The Panthers finally put together a complete game in their first win of the Dave Canales era.
Holy crap, the Panthers won a football game! And they didn’t just win, they looked good! Dave Canales preached about running the football, being efficient on offense, and capitalizing on opportunities all off-season. We finally got to see his vision today.
First Quarter
The Panthers opened the game with a refreshing and much needed scoring drive, as Andy Dalton hit Adam Thielen twice on short throws, Diontae Johnson on a nice mid range throw, a dot down field for Tommy Tremble, and finishing the drive off with a check down pass and run to Chuba Hubbard for the Panthers first opening drive touchdown in a LONG time. Panthers fans all over the internet rejoiced! The defense followed suit with a nice three and out stop on the Raiders, forcing a punt. The Panthers took over, and while the drive was still much cleaner than most of their previous tries in the last two games, they were stopped and forced to punt. Johnny Hekker landed the punt inside the Raiders own 5 yard line, putting the defense in a good position. Unfortunately, the Raiders responded with a 10 play drive straight down the field capped off with a touchdown run by Alexander Mattison.
Second Quarter
The Panthers took over right before the end of the 1st and got another really good looking drive in. Chuba Hubbard led the way with his power rushing style, and Andy Dalton hit Diontae Johnson on a dot inside of zone coverage, following that with a superb catch and run by Xavier Legette for 35 yards. They capped the drive off on 3rd and goal with a beauty of a lob to Diontae Johnson for a TD to put the Panthers up 14-7. The Raiders took over after a short of landing kickoff call gave them great field position, however the defense stood on 4th down with a pass breakups by Mike Jackson on 4th down. The teams traded a series of punts, until the Red Rifle hit Diontae Johnson for a beautiful 35 yard catch and run, and followed it up with a play of the year throw to Adam Thielen for a touchdown. Dalton threaded a pass behind coverage into Thielen in the end zone, who brought the ball down and maintained possession despite getting injured in the process. 21-7 Panthers. The Raiders tried to respond in the waning moments of the half, but missed a 57 yard field goal as time expired.
Third Quarter
The Panthers continued their upward trend by shutting down the Raiders opening drive of the half for a 3 and out, forcing a punt. They leaned on Chuba Hubbard for most of the 3rd quarter, adding two field goals during that span and generally wearing down the Raiders, keeping the defense fresh and forcing a punt, a long with a really nice stop on 4th and short as they shut down Gardner Minshew on a QB sneak. The Panthers controlled the quarter much like Canales has preached all off-season.
Fourth Quarter
The Panthers transitioned into the 4th quarter with the ball in their possession, as they continued to impose their will via Chuba Hubbard in the rushing game and short passing game. After a defensive pass interference call, the Panthers scored on a short yardage rush by Miles Sanders to push their lead to 33-7. The Raiders answered quickly with a 7 play, 70 yard scoring drive capped off by a catch by Jakobi Meyers, a long with a 2 point catch by Meyers to bring the game a bit closer. Familiar dread started to set in after the Panthers netted zero yards on the ensuing drive and were forced to punt, however when the Raiders took over, Minshew gift-wrapped an interception to Mike Jackson. He deserved it. The Panthers kicked another field goal with less than 5 minutes left to bring the game to 36-15. The Raiders brought in Aidan O’Connell for the rest of the game, who mustered a scoring drive that left the Raiders 56 seconds left and down 36-22. A recovery by Ja’Tavion Sanders on the inside kick quickly put the game to bed.
Final Thoughts
The rumored Dave Canales effect on quarterbacks long thought to be washed or busted showed through today. It just happened to be on 36 year old veteran Andy Dalton, and not 2023 first overall pick Bryce Young. Dalton completed 26 of 37 passes for 319 yards and 3 TDs, as he led an efficient Panthers offense that also racked up 131 yards rushing as a unit, led by Chuba Hubbard with 114 yards and 5.4 yards per carry. The Panthers finally looked like the unit with the philosophies Dave Canales was preaching when he talked about his vision of what the Panthers can look like. And this unit showed that the Panthers did NOT fail Bryce Young in the 2024 off-season, as 7 different receivers caught passes from Dalton, headlined by the guy the Panthers traded for to be WR1, Diontae Johnson. Johnson showed out with 8 catches for 122 yards and a TD, with the only play upstaging him being an absolutely beautiful down field pass to Adam Thielen by Dalton that unfortunately ended in the veteran WR being injured.
The bottom line: The Panthers aren’t dead yet. And Andy Dalton’s got some ammo left in that rifle of his. Celebrate, Panthers fans. Its been awhile since we could celebrate a beating like this one.