Panthers avoid 'trap game' loss, keep alive a showdown with New Orleans
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera warned his players coming off their bye weekend about not overlooking the New York Jets on Sunday in anticipation of an NFC South showdown against New Orleans.
Rivera said he believed in “trap games.”
The Panthers had one foot in the trap early in the fourth quarter.
In stepped middle linebacker Luke Kuechly and special teams to save quarterback Cam Newton and the offense from a disastrous day.
Kuechly returned a fumble 34 yards for a touchdown and then Kaelin Clay returned a punt 60 yards for another score to turn an early fourth-quarter deficit into a 35-27 victory at MetLife Stadium.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was a much-needed win as the Panthers make their playoff push.
“It is big to win ugly, and when you can rely on a big play happening for your defense or on your special teams, that helps,” Rivera said.
Most of the ugliness on this day came on offense.
Newton had one of his worst days of the season, overthrowing wide-open receivers and completing only 11 of 28 pass attempts for 168 yards two weeks after throwing four touchdowns in a 45-21 victory against Miami. He was particularly ineffective on third down, at one point going 1-for-7 on third-down passes.
The running game outside of a career-best 40-yard run by Christian McCaffrey and a 29-yard reverse by wide receiver Clay was almost non-existent after consecutive games of 200-plus yards.
The team also lost Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen for the second half when his foot that was broken in Week 2 became sore in his first game back after being activated from injured reserve. The long-term impact of that remains to be seen, although the initial prognosis was good.
“I always hear often it was an ugly win, but I never heard of saying such a thing as a pretty loss,” Newton said. “So either way it goes, we would prefer to get a win at the end of the day. It wasn’t a blockbuster outing offensively for us, but at the end of the day we found ways to win the football game and that’s what you have to have.”
The defense struggled at times as well, allowing the Jets to top 22 points for only the fourth time this season.
But a week from now all that will matter is the Panthers (8-3) are facing the New Orleans Saints, who fell to 8-3 with Sunday’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams, for the outright division lead.
After losing six games by a field goal or less a year ago, the Panthers will take any kind of victory that keeps their playoff hopes alive.
“You’ve got to be able to win games like this to get to where you want to go,’’ outside linebacker Thomas Davis said. “It’s not going to always been a 20-, 30-point victory. You’ve got to squeak by and win some games like this. Last year we weren’t able to come away with those victories. That ended up being the difference in our season. We just found ways to win this week.’’
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As unimpressive as it was, the win kept the Panthers from falling further behind the Saints and kept them a game ahead of the Atlanta Falcons, who improved to 7-4 with a victory against Tampa Bay.
Carolina can’t hope to stay with Drew Brees and the high-powered Saints if they have another performance like this in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. They can’t expect to be consistent offensively unless they get Jonathan Stewart and the running game on track.
They can’t depend on two non-offensive touchdowns to save the day.
But on a day when they needed to avoid falling into a trap, the most important thing is they found a way to win.
“A win is a win,’’ safety Mike Adams said. “You can say ugly win because of their record (now 4-7). If they were 10-0, would we say an ugly win?’’
Probably not. But because of this win the Panthers have a lot more to look forward to facing a New Orleans team that beat them 34-13 earlier this season in Charlotte.
“It’s on,’’ Adams said. “We’ve got to be ready. We’ve got to play better than we did today. Obviously, we’ve got to bring our A game.’’
