Panthers’ DJ Moore dishes on game-tying TD, game-changing penalty in loss to Falcons
DJ Moore darted down the field and got past a pair of Atlanta Falcons defenders. PJ Walker saw the wideout breaking free from Dean Marlowe and Rashaan Evans in coverage, and the Carolina Panthers quarterback heaved the ball to the end zone.
The ball hit Moore in the hands, and unlike his fourth-down drop from the previous series, the receiver hauled in the pass for a touchdown. The eye-opening grab came with just 12 seconds left on the clock, tying the game, 34-34, in front of a silenced Mercedes-Benz Stadium crowd.
“It was just a spectacular play,” Moore said after the game. “I had dropped the one beforehand, and shoot, I just let it loose.”
But the excitement of the moment got to Moore.
The animated wide receiver took his helmet off and slammed it to the ground in celebration.
Moore had done some thing similar — in frustration — following his fourth-down drop. Only this time, a yellow flag was thrown to the ground.
Moore was penalized 15 yards for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“It was a natural reaction,” Moore said. “But I’ve still got to know that I can’t do that, especially with the time left on the clock.”
The Falcons wisely chose to accept the penalty on the follow-up extra-point attempt.
Kicker Eddy Piñeiro went from having a typical 33-yard chip shot to being forced to make a 48-yard attempt with the game on the line.
Piñeiro missed the attempt, wide left, and the Panthers were forced to play the Falcons in overtime. Atlanta eventually won, 37-34, following a second missed attempt — a 32-yard field goal — by Piñeiro.
Moore sat on the bench for a few minutes after the game to collect his thoughts on the back-and-forth loss.
“What would have happened if I didn’t take my helmet off?” Moore said about this thoughts on the bench. “All going to back to what happened and that was about it.”
Following the game, Panthers interim head coach Steve Wilks called Moore’s penalized celebration a lesson to be learned for the receiver and the team.
“A big play like that, we’ve got to keep our poise,” Wilks said. “It was a great job with DJ coming up with the big play in the end zone, great pass by PJ, but as a team, we got to make sure that we’re smart and ready to take it to the next level and the next step.”
It was a tough pill for Moore to swallow, but hopefully for the Panthers, the receiver will be more mindful of his surroundings in future.
“DJ is smart enough to understand that that is something to learn from,” Wilks said. “Very talented player, glad he’s on our team, but moving forward that’s something we’ll learn from and we won’t make that same mistake.”
