Grading Panthers after win vs. Falcons: A night of redemption for PJ Walker, Eddy Piñeiro
It was the fourth quarter and rain was pouring down onto the field at Bank of America Stadium. The Carolina Panthers (3-7), looking to avenge a brutal overtime loss to the Atlanta Falcons (4-6) in Week 8, held a 22-15 lead and needed a stop on defense.
With 2:05 left in the game, defensive end Marquis Haynes Sr. pinned his ears back and attacked, sacking Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota on second down. The sack was Haynes’ first of the season, making him an unlikely hero in a must-win game against a division opponent. And he wasn’t done there.
Two plays later, Mariota dropped back on fourth-and-18 at the Atlanta 26. With a last-ditch effort, Mariota scrambled as he looked for a target — but he was mauled by Haynes for a second sack in three plays, essentially ending any hope of a comeback for the visiting Falcons.
Haynes, an under-the-radar pass rusher, sealed a prime-time win for interim head coach Steve Wilks and the fans in attendance, who had watched their team come up short in back-to-back road losses. And in actuality, Thursday’s 25-15 win against the Falcons was a night of redemption for several Panthers on their home turf.
On defense, pass rusher Brian Burns — who had his share of lumps during the past two weeks — made an important fourth-quarter sack with seven minutes remaining in the game. Linebacker Frankie Luvu — who was part of the defense that got run over by Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon just a few days earlier — made a handful of stops and added a pair of sacks to his resume.
On offense, quarterback PJ Walker — who had been benched at halftime of the blowout loss to the Bengals on Sunday — protected the ball and led five scoring drives in his second consecutive home win as a starter. Running back D’Onta Foreman, who was held in check by the Bengals in the Panthers’ previous outing, served as a consistent bulldozer during the second half to help Carolina run away with the game.
Lastly, kicker Eddy Piñeiro, who missed two huge kicks in the previous matchup against the Falcons, made all four of his field goals in a 10-point win. Despite missing an extra-point attempt, Piñeiro followed that miss with a pair of clutch field-goal attempts to extend the fourth-quarter lead in a double-digit win.
Here are our grades for the Panthers’ Thursday night win against the Falcons:
Rushing offense
A: The Panthers’ rushing offense was gifted a 41-yard touchdown by wideout Laviska Shenault, as the receiver caught a swing pass from Walker behind the quarterback.
Shenault caught the pass behind the line of scrimmage, took on strong blocks from fellow wideouts Terrace Marshall Jr. and DJ Moore, made two Atlanta defenders run into each other, and sped down the field for the score. Shenault worked in motion a lot and the swing pass was the payoff for the pre-snap movement.
Besides Shenault, the Panthers’ running game still held its own. Foreman, a grinding power back, continued to gain ground with a handful of big bursts. With swing tackle Cameron Erving routinely coming in to serve as an extra blocker, Foreman took advantage of creases with violent runs.
Foreman’s play of the game came on a 12-yard run for a touchdown in the third quarter. He finished with 130 yards and a rushing touchdown on 31 carries.
Rookie Raheem Blackshear served as a change-of-pace back in the rotation. He started his workload with a career-long 12-yard tote. He finished the game with six carries for 32 yards.
Second-year running back Chuba Hubbard returned after missing two games with a high ankle sprain. The Panthers were cautious with Hubbard’s workload, as he received just five carries for 14 yards against the Falcons.
Walker also had a couple of impressive runs, with one going for a first down on a QB sneak and another going for 8 yards with a impressive shimmy move on the play.
The Panthers finished with 232 total rushing yards and two touchdowns on 47 carries.
Passing offense
C: Walker wasn’t asked to carry the offense with rain pouring down on Bank of America Stadium. Instead, he was simply used as a game manager for Carolina, and that process worked for the passing offense.
In the first half, Walker had the Shenault touchdown stolen away from his stat line, so he finished the first two quarters with just 38 yards. Still, he led three consecutive scoring drives in the first half, which was a vast improvement over Sunday’s struggles against Cincinnati.
The Panthers picked up just one earned first down in the first half against the Bengals. But Walker led them to 10 first downs in the first half of the rematch against the Falcons.
In the second half, Walker got to use his arm a bit more with the lead. He connected with Marshall on a 43-yard completion on the second series of the third quarter. Marshall caught the ball on a crossing route, broke a few tackles and bowling-balled his way for the big gain. A few plays later, Walker hit wideout Shi Smith for a 17-yard gain. That play set up the rushing touchdown for Foreman.
After being benched at halftime just a few days earlier, Walker led four scoring drives in the first 43 minutes of the rematch against the Falcons.
Walker completed 10 of 16 passes for 108 yards on the night. He had a 82.3 passer rating in Week 10. Walker wasn’t perfect — in fact, he probably had three potential interceptions dropped — but he did enough to help the Panthers win in a rough-and-tumble battle.
Rushing defense
C+: The Panthers’ defense did a good job against the run in the first half, holding the Falcons to just 33 yards on the ground in the first two quarters. Luvu and fellow linebacker Shaq Thompson and defensive tackle Derrick Brown were particularly dominant in stopping the Falcons’ runners. Brown had an early highlight, as he read a handoff to running back Tyler Allegier and brought him down for a 2-yard loss.
Luvu and Thompson did a nice job of attacking the backfield from the second level. Both linebackers had tackles behind the line of scrimmage on running plays.
The Panthers’ strong run defense from the first half went by the wayside in the second half. The Falcons were able to pick up chunks of yardage with their rotation of Allegier, Caleb Huntley and Cordarrelle Patterson. Mariota, a dual-threat quarterback, was also able to keep some plays alive with his feet.
The Falcons finished with 138 rushing yards on 25 carries on the night. Mariota was Atlanta’s top rusher with 43 yards on three carries.
Passing defense
B: After being torn apart by Mariota and Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow in the two previous games, the Panthers’ defense clamped down on the pass — for the most part — in the Atlanta rematch. The defense was constantly in Mariota’s face, and the Falcons quarterback made several boneheaded throws as a result.
Mariota threw a handful of would-be picks in the game. However, the Panthers were unable to haul most of the bad passes in for interceptions. Still, cornerback Jaycee Horn was able to catch an arm-punt from Mariota in the second quarter and set up a field-goal scoring drive for the offense.
The Panthers’ passing defense finished with five sacks, nine quarterback hits, four pass breakups and an interception. Mariota completed 19-of-30 passes for 186 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He had a passer rating of 89.0.
Haynes and Burns combined for three fourth-quarter sacks. Luvu picked up a pair of sacks on the night, as well.
Still, while the night was a good one for the passing defense, there were some poor moments.
Safety Xavier Woods was called for two personal foul penalties on passing plays, including a touchdown completion to rookie wideout Drake London. Cornerback Donte Jackson was also flagged for a pass interference penalty on the touchdown-scoring drive in the third quarter.
The passing defense also allowed a 25-yard touchdown pass from Mariota to wideout KhaDarel Hodge with 2:56 left in the game. The score seemingly came on a miscommunication by the defense.
Special teams
B: Overall, it was a solid night for special teams, especially considering the weather. Punter Johnny Hekker continued to flip the field, punting four times for 169 yards (42.3 per punt). Two of those attempts were downed within the 20-yard line.
Piñeiro made all four of his field-goal attempts. The tries came from 40, 46, 49 and 37 yards out. However, he missed one of his two extra-point tries.
The return game wasn’t really there against the Falcons, but that didn’t matter much in the home win.
This story was originally published November 10, 2022 at 11:41 PM.
