Carolina Panthers-Kansas City Chiefs was a mostly anemic affair punctuated with incredible moments. Most of these happened in the final two minutes when both teams found ways to do weird things.
The end to Panthers-Chiefs had double throws, horrible punting, and stolen footballs
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
It began with a punt by Graham Gano, who is the Panthers’ kicker, punting to cause a touchback. He got stuck with the job after punter Andy Lee was injured. On the Chiefs’ potentially game-winning drive Alex Smith threw the ball, caught it himself, and then tried to throw it again.
He was penalized the result of the drive was a punt. At this point the Panthers were in prime position to make a game-winning drive in front of their home fans. All they needed were 20 yards and they had time on the clock.
Marcus Peters had other ideas and pulled the ball from Kelvin Benjamin’s grasp on the first play of the drive.
Thinking this made the game too easy, he decided to punt the ball on the sideline and got penalized for a delay of game.
The saving grace was how crappy Peters’ kick was. Instead of getting hit with a 15-yard penalty for kicking the ball in the stands, he didn’t even make it into the front row — which caused just a 5-yard loss.
That part is critical. Had Peters had a better leg, those extra 10 yards could have made all the difference. The Chiefs ended up winning on a last-second field goal from 37 yards.
If that kick had made it to the stands, the ensuing field goal would have been from 47 yards out with rain falling and the wind blowing. Instead, we just got the dumbest conclusion to a game all week.
