3 costly mistakes in the final 2 minutes that sunk the Panthers’ comeback against the Saints

For the past 11 months, Saints fans have had the opportunity to torture the division rival Falcons with “28-3” references. On Sunday, Atlanta nearly earned a “21-6” retort when New Orleans almost blew a 15-point lead against the Carolina Panthers.

Sadly for Matt Ryan and his supporters, it wasn’t to be. The Panthers’ Wild Card comeback in New Orleans fell agonizingly short when Cam Newton took a sack deep in his own backfield on fourth-and-23. It put an end to Carolina’s furious repechage, a charge back after looking dead to rights late in the first half.

And it happened because the Panthers couldn’t get out of their own way.

Three costly mistakes ultimately unraveled Carolina’s effort, handing a game the Saints had failed to take hold of back to the home team and letting Sean Payton off the hook after some questionable coaching decisions. The first came after New Orleans took a major risk by dialing up a pass play on fourth-and-2 from the Carolina 47.

A completion here would have given the Saints the latitude to run out the clock with their next four plays. An incompletion would have given the Panthers a short field and just under two minutes to stage a game-winning touchdown drive. A strong push from the trenches flushed Drew Brees to his right and forced him to throw up a prayer.

It was answered. By Carolina safety Mike Adams.

Adams corralled Brees’ floater rather than knocking it to the turf. The result? 16 lost yards of field position; rather than taking over at their own 47, the Panthers got the ball at their 31. It was a rare blessing for the Saints — the play validated the team’s risky decision by virtue of an interception which is, to say the least, rare — and was another hurdle for Ron Rivera and his team to overcome as the clock ticked down.

“He’s excited, he’s got a chance to make a play,” Rivera told reporters after the game. “You wish he would have dropped it or batted it down, just knowing the situation and circumstances.”

Fortunately for Adams, Cam Newton could work with that. His drive-opening toss to Devin Funchess gained those yards back with interest, pushing the visitors to midfield. Two more completions and a defensive holding penalty gave Carolina a first-and-10 scenario from the NO 21-yard-line with 46 seconds to play.

Newton’s next pass fell incomplete. So did his second down attempt — and it derailed his team’s drive thanks to a disputed call from the officials. New Orleans’ pass rush pushed the former MVP deep into his pocket and into the grasp of All-Pro defensive end Cameron Jordan. As he rolled right, he threw a last-ditch heave out of bounds before falling to his back:

He was abruptly flagged for intentional grounding. The result? A loss of 13 yards and the down, bringing up an unenviable third-and-23.

But was the referees’ call the right one? While Newton failed to have an eligible receiver in the vicinity, he also appeared to have breached the tackle box -- the area down the center of the field marked by where his right and left tackles lined up — before throwing the ball away. If he was indeed clear of the box, intentional grounding wouldn’t apply. The referee didn’t see it that way, and Carolina’s degree of difficulty rose significantly.

It was a controversial call. Panthers’ head coach Ron Rivera told reporters it wasn’t even explained to him on the field. According to tight end Greg Olsen, other officials on the field even disagreed with the decision before it could be officially announced.

All hope wasn’t lost, however. The Panthers still had two more shots at the end zone, and one would get tantalizingly close.

Newton’s third-down pass was a high-arcing deep pass to his top wideout in the end zone. Funchess put himself in great position to grab the under thrown ball, then couldn’t properly spot it as it fell inches out of his grasp.

Newton put the ball where it needed to be, and the Saints’ coverage somehow left one of Carolina’s top targets with single coverage in the end zone; Funchess just failed to get to it. The rangy receiver, who had battled a shoulder injury late in the season, would later tell reporters he’d lost the ball in the Superdome’s lights.

One play later, the Panthers’ fourth-down Hail Mary was erased by a Saints’ blitz and a punishing sack from safety Vonn Bell. Game, and Panthers’ season, over.

Of course, the Panthers had several other opportunities to help their effort before the final two-minute warning. Newton himself declined to blame the loss on any one play, including his controversial grounding call.

Graham Gano tied a playoff record by draining a 58-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter, but he also pushed a 25-yard field goal wide right on the team’s second drive of the game. An extra three points would have put the Panthers in position to win with a field goal — something they could have done even after absorbing a controversial 13-yard grounding penalty.

But Gano is far from the only goat here. Carolina had three drives that traveled inside the New Orleans 10-yard line. Those typically high-yield drives ended with six points. While Sunday’s last two minutes were filled with controversial decisions and frustrating mistakes, those were merely an extension of the team’s flaws —flaws that ultimately ended its season Sunday night.