The Panthers offense continued with woes, but the defense stepped up to get a win.
What a game that was.
The Panthers snapped a nine game loosing streak this weekend, over the rival NFC South New Orleans Saints (which pleased me greatly).
The first quarter was all defense, as the Panthers only logged 7 snaps on offense. However, the defense created a massive play with a forced fumble by Frankie Luvu and subsequent recovery by Marquis Haynes returned for a touchdown, which set the tone for the rest of the game. The Panthers clamped on two field goals in the ensuing drives (where the teams traded punts multiple times), before the Panthers blocked a field goal for the first time in awhile to close out the first half.
The Saints opened the half with a strong drive, but a huge stop catered by a Jeremy Chinn sack forced a field goal attempt, which Will Lutz missed. The Panthers offense got aggressive on the following drive, but failed a 4th down conversion as Baker threw an errant pass, the only thing he was consistent about all game. The Saints managed to get it within one score, as Jameis Winston marched the Saints down the field fot a 5 yard TD rush by Mark Ingram. That’s when Laviska Shenault showed up.
Shenault caught a short pass and took it 67 yards for a touchdown, though the Panthers failed to convert the 2 point attempt. Still, the defense continued to dominate as Jaycee Horn broke up a pass on a blitz on the following drive that Derrick Brown somehow brought down as an interception. The Panthers grabbed a field goal to go up 22-7, which despite a heroic attempt by Winston with a TD drive at the end of the game to push the score to 22-14, the Panthers managed to outlast the Saints. Jaycee Horn intercepted the pass on the final Saints drive, which meant the Panthers snapped their league leading losing streak, best part being it was over the bitter rival Saints.
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