Panthers Muscle Their Way Past Falcons on Thursday Night Football

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - For the first time in the organization's history, the Carolina Panthers sported matte black helmets and after the show they put on Thursday night, they might as well stick with the new look. The Panthers bullied their way to victory over the Atlanta Falcons, 25-15, avenging their overtime loss from twelve days ago.

Maybe it was the rainy weather conditions, a lack of trust in the passing game, the confidence in D'Onta Foreman, or perhaps a combination of all the above but the Panthers came out with a clear gameplan - run the damn ball.

The first four plays from scrimmage were all handoffs to Foreman, which resulted in moving the chains. Walker's first pass on the night was a completion of 20 yards to DJ Moore along the Panther sideline. Raheem Blackshear burst up the middle for a gain of 12 to move the offense to within field goal range. On the next play, Walker nearly threw an interception in the end zone on a pass intended for DJ Moore. The ball should have been thrown to Stephen Sullivan who ran the shallow route and had no one around him. Walker's next pass went off the elbow of tight end Tommy Tremble, who had no idea the ball was coming in his direction. Eddy Pineiro booted in a 46-yard field goal for the first points of the game.

Atlanta threatened to answer on the ensuing drive, but defensive tackle Matt Ioannidis drew back-to-back holding penalties on third down, pushing the Falcons out of Younghoe Koo's range.

Out of nowhere, the Panthers finally showed signs of complimentary football as Johnny Hekker's punt was downed at the three by Cory Littleton and the defense followed that up with a three and out. Bradley Pinion shanked his punt and gave Carolina terrific field position at the 43. Two plays later, P.J. Walker hit Laviska Shenault on a swing pass for a 41-yard touchdown. DJ Moore and Terrace Marshall Jr. deserve an assist on the score thanks to terrific perimeter blocking that sprung Shenault loose.

Visky said to the crib 💪 pic.twitter.com/fc6z7RFTHR
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 11, 2022

Atlanta, for whatever reason, neglected the run game and it proved to be costly. On the second play of the drive, Marcus Mariota carelessly threw a low-percentage pass downfield and Jaycee Horn was there to pull down the interception. Carolina would settle for another Pineiro field goal, this time from 49.

The Falcons received a little help on the back end of a 14-yard reception by Drake London to start the final drive of the first half as Xavier Woods delivered a high hit, which tacked on another 15 yards. Atlanta closed out the half with a 33-yard field goal from Koo, making it a 13-3 game at the midway point.

Early in the third quarter, Shi Smith let a punt bounce inside the 10 -- something he's done more than a handful of times already this season. That pinned the offense inside its own two and a pair of penalties (false start, holding) on rookie left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, leading to a punt. Mariota and company took advantage of the short field and found pay dirt for the first time on a 7-yard touchdown pass over the middle in the back of the end zone to Drake London. Koo's PAT missed wide right.

Terrace Marshall Jr. recorded the longest catch of his short two-year NFL career (43 yards) on a ball that was zipped over the middle from Walker. The quick pitch and catch moved the ball into Atlanta territory. Walker then found Smith on a post toward the sideline for 17 and put a Falcon linebacker on skates with an 8-yard scramble. D'Onta Foreman put the finishing touch on the drive with a 12-yard rush to the end zone and into the stands with the fans. Pineiro matched Koo's missed PAT, keeping the score at 19-9.

🗣️ there he goes pic.twitter.com/6OJnAwX0px
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 11, 2022

After falling behind 22-9, the Falcons desperately needed to piece together a scoring drive and they were able to do so by going right at CJ Henderson on consecutive plays to Damiere Byrd, combing for 39 yards. Atlanta's offense strung together four explosive plays in a row, including the wide-open 25-yard touchdown toss to KhaDarel Hodge. However, Koo missed yet another PAT.

Carolina went three and out, but the defense came up huge at the end of the game and in particular, Marquis Haynes Sr., who recorded a pair of sacks to seal the deal. Pineiro would add three more to the score with under 15 seconds to bring us to our final score.

The Panthers will get about a week and a half to rest up before they hit the road to take on the Baltimore Ravens on November 20th. Kickoff between the Panthers and Ravens is scheduled for 1 p.m. EST on FOX.

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