Plays to Love Youth Bruce Irvin Jersey , Plays to swinging momentum and impacting the eventual outcome of the game. There is always plenty to hate about NFL officiating, so we will only focus on the plays on the field, not the refs.Three plays to love2nd Quarter 10:28 – Panthers 3, Falcons 3. Panthers ball 3rd-and-5 at ATL 15The Situation: The Panthers faced third down in the red zone, looking for a touchdown instead of a field goal attempt. The Play: Cam Newton dropped to pass, felt pressure, and rolled out of the pocket to buy time. Cam then threw against his body - on the run - to Devin Funchess for a first down. The play extended the drive which ended in a touchdown instead of a field goal attempt. Just incredible athleticism, strength, and smarts from an elite quarterback. 3rd Quarter 14:20 – Panthers 10, Falcons 17. Falcons ball 1st-and-10 at CAR 39The Situation: The Falcons took a seven point lead into the half then started the third quarter with the ball. Their first play was a 30-yard gain to the Carolina 39, then Wes Horton came up big on the next play.The Play: Matt Ryan dropped back to throw a bomb to a streaking Julio Jones, but Wes Horton appeared to contact Ryan’s arm on the release. Ryan’s pass looked more like a punt and Donte Jackson was able to come down with an easy interception.4th Quarter 2:30 – Panthers 17, Falcons 31. Panthers ball 1st-and-10 at CAR 49The Situation: The game looked just about over with Carolina trailing by two touchdowns and the two-minute warning drawing near, but then D.J. Moore happened. The Play: D.J. Moore ran a deep in route over the middle, caught the pass, shook off a tackler, then sprinted 51-yards for a momentum-shifting score. The play pulled the Panthers deficit to just seven points and gave the team one last shot at a late comeback. Three plays to hate2nd Quarter 7:25 – Panthers 10 Stitched Bruce Irvin Jersey , Falcons 3. Falcons ball 3rd-and-9 at ATL 26The Situation: Call this the “Donte Jackson Implosion Sequence.” The Play: On 3rd-and-9, Matt Ryan’s pass fell incomplete to force an apparent punt, but Donte Jackson was called for (a questionable) pass interference to extend the drive. Two plays later Donte got juked at the line of scrimmage by Tevin Coleman who ran for 36 yards to the Carolina 24. The drive ended when Calvin Ridley beat Jackson in man coverage for a touchdown. Horrible sequence by the rookie cornerback. 3rd Quarter 13:01 – Panthers 10, Falcons 17. Panthers ball 3rd-and-2 at CAR 10The Situation: The Panthers offense took possession on the Carolina 2 following Donte Jackson’s interception. Three plays later they faced 3rd-and-2 from the 10, hoping to convert a first down and avoid punting from their own end zone. The Play: Devin Funchess ran past the first down sticks and Cam delivered a beautiful ball to his back shoulder, just past the defender. But instead of catching it, Funch let the ball bounce off his shoulder pad for an incompletion on a pass he absolutely must catch. This play led to a domino effect of: 1) Punting from the end zone, 2) The Falcons fair catching the punt at the Atlanta 42, and 3) Atlanta capitalizing on the good field position to eventually score a touchdown for a 24-10 lead. 4rd Quarter 6:26 – Panthers 17, Falcons 31. Panthers ball 1st-and-10 at ATL 22The Situation: The Panthers ripped off 53 yards on consecutive passes to Devin Funchess and Torrey Smith to get near the red zone, finally getting some momentum. Trailing by two touchdowns in the fourth, Carolina desperately needed a score. The Play: C.J. Anderson ran a short route, turned around, and was hit right in the hands with a perfect dump-off pass from Cam. But the ball went right through Anderson’s hands and off his shoulder pad where it then popped up into the air and was intercepted by Ricardo Allen. This play was an absolute killer on a drive where the Panthers were getting so close to a much-needed fourth quarter score. Bonus play to both love and hate4th Quarter 8:11 – Panthers 17, Falcons 24. Falcons ball 2nd-and-2 at CAR 5The Situation: Atlanta led by seven early in the fourth quarter. They sustained a long drive that put them just five yards away from a touchdown to go up by 14. Carolina’s D needed a huge play. The Play: Ito Smith took a handoff off right tackle and Kawann Short knocked the ball out of his hands, forcing a fumble. For one beautiful, glorious, hope-filled moment the ball bounced around on the turf waiting for someone to jump on it. This was perhaps Carolina’s last best shot to slow down a Falcon’s offense that had dominated them all day. When a fumble hits the ground it’s usually a 50-50 proposition if the offense or defense will recover. In the end Youth Graham Gano Jersey , Atlanta’s Brandon Fusco fell on the ball and the Falcons scored a touchdown on the very next play to take a 31-17 lead. The game could have been totally different if the Panthers recover this fumble. I “loved” the play by KK Short but “hated” the fact the Panthers couldn’t come up with the fumble and prevent another Atlanta score. Closing it out and summing it upThis was a fairly predictable loss. Disappointing, yes, but at the same time the sky isn’t falling quite yet. Jarius Wright continues to impress while Christian McCaffrey is quickly becoming the only consistently viable offensive weapon. The patchwork offensive line held up fairly well considering our starting left tackle Chris Clark was signed four days before the game. On defense, James Bradberry should be commended for the part he played in limiting Julio Jones to just five receptions (on nine targets) for 64 yards and zero touchdowns. There were many negatives in this game though. The normally dominant front four was shockingly bad, registering zero sacks on Matt Ryan (on 28 attempts) and rarely even pressuring the Falcons QB while also getting destroyed by Atlanta’s rushing attack. If the front four plays like this the rest of the season, Carolina has no shot at the playoffs. Every wide receiver minus Jarius Wright has been pretty bad so far. It seems Carolina’s receivers are almost never wide open and completions only happen when Cam throws a perfect pass. The 1-1 Panthers hope to right the ship against a suddenly frisky 2-0 Cincinnati Bengals team next week. Let’s hope the front four and the wide receivers show up this time. Plays to love season leaders1 - Cam Newton, Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, Kawann Short, Mario Addison, Wes HortonPlays to hate season leaders1 - Amini Silatolu, C.J. Anderson, Christian McCaffrey, Devin Funchess, Donte Jackson, Mike Adams The newest member of the good old boys club fooled them all.Eric Reid will play football this season, and for that everyone who believes in fair play should be happy. After all, the only thing keeping Reid out of the NFL before Thursday was that he stood — make that kneeled — with Colin Kaepernick in San Francisco.Now he’s a Carolina Panther Stitched Graham Gano Jersey , and for that he can thank new Carolina owner David Tepper. It was Tepper who signed off on a deal for the free agent safety, something 31 other NFL owners — and certainly not former Panthers owner Jerry Richardson — had any intention of doing.It was carefully labeled as a football decision, and in some ways it was. The Panthers lost safety Da’Norris Searcy to injury last week and Reid is expected to start when Carolina returns from a bye week to play the New York Giants.But this was also a statement that the old guard may be changing. And it could be Tepper, the hedge fund mogul who bought the team for $2.2 billion in the offseason, leading the way.“It shouldn’t have taken this long, a person with his talent. We all understand the reason why,” said Panthers wide receiver Torrey Smith, who lobbied his team to sign Reid earlier in the week. “This says a lot about the men and the leaders here. They’re making a football decision, but Eric is also a great man and leader.”Yes, it’s only a one-year contract. And, no, it doesn’t mean Kaepernick should brush up on his throwing in case another team calls.But Tepper clearly took a stand by signing Reid to a one-year deal, even at the same time Reid continues his collusion case against the league for not being signed earlier.And that was far different than Jerry Jones ranting and raving about what he might do to any Dallas players who would kneel during the anthem. Far different than the silence from most other teams when asked why they didn’t sign Reid or Kaepernick.But maybe we should have expected it all along.Tepper showed early he wasn’t going to march lockstep with his other billionaire owners on the issue, saying in a CNBC interview earlier this month that it was “dead wrong” to accuse NFL players of being unpatriotic if they knelt during the national anthem to protest social injustice.During the interview, Tepper also recited the Pledge of Allegiance as a patriotic act, ending it with an emphasis on the words “and justice for all.”In this case it’s justice for one. Reid is one of the better safeties in football and is in his physical prime. To deprive him of a chance to play because he exercised the right every American has to protest was simply wrong.And, really, Tepper and the Panthers aren’t taking a big chance. The same fans who threaten to boycott the NFL for player protests will be on their feet cheering Reid if he can bring stability to the secondary of the 2-1 Panthers.Still Youth Wes Horton Jersey , while Reid gets some form of justice, the man who started it all waits for the phone to ring.Kaepernick has a new Nike ad and contract, and the movement he started still looms large over the league. But he doesn’t have a job playing football, and could do little more than congratulate Reid in a tweet on his signing.“He was the 1ST person 2 kneel alongside me,” Kaepernick tweeted. “Eric is a social justice warrior, continues to support his family. and communities in need.”The NFL still finds itself in a quandary about what to do with protests during the anthem. A handful of players took a knee last weekend, though the league has been lucky recently in being spared the Twitter wrath of President Donald Trump, who has used the issue to rally his base.One of those kneeling was Dolphins wide receiver Kenny Stills, who has been vocal all season about his reason for protesting and his view that the NFL needs to employ both Reid and Kaepernick if there is going to be any resolution of the issue.“He’s good enough to play,” Stills said. “He deserves to play.”He could play, even back in San Francisco, where the 49ers could surely use an experienced backup in the wake of Jimmy Garoppolo’s season-ending injury. But whether Kaepernick will play depends on how enlightened NFL owners are becoming — and remember, this isn’t a very socially enlightened bunch.Signing Reid was a necessary first step, but Reid was the easier of the two.It was Kaepernick who started everything, Kaepernick who remains the face of the protest.And Kaepernick who is still out of a job.
