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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BUF at KC | CAR at ATL | CHI at STL | CIN at PIT | GB at NO | HOU at CLE | IND at SD | MIN at JAX |
| NE at MIA | NYG at ARI | NYJ at TEN | OAK at DEN | PHI at BAL | SF at DAL | TB at DET | WAS at SEA |
Week 12 Game Recap: Carolina Panthers 28, Atlanta Falcons 45
What you need to know
| Carolina Panthers |
The Panthers struggled to get things going early, falling behind 17-0 by the beginning of the second quarter, and never was able to keep up while on the road versus the division foe. DeAngelo Williams finished the day over the century mark with 101 yards and a touchdown on nineteen carries, though only 25 of those yards came in the first half. Fellow back Jonathan Stewart saw only five touches on the ground in this game which they trailed from start to finish, and as result only netted fifteen yards. Jake Delhomme had two official carries for eighteen yards, one which he took for a touchdown from twelve yards out.
Jake Delhomme's numbers were padded by a couple of late drives in which Atlanta had settled into a prevent defense, allowing Delhomme to muster 295 yards and a touchdown on 21 of 35 passing. Steve Smith was the primary beneficiary, hauling in eight passes for 168 yards, though shut out of the end zone on a day which could have been much bigger for him. Muhsin Muhammed added a late touchdown to go with his four catches for 40 yards, but also was headed for a much bigger day if his timing with Delhomme had been better. Delhomme used his tight ends a fair amount in this game, getting Dante Rosario (three catches, 43 yards) and Jeff King (two catches for ten yards) both involved. DeAngelo Williams contributed out of the backfield with two catches for nineteen yards, while Dwayne Jarrett was given his share of opportunities and converted for fifteen yards on two catches.
| Atlanta Falcons |
The Falcons dominated in every phase of the game in this game played at home, with Michael Turner steamrolling the Panthers defense to a four touchdown performance. In addition to his four touchdowns, Turner added 117 yards on 24 carries. Jerious Norwood had a quiet afternoon, likely still recovering from a rib injury, and had just 11 yards on four carries. The absence of Norwood allowed the Falcons to get Harry Douglas, a rookie third round wide receiver out of Louisville involved as the explosive piece of their offense and special teams against the Panthers. Douglas scored via an end around to the right side on a seven yard scamper, and later scored untouched on a 61 yard punt return. Douglas finished with three yards on two carries.
In addition to his contributions in the Falcons rushing and return game, Harry Douglas also led the team in receiving yards with 92 on four catches, the majority coming on a 69 yard completion with most of those yards coming after the catch following a nice spin move to elude his defender. Roddy White and Michael Jenkins both caught four balls as well, going for 70 and 48 yards respectively. The remainder of the team caught five balls, with those catches being spread around to fullback Justin Snelling (two catches, 31 yards), receiver Brian Finneran (one reception, nine yards), running back Jerious Norwood (one catch, five yards) and receiver Eric Weems (one reception, four yards).
Quarterback Matt Ryan played a solid, though unspectacular game in which the Falcons put up 45 points, as he was kept out of the end zone. Ryan completed 17 of 27 passes for 259 yards, and added two yards on three official carries.
What you ought to know
| QB Jake Delhomme, Pass: 21 - 35 - 295 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 18 - 1 |
Delhomme struggled to develop a rhythm until late in the game when the Falcons changed their defense. It was only then that his timing seemed to be in sync, as he led fourth quarter touchdown drives from 83 and 67 yards out, capped off by a twelve yard scamper for a touchdown and a sixteen yard connection for a touchdown to Muhsin Muhammed. Delhomme's timing had been off with Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammed all afternoon, seemingly throwing just behind his receivers on most missed passes or failing to put enough on the ball to let his receivers run under the ball. Delhomme complained of elbow soreness in the post game press conference, which should be monitored based upon his return from Tommy John elbow surgery last year.
| RB DeAngelo Williams, Rush: 19 - 101 - 1, Rec: 2 - 19 - 0 (4 targets) |
While Williams finished with 101 yards and averaged over five yards per carry, it should be noted that just 25 yards of those came in the first quarter, and 24 more came in the final minute after which both teams had conceded the Falcons seventeen point victory. That said, Williams looked very good making tacklers miss as he made his way past would be tacklers on his five yard touchdown run over right tackle as well as his straight forward plunge into the end zone on a later two point conversion. Williams' longest run of the day was for 21 yards midway through the third quarter.
| RB Jonathan Stewart, Rush: 5 - 15 - 0 |
Stewart never got rolling in this game, and averaged just three yards per touch. The score of the game likely played a bigger factor in this than anything, as Carolina was playing catch up all game long, a scheme better suited for DeAngelo Williams. Stewart was stuffed from a yard out on a 1st and goal in the second quarter in a chance to bring the score to 17-7, a drive on which the Panthers had to settle for a field goal.
| WR Steve Smith, Rec: 8 - 168 - 0 (13 targets) |
Smith's overall numbers look good as he averaged twenty-one yards per catch on the afternoon, but could have been much bigger. Smith was not targeted until the second quarter of the game, and saw passes underthrown or just out of his reach in and near the end zone on multiple occasions throughout the game. Smith was at his best lining up on the left side and streaking down the sideline or breaking over the middle on a deep route in this game.
| WR Muhsin Muhammad, Rec: 4 - 40 - 1 (9 targets) |
Muhammed added a late touchdown with three catches on the final Panthers scoring drive, but had struggled all afternoon prior to this drive, with balls just behind him bouncing off his hands, including one on a crossing route into the end zone.
| TE Dante Rosario, Rec: 3 - 43 - 0 (3 targets) |
Rosario caught all three passes thrown to him, and split time at tight end with starter Jeff King.
| PK John Kasay 2 - 2 FG, 2 - 2 XP, 8 points |
Kasay added short field goals from 21 and 23 yards, as well as two extra points. The Panthers went for two in the fourth quarter to make it a 24-21 game, but never gave Kasay a chance to tie it up.
| CAR Rush Defense |
The Panthers rush defense was bludgeoned for five touchdown runs and 133 yards on the ground, despite knowing the Falcons would be running the ball much of the game with a lead.
| CAR Pass Defense |
The secondary gave up 259 yards, with 69 of them coming on a nice play made by rookie Harry Douglas. The Panthers kept Matt Ryan and the Falcons out of the end zone, but couldn't stop them often enough to keep the chains from moving.
| QB Matt Ryan, Pass: 17 - 27 - 259 - 0 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 3 - 2 - 0 |
Quarterback Matt Ryan played a solid, though unspectacular game in which the Falcons put up 45 points, as he was kept out of the end zone. Ryan completed 17 of 27 passes for 259 yards, and added two yards on three official carries.
| RB Michael Turner, Rush: 24 - 117 - 4 |
Finding the end zone four times is no small feat, though this was Turner's fourth multi-touchdown game of the season and fifth performance exceeding one hundred yards on the ground. Turner bulldozed his way to two of the touchdowns from a yard out, but showed nifty footwork and a good burst on his four yard touchdown around end to the left side and past would be defenders on his sixteen yard scamper late in the game.
| RB Jerious Norwood, Rush: 4 - 11 - 0, Rec: 1 - 5 - 0 (2 targets) |
Norwood saw limited action in this game as he recovered from a rib injury, though he did maintain his role on kick returns. The flow of the game with the Falcons lead allowed the team to pound Michael Turner down the Panthers throats all afternoon long.
| WR Harry Douglas, Rush: 2 - 3 - 1, Rec: 4 - 92 - 0 (6 targets) |
Douglas was the player of the day, scoring from both the ground and via the punt return, and just missing a touchdown through the air as he was pulled down from behind. Though he went untouched on his 61 yard punt return, perhaps his most impressive play of the day was a sixty-nine yard catch where he caught a fifteen yard pass over the left side, then spun away from the defenders and began sprinting down the sidelines where he was caught inside the ten. The Falcons showed an interest in getting Douglas involved, especially with Jerious Norwood at less than 100%.
| WR Michael Jenkins, Rec: 4 - 48 - 0 (6 targets) |
Jenkins was a secondary target in this game, but finished with a decent performance, averaging twelve yards per reception. Including this game, Jenkins has compiled fifteen catches for 175 yards over his last three games, though with no touchdowns. Jenkins has touchdowns in just two games this season (one in Week 1 and two in Week 9).
| WR Roddy White, Rec: 4 - 70 - 0 (9 targets) |
White was involved and active early, with all of his catches coming in the first twenty minutes of this game. White fumbled the ball on his fourth catch, and was never able to make up for it after that, being shutout the remainder of the afternoon. He had a disputed twenty yard catch later in the game, though instant replay ruled the pass incomplete.
| TE Ben Hartsock |
Hartsock started the game for the Falcons, but did not see any targets in this game as Falcons tight ends acted primarily as blockers in this game, propelling the running game and limiting the Panthers defense to just one sack on the afternoon.
| PK Jason Elam 1 - 1 FG, 6 - 6 XP, 9 points |
Elam made two field goal attempts, the longest from 23 yards out and was two for two on extra point attempts in this game.
| ATL Rush Defense |
The Falcons did a decent job of shutting down the combination of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart, who combined for 116 yards, though 24 of those came in the final minute of the game in garbage time. The Falcons were not threatened on the ground based upon the game situation, but did a good job of bottling up both running backs early (Williams had 25 first half yards, while they had stuffed Stewart at the goal line in a key second quarter stand).
| ATL Pass Defense |
Despite giving up 295 yards and a touchdown through the air, the Falcons kept enough pressure on Jake Delhomme all afternoon to throw off his timing with Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammed. Though they didn't have any touchdowns, the Falcons finished with two sacks.