell into the hands of the Broncos.

Denver went three and out and the Panthers were able to run out the clock to pick up their fourth win of the season.

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