Despite a long injury list on both sides of the football, the Panthers showed up in a big way. The hard-fought 32-26 victory put Carolina atop the NFC South and gave Dave Canales’ squad momentum heading into a bye week that could not come at a better time. With so many players banged up, the Panthers will get extra time to recover and regain strength before the toughest stretch of their schedule.
Going into Sunday night, the Panthers rush defense was viewed as the worst in the entire NFL. Facing star running back Jahmyr Gibbs created a recipe for disaster. Against all odds, Carolina was able to hold Gibbs to just 46 rushing yards although he did find the end zone once.
While the rush defense was quite impressive for the Panthers, so much focus was on slowing down Gibbs that they allowed Lions quarterback Jared Goff to throw for over 400 yards and a touchdown. The good news for Carolina was that their offense was so strong, it did not matter.
Bryce Young looked like a legitimate MVP candidate, throwing for 329 yards and two touchdowns without a turnover. For the first time in his career, he opened the game with 11 straight completions, looking like prime Peyton Manning. Young did it behind a depleted offensive line and without two of his favorite targets, Jalen Coker and Xavier Legette, who were out with injuries. Young’s number one target (WR1), Tetairoa McMillan, took the workload of all missing receivers and carried the Panthers to victory.
McMillan had a career night, catching 14 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. His superhuman performance overshadowed how impressive the run game was for Carolina as well.
Chuba Hubbard had 20 carries for 122 yards on the ground and a touchdown in addition to the nearly unstoppable passing game drawn up by offensive coordinator Brad Idzik.
Until the fourth quarter, it looked like the Panthers were going to run away with a massive lead and never look back. The Lions offense is just too good not to put up a fight and Goff gave his team a chance to get back into the ballgame late in the fourth quarter.
Following a methodical drive that ended in a touchdown cutting the Panthers’ lead to six, the Lions were able to get the ball back with a little over two minutes to go. Deep in their own territory, Detroit felt the pressure and turned the ball over on downs with no timeouts remaining. Young and the Panthers went into victory formation, taking a couple of knees to let the clock expire and preserve their 32-26 advantage.
Carolina gets to enjoy this huge win for an extra amount of time as they head into their bye week and recuperate before heading to Philadelphia to take on Jalen Hurts and the Eagles on October 18th. No doubt Canales and his staff will be pulling film from this win to remind their team how no challenge is too much if they play to their full potential.
