Get used to games like Sunday’s, and hope Cam Newton can win them for so-so Panthers

The Carolina Panthers never led, never played that well and never looked very confident Sunday.

And yet there they were, with a second-and-5 on Washington’s 16, with 47 seconds to go and two timeouts in their pocket.

Washington led 23-17, but Carolina was 16 yards and one touchdown from stealing a victory. The great teams do that. They find a way to win on mediocre days like this one.

But the Panthers (3-2) aren’t a great team, and they showed it on the next three plays. Cam Newton overthrew Christian McCaffrey, Devin Funchess and Jarius Wright, in that order. The best shot the quarterback had was a lob throw to McCaffrey in the left corner end zone on second down, when McCaffrey had about a step on his defender. But Newton lofted the ball slightly long, far enough that McCaffrey couldn’t get his fingertips on it.

Two more incompletions in tight coverage and that was it. Graham Gano had saved another pedestrian fourth-quarter drive by the offense last week with a 63-yard field goal that bailed everyone out. But this time the deficit was six points and only the end zone would do.

“I had some throws I wish I had back,” Newton said.

“Really frustrating,” Panthers tight end Greg Olsen said of the final drive. “We were in a really good spot. They hadn’t stopped us the whole half. They hadn’t really stopped us the whole game. We just kind of sputtered.”

Newton said of his final three incompletions: “They all felt good.” And he said he was “extremely confident” that the Panthers were going to score on that final drive.

But while Carolina managed the clock just fine this time around, it didn’t manage down and distance very well. Carolina had all sorts of time, given the two timeouts at its disposal, and could even have run a quarterback draw or a short throw to the middle of the field to Olsen or McCaffrey. What the Panthers really needed was another first down. Instead, Newton threw two balls into the end zone and then a fourth-down pass to a well-covered Wright.

Said Newton: “You have games and days like that. … We’ll get better from it. Ain’t no need to keep sobbing over it. My days of sobbing are over with. I’m excited for what the future holds.”

Average, by Cam standards

Newton had an average game by his standards, throwing for 275 yards, running for 43 more and firing two touchdown passes. But he also got picked off by frenemy Josh Norman, who said of the wounded duck he caught after Newton’s arm got hit on a deep ball: “I wouldn’t let God’s angels lift me up and take it from me if they were out there.”

Newton and Norman chirped at each other several times during the game but Newton demurred about commenting on his old teammate later, saying he didn’t “want to have a Twitter beef with anybody.”

Newton directed the Panthers to 17 points, which was their second-lowest total of the season, and couldn’t get that last drive to paydirt.

Said Newton: “Obviously this is a tough pill to swallow. … At the end of the day, nobody’s going to feel sorry for you.”

The Panthers committed three first-half turnovers, with rookie DJ Moore’s two lost fumbles joining Newton’s interception. Said Panthers wide receiver Torrey Smith: “It always hurts more when you know you beat yourself.”

Get used to this

Washington pulled out an old tactic against Carolina, selling out to stop the run against the NFL’s No. 1 rushing team coming into the game and daring the Panthers’ receivers to win one-on-one. It worked. McCaffrey was held to only 20 yards rushing on eight carries. And a number of times Newton still was forced to throw the ball into very tight coverage and hope for the best, because there was simply no other good option.

Still, Carolina had a chance.

And this is the way the Panthers’ season seems destined to go. One possession, win or lose, in the final minute of the game.

The Falcons game was like that. And the Cowboys game. And the Giants game. The Panthers aren’t good enough to blow teams out, but they aren’t bad enough to get blown out, either.

So the fourth quarter often sits on Newton’s shoulders. On Sunday, he and his offense just weren’t quite good enough to hold it steady.

This story was originally published October 14, 2018 at 7:21 PM.