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NFL Weekend Recap & Survivor Week 13

Lovely Thanksgiving week here in the Carolinas. Got all my kids home for five days which made me a very happy man. I am blessed beyond measure.

Dallas took my Survivor ticket into the Teens as weeks One through Twelve are in the books. I have adjusted my Path to victory once again and looks like I'm going to use my Week 17 team Seattle this week. I had Seahawks beating Arizona in Week 17, and Houston beating Cleveland in Week 13, but Cleveland all of a sudden is a legitimate average team instead of an easy "free square." Houston will be on a short week after playing tonight, and I'm just getting that prickly sensation at the back of my neck. So I will strike with the suddenly hot Seabirds at home against SF in 13 and then push Houston to Week 17 at home vs. Jacksonville. Looks like this:

100K Contest

Used: Baltimore, Los Angeles Rams, KC, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Green Bay, New Orleans, Dallas

Week 13: SEATTLE

14. Denver @ sf (or Ten v. jax)
15. Atlanta v ari
16. New England v buf
17. Houston v jax

There are 121 tickets left vying for the 100k.

And Carolina... sigh, we were doomed after Donte Jackson injured his quad on the very first play of the game. His replacement got burned deep over and over (though it took Pete Carol 3 quarters to notice and let Wilson throw the ball). Gano blew another game and now the Panthers have lost three straight. The last two losses by a total of 4 points. I'd say we do not make the playoffs this year, with games against the Saints (twice) and Atlanta still on the docket.

Black Cats Bite Green Birds

If the Panthers’ offense does something comparable to the 2010 season, you know things aren’t going well. But that’s the type of day Carolina was having in Philadelphia, where at the half, quarterback Cam Newton had totaled 5 net passing yards.

That’s right, five.

The last time the Panthers had fewer after two quarters was when Jimmy Clausen and Co. went for negative-5 in Atlanta on Dec. 12, 2010.

So compared to the first half, Newton and the passing offense caught fire in the third quarter when they put up 44 yards.

Then came a fourth quarter for the ages.

Newton began the final 15 minutes by hitting on six of his first seven attempts. But the Panthers were still getting shut out. They needed a spark that only a touchdown could provide.

“We needed to get the ball in the end zone. No matter who got the ball in the end zone, we just needed somebody to get in the end zone to get the offense fired up a little bit,” said wide receiver Curtis Samuel, whose 14-yard end-around got the Panthers on the board.

It was a beautifully drawn-up play with Newton lined up in the shotgun next to C.J. Anderson and in front of Christian McCaffrey. After the snap, Newton faked a handoff to Anderson and then ran alongside McCaffrey, making the Eagles go to their right to defend what appeared to be an option. That’s when Newton flipped the ball to Samuel, who was heading the other way.

“I make plays happen,” Samuel said before remembering the Golden Rule of touchdown scorers. “Everybody did their job. Everybody blocked. I've got to thank everybody cause without them that play wouldn't happen.”

Actually, right tackle Taylor Moton didn’t even have to lay a block because once Samuel cut inside at the 11-yard line, he sped his way in virtually untouched.

“Even though I see the end zone, I've gotta go get it after that,” Samuel said. “We scored, the defense did their job and put us on the field and we just kept rolling.”

Yes, this felt very familiar. A 17-0 deficit. A late rally. And it looked like this one may fall short, just like last week's against Washington.

After Newton began the final drive with three straight incompletions, hope was fading with 2:06 left and the Panthers facing a fourth-and-10 from their own 31.

Then Newton did what he does.

“I haven't been around a guy like him with his ability to keep things alive and make big plays,” offensive coordinator Norv Turner said.

Newton should have been sacked, but he slipped out of the grasp of Brandon Graham. Fellow defensive end Michael Bennett then delivered a huge hit on Newton as he fluttered a pass to Smith.

“I saw his man had slipped and fell and he was uncovered wide open. I just knew I had to get the ball in his hands,” Newton said. “It wasn’t pretty, but the results were.”

Said Smith: “I was running an inside dig route, and I kind of saw Cam pulling up so I knew it wouldn’t be on time. So I stopped to kind of feel out where he was because I wasn’t going to break out while he was scrambling. He ended up getting it off, and I guess Jalen (Mills) kind of slipped behind me and Cam saw it. I honestly don’t know how he got it off - he muscled it out. Then I just got busy.”

The first down was necessary. The extra yardage was a big bonus. A 12-yard reception turned into a 35-yard gain after Smith broke a tackle before turning down the sideline.

“I knew we had the two-minute [warning] coming up, so I didn’t have to try to run out of bounds,” he explained. “I knew that if I caught it, I could fight for extra yards because it wouldn’t take extra time off. I was trying to cut upfield and get us in field goal range without having to dink it and dunk it downfield.”

CAROLINA

• The win moves Carolina to 5-7 all-time against the Eagles, including a 3-4 mark at Philadelphia.
• Carolina trailed 17-0 entering the fourth quarter. The comeback was the largest fourth quarter comeback in franchise history. Carolina had twice overcome 17-point deficits in the third quarter in 2004 (San Francisco) and 2003 (Jacksonville).
• It marked the first time since 1985 that a team on the road that was held scoreless through three quarters came back from 17 or more points to win in the fourth quarter (Minnesota at Philadelphia - Dec. 1, 1985).
• The Panthers scored 21 points in the fourth quarter. For the season, Carolina has 65 fourth-quarter points. Those points were the most scored in the fourth quarter since 10/16/16 when the Panthers scored 21 against New Orleans.
• Carolina rushed for 121 net yards, marking the fifth game this season that the Panthers have eclipsed 100 rushing yards. The Panthers are 4-1 when rushing for over 100 yards.
• The Panthers defense recorded four sacks, including stops from Mario Addison, Luke Kuechly and Julius Peppers. Carolina has tallied seven sacks in the last two games.

PHILADELPHIA

• Philadelphia rushed for 58 net yards, the fewest that the Eagles have managed this season.

Gano Kicks a Giant Killer

The longest field goal kick in NFL history is 64 yards, a record set by Matt Prater on December 8, 2013. The previous record was 63, originally set by Tom Dempsey and then matched by Jason Elam, Sebastian Janikowski, David Akers, and now Graham Gano.

This was one of the best games I've seen at Bank of America stadium. I've been a PSL owner since the team's inception 25 years ago, and this was definitely a top ten game. 

CAROLINA

• Carolina improved to 7-4 against the Giants and 3-2 at home. Carolina has now won three in a row in the series.
• Carolina has now won eight straight games at home, tying New England for the longest active streak in the NFL. The Panthers have also won the game after the bye week in four consecutive seasons.
• The Panthers scored their first special teams touchdown of the season on a fumble recovery in the end zone by Colin Jones on a muffed punt by the Giants. It marked the first special teams touchdown since Week 16 of 2017 when Damiere Byrd scored a kickoff return touchdown.
• Carolina forced three turnovers to win the turnover battle 3-2. Since 2011, the Panthers are now 67-5-1 when positive in turnover margin. Carolina has won 14 straight games when positive in turnovers.
• Carolina has created 96 takeaways since 2015, the most in the NFL.
• The Panthers defense held the Giants to 0-for-7 on third down. It marked the first time since 2000 (10/8/00 - Seahawks) that Carolina has held an opponent without a third-down conversion in a game.
• The Panthers rushed for 118 yards and held the Giants to 50 rushing yards. Carolina is 40-13 since 2001 when rushing for at least 100 yards and holding an opponent under 100 yards.
• Sunday marked the eighth win by seven or fewer points in the last two seasons for Carolina. Since 2013, Carolina is 25-13 for a .654 winning percentage in games decided by seven or fewer points. Carolina has both the most wins and highest winning percentage in those games in the NFC since 2013.

NEW YORK GIANTS

• The Giants' 31 points were the most scored by New York since December 2015, when New York scored 35 points against Carolina.
• New York became the first team to score on Carolina with under two minutes in the fourth quarter this year.

NFL Recap

SuperContest

Week 4 was another bust on my end. Two of my picks got blown out so thoroughly that it was embarrassing. This is how bad it got: Cam Newton is my Fantasy QB and he was on a bye, so I picked up Tannehill and figured he could put up some decent numbers against the shoddy New England defense. Well, Miami went up to Foxboro and bent over backward to make the Patriots look like one of their super teams from years' past. Tannehill gave me a zero. Goose egg. Nada. Zilch. Nothing. I could have kept Cam Newton in the lineup spot and gotten the same result. 

It was so bad, that by Sunday night I re-thought my position on the Steelers and put 1,100 down on the Ravens while in Biloxi playing craps. Yes, I am betting against my own picks. 

I used to give advise to my friends on EveryEdge when they went through a rough patch alone the lines of keep your chin up, keep plugging away, and keep posting your picks because good gamblers can spot trends and a losing streak is every bit as important to watch for as a winning streak. So, my picks on the SuperContest will keep going up here and those of you who are savvy enough can use them as part of your handicapping process. I'm cold as ice right now. Sub-zero. I'm a fossil buried deep beneath the Antarctic ice flows, a Prehistoric Plesiosaurus frozen for all time. 

Survivor

I had my first clean slate of the year, and all five tickets moved on to week 5

Panthers

Carolina had a bye this week and picked up Eric Reid. I saw Julius Peppers playing craps in New Orleans, but he was surrounded by people and I didn't want the distraction so I played at a different table. Nice to know he likes to play my game.

Panthers Fall to Falcons

CAROLINA

• Carolina is now 18-29 against the Falcons and 6-18 on the road in Atlanta.
• Carolina amassed 439 net yards, including 121 yards on the ground and 318 net yards passing. It marked the fourth-most net yards over the last three seasons and the 92nd 100-yard rushing game under Ron Rivera.
• The Panthers had five big plays (run over 10 yards, pass over 20 yards) in the fourth quarter after only having two in the first three quarters.
• Carolina did not record a sack on Matt Ryan, just a week after sacking Dallas' Dak Prescott six times. It marked just the second time that Carolina has not recorded a sack since 12/20/15 against the Giants.

ATLANTA

• The Falcons rushed for 170 net yards on the ground, the most rushing yards allowed by the Panthers since the Seahawks ran for 240 in 2016 (12/4/16).
• Eight different receivers had receptions for the Falcons, but none accumulated more than 64 yards.
• In nine home victories over Carolina with Ryan at quarterback, the Falcons have only allowed 16 sacks. In two losses, they've surrendered 15.
• Running back Tevin Coleman snapped Carolina's franchise-record 21-game streak of not allowing a 100-yard rusher as he finished with 107 yards on 16 carries.
• Matt Ryan became the first quarterback to ever run for two touchdowns against the Panthers in franchise history.

Birthday Sunday

The beginning of the Sunday NFL slate coincided with my birthday this year. And as fate would have it, the NFL schedulers finally gave my Panthers a home game to kick off the season for the first time in 6 years. And they made it a 4:25 kick in prime time, so I could sleep in, have a great brunch, watch the 1pm games and then walk over to Bank of America Stadium.

Got my picks in, kissed the kids goodbye, and headed Uptown for a great Brunch at 5 Church. Ordered a bottle of wine and enjoyed a great burger topped with a fried egg and old school home fries. Watched in bewilderment as New Orleans got their assess handed to them by the newly-crowned demi god of quarterbacks, Sir Fitzpatrick. Started walking to the stadium when the Steelers were up 21-7 and was surprised to see 20 minutes later that the game was tied. The NFL is a strange beast. 

We had a stirring National Anthem and a rousing Keep Pounding swipe at the giant drum by a Marine General. Then my favorite: a flyover by Marine F-18's from Beaufort, South Carolina. Four in perfect formation going as slow as those planes will fly. Absolutely gorgeous, and gave me chills. I love this country. 

Then the game began. Carolina's defense was stifling. Our offense ground along, about the way it normally does, albeit with a few new wrinkles from ol' Norv Turner. Like the screens and misdirection. Cam was our leading rusher, as per norm, with 68 yards and a touchdown.

The Panthers triumphed 16-8, but the final score doesn't tell the true story. Carolina absolutely  throttled Dallas throughout the game, allowing only one late touchdown. 

CAROLINA

• Sunday marked the first home win for the Panthers over the Cowboys in the regular season. Carolina is now 5-9 all-time against Dallas. The Panthers have won six games in a row at home dating back to 2017.
• Carolina recorded six sacks, tied for the most in a game in for the Panthers since a 2016 contest against Arizona (10/30/16, 8 sacks).
• Carolina’s defense held the Cowboys to 2-of-11 (18 percent) on third down. Last season, Carolina held San Francisco to the exact same number (2-of-11) on third down in a season-opening win.
• In the first half, the Panthers had 23 plays in opposing territory, while Dallas had none.
• Carolina rushed for 147 yards, the 91st 100-yard rushing game under head coach Ron Rivera. Carolina is 39-13 when rushing over 100 yards and holding an opponent under 100 yards in the Rivera era.
• The Panthers committed nine penalties for 80 yards. Last year, Carolina only had more than six penalties in a game two times.

DALLAS

• The Cowboys scored just eight points on one fourth quarter touchdown. It marked the fewest points for Dallas in an opener since 2010.
• Sunday marked just the fifth loss for Dallas in Week 1 since the 2006 season. The Cowboys entered the game tied for the best winning percentage (.666) on Kickoff Weekend in the NFL.

CAROLINA

• Cam Newton scored a rushing touchdown in the second quarter, his 55th career rushing touchdown. Newton has more rushing touchdowns than any quarterback in NFL history, and is tied for the second-most rushing touchdowns of any player, regardless of position, in the NFL since 2011.
• Defensive tackle Kawann Short notched two sacks, his ninth multi-sack game of his career. Short now has 31.5 career sacks, the most of any defensive tackle in franchise history.
• Mario Addison recorded a strip sack in the final minutes of the game. Addison now has 37.5 career sacks, the third-most among active NFL players that went undrafted. Addison’s 20.0 sacks since Week 9 of the 2016 season rank third in the NFL.
• Christian McCaffrey lost a fumble inside the five-yard line on Carolina's first drive. It marked his first lost fumble since Week 1 of 2017 at San Francisco. McCaffrey finished with 16 touches (10 rushes 6 receptions) for 95 yards from scrimmage.
• Newton's longest completion went for 19 yards to Greg Olsen. The last time that Newton didn't complete at least one 20-yard pass was the 2016 season opener at Denver.

DALLAS

• The Panthers held Ezekiel Elliott to 69 yards rushing on 15 attempts. The game marked the third-lowest rushing output for Elliott in his career, which includes 26 games over the last three seasons.

And one final note:

• Carolina improved to 193-192-1 all-time including the playoffs. It marks the first time that Carolina is over .500 all-time since the 1998 season. The win was also the first under new Panthers owner David Tepper.