The Carolina Panthers gave away a 17-point fourth quarter lead on Monday night, but were still able to hold on to beat the Indianapolis Colts, 29-26, on a strange edition of Monday Night Football.
Colts vs. Panthers 2015 final score: Carolina blows lead but wins in OT, 29-26, on ‘MNF’
The Panthers almost gave away Monday’s game to the Colts, but Cam Newton was just good enough in overtime to keep Carolina undefeated on a strange night.
Andrew Luck engineered a marathon 16-play, 54-yard drive to tie the game with a field goal at the end of regulation, 23-23, then set the Colts up for their first lead of the night when Adam Vinatieri hit a 50-yard field goal to open overtime.
The Panthers' offense, dormant at the end of the fourth quarter, awoke in OT thanks to Cam Newton's arm. He took the Panthers down to the 23-yard line to set up a game-tying Graham Gano field goal. Then after Luck's third interception of the game courtesy of Luke Kuechly, the Panthers only had to go five yards to put Gano in position to win the game with a 52-yarder.
And yet, as crazy as the game was, perhaps the most interesting thing that happened Monday night was a staged protest by activists who rappelled from the upper deck of Bank of America Stadium to unfurl a banner directing attention to Bank of America’s funding of a North Carolina energy company. Before that, there was a lot of ugly football.
The Colts set the tone for the night by fumbling away their second snap of the game. Luck made a bad decision that resulted in a bad interception three plays into Indianapolis’ next possession. The turnovers led to 10 points for the Panthers on just 40 yards of offense.
The Panthers' second possession, an 11-play, 37-yard touchdown drive, suggested that the game might be a runaway. The Panthers converted on fourth down twice on the drive, the second time resulting in a 3-yard Jonathan Stewart touchdown. But then they started committing turnovers of their own. The Panthers found themselves punting twice, fumbling and throwing an interception over the course of their next four drives.
The Colts managed the damage well, taking a 10-6 deficit into halftime. Though they stalled in Panthers’ territory, they at least managed a few first downs before halftime.
Carolina opened up the game back up in the second half. A fumble near the Colts’ end zone ruined the most promising drive of the night, but they were able to score another touchdown on a short field with their next possession. The Panthers scored again on Luck’s second interception of the game in the fourth quarter, making it a 23-6 game after a missed extra point.
The missed extra point cost almost the Panthers dearly. Luck finally found his rhythm facing a 17-point deficit, engineering an eight-play, 86-yard drive that ended on an 18-yard touchdown pass to Andre Johnson. After a Panthers three-and-out, the Colts scored again on a short field to pull within a field goal.
The Panthers went three-and-out again to give the ball back to Luck for a chance to tie or win the game with just over two minutes remaining from the Colts' 40-yard line. The Colts tested the Panthers deep and misfired three straight times to bring up a pivotal fourth-and-10. Luck hit Griff Whalen just past the sticks for the conversion and review upheld the play to keep the drive alive, perhaps controversially.
The Colts appeared to be on their way to a miracle win. They picked their way to the Panthers' 6-yard line with nine second remaining. Luck threw one more time into the end zone and was very nearly intercepted by Luke Kuechly on a pass intended for Johnson. Fortunately for the Colts, the ball hit the ground incomplete and they were able to kick a field goal on fourth down to force overtime.
Three things we learned:
The Panthers have a monopoly on guys you don’t want to tackle
With Cam Newton, Jonathan Stewart and Mike Tolbert, the Panthers have no shortage of goal line options. It's the reason why head coach Ron Rivera is so comfortable on fourth downs.
On the Panthers’ second possession of the game, they converted twice on fourth-and-1. On the first, Newton took a shotgun snap and plowed straight ahead through the Colts’ defense for an easy conversion. On the second, Stewart made an incredible second effort to score the first touchdown of the game.
Later in the game, Newton made a brilliant third-down run in the face of a blitz.
The Panthers’ defense is their linchpin, but it’s nice when an offense has options that can make big plays solely on pure strength or athleticism.
Rain makes for some pretty bad football
The Colts and Panthers combined for four turnovers in the first half alone. The Colts fumbled three times and were fortunate to only lose one. Neither Newton nor Luck looked comfortable at any point passing the ball.
Luck’s first pick was a poor decision to try to squeeze a pass between defenders over the middle. Newton threw off his back foot on a deep ball that fell woefully short and into a defender’s arms. Both players might have completed those ambitious attempts under better conditions, but under the rain their arms were neutralized.
The result? No drives longer than 38 yards in the first half and seven drives shorter than 10. There were signs of life in the second half when the rain slowed down, but it was not a good night for offense overall.
Luck and the Colts killed themselves with turnovers
Not that the Panthers were much better on the night. The two teams combined for seven turnovers on the night -- four for the Colts, three for the Panthers. But after Monday night the Colts now have 19 turnovers on the season and lag behind only the Detroit Lions for the most in the NFL. That is not good company to keep.
As Colts beat writer Mike Chappell helped point out, Indianapolis’ turnovers have led to 69 points scored against them out of a total of 200 allowed this season.
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