It wasn’t pretty at all times, nor it was highly impressive, but the Carolina Panthers did whatever it took to win this game. They had a big advantage going into the closing minutes of the match so that Cardinals’ late run really didn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Carson Palmer was awful to start this duel, but it wasn’t all his fault. He was given no protection, and Panthers defense knew how to exploit that. They are the one that should get the game ball as they stepped up and showed what they can do. Palmer did finish with much better numbers than Cam Newton, but most of those came when the game was already over.
Newton went 14/27 and was not far from impressive. A big part of that is getting hit yet again and having to suffer much more than he should as your quarterback. Luckily, he had Johnathan Stewart who scored 2 TDs and gave them a huge boost after missing a couple of weeks because of an injury.
David Johnson was Arizona’s most productive player coming into this game, and Carolina made sure to stop him. He carried the ball ten times and finished with only 24 rushing yards which is bellow average for him as we used to see more in previous matches.
Cardinals must feel a bit frustrated after that tie with Seahawks, and now they didn’t win in a week in which Seattle lost. On the other hand, this is a big moment for the Panthers as they are trying to turn their season around. They still have a lot of work ahead of them, but this victory is a good start.
