Carolina Panthers survive NFC South with victory over Atlanta Falcons

CHARLOTTE, NC – A steady stream of rain caused by Tropical Storm Nicole created some messy conditions in Thursday night’s incline between Atlanta Falcons and Carolina Panthers.

Panthers passed with a Win 25-1511 days after the Falcons beat the Panthers in a match Wild 37-34 overtime game in Atlanta.

Carolina Panthers

Don’t laugh, but Carolina Panthers still relevant in NFC South. As bad as they’ve been, the split has been nearly as bad and could win for a team that is on a 3-7 lead following Thursday night’s win over the Falcons. Carolina is only one and a half games behind first place Tampa Bay (4-5). It was just one game behind Atlanta (4-6) with a 1-1 record against the Falcons. And consider, the Panthers have the best division record (3-1) and their remaining schedule is the 27th hardest in the NFL. New Orleans’ fixture is hard Saturday and the Bucs’ is 22. Again, don’t laugh. In 2014, the Carolina team 3-8-1 went on to win 4 overall to win the Southern Championship and then a playoff.

Promising trends: Panthers cross 169 yards for the third time in five games since trading star runs again Christian McCaffrey after a Week 6 loss Los Angeles Rams. They entered Thursday with an average of 135.7 yards, the 11th best in the NFL, since Week 7. That number is growing after the team plunged 232 yards ahead of Atlanta, and D’Onta Foreman is a big reason. He’s had three games with at least 118-meter dash, topping 130 against the Falcons. If Carolina can keep dribbling and playing well defensively, it has a chance at least in games.

QB analysis: PJ Walker not spectacular, but he doesn’t need to stay for a night when the game is running at full throttle. But will he play well enough to resume work next week against Baltimore Raven? He doesn’t see the tight end Stephen Sullivan expanded in the first quarter and luckily none of his efforts passed DJ Moore in the blocked end region. He picked up a poor footwork in the first half that sent Carolina out of goal. He seems hesitant to run, which the Panthers wish he did more of. Faint is Sam Darnolda full-back that the Panthers might be inclined to put out another shot.

Bold predictions for next week: The Panthers started Darnold, activated from the injured reserve earlier this week, against Raven and put Walker as a backup. At worst, Darnold is the backup and Baker Mayfield inactive or released. The team really wanted to consider Darnold, who led 4-7 last season. It will happen at some point, whether next week or right after. He’s a player the team can count on as a veteran to help mentor whichever midfielder the team picks in the 2023 draft.

Next game: at Ravens (1:00 p.m. ET, Sunday)

Atlanta Falcons

It was terrible.

That’s the best way to describe the Falcons on Thursday night. For the first time of this season, nothing worked. Not close.

The offense was ineffective. The defense was spongy. Special teams including kicker Younghoe Koo for the first time in his career missing two extra points. And while the Falcons’ loss to the Panthers didn’t sound like a blast on the scoreboard, the Falcons very rarely looked like they had a chance in the game.

In a contest that could once again land them first place in the league and take them once again to .500, Atlanta will instead lament another missed opportunity to try trying to get first place in a bad league.

While this doesn’t take the Falcons away from anything because of divisional inefficiencies, it does return Atlanta to the dense mess that is the NFC South. Therefore. Ugly.

Trouble Trends: The Marcus Mariota–Kyle Pitts The wrong connection continued on Thursday. Mariota connects with Pitts during the second playthrough of the game. Then he couldn’t find his tight finish again until the end of the fourth quarter. Mariota and Pitts entered the game on 51% of their passes – the worst of any close-back combination with at least 20 attempts – and Thursday didn’t improve things just after two catches for 28 yards on eight targets.

Biggest flaw in the game plan: After playing the Panthers less than two weeks ago, when Foreman dashed in for three touchdowns, Atlanta must have known Carolina was going to run the ball. And that’s not a problem. The Panthers ran for 232 yards on Thursday, completely cutting through Atlanta’s defence. The Falcons even overcame the liners in the first half with Rashaan Evans, Mykal Walker and Troy Andersen – and it doesn’t matter.

QB analysis: Like being divided. This is Mariota’s worst game of the whole season, even if the stats aren’t as bad as in some other games. While his 19/30, 186 yards, 2 touchdown, 1 intercept (other two omitted) stats were below average for him, his play was worse. so many. His deep passes are off target (a consistent problem), and for the first time in 2022, his decision-making appears to be equally poor. He is not supported by many low shots from the center Drew Dalman and the attacking play was shaky, but it was a pretty bad performance by Mariota.

Silver coated: Great moment for KhaDarel Hodge. In his fifth NFL season and 65th NFL game, Hodge scored his first touchdown. He played for four teams, and when he caught 41 in his career, he got his first score.

Next game: versus Bears (1:00 p.m. ET, Sunday)