SEATTLE — The Carolina Panthers had just squandered a golden opportunity in the red zone late in the third quarter on Sunday at Lumen Field.
After earning first and goal from the Seattle Seahawks’ 3-yard line, Panthers offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo called four consecutive passing plays, and Carolina turned the ball over on downs.
Luckily for the Panthers (5-8), the defense — the unit that interim head coach Steve Wilks had bet on — came up with a huge stop to force Seattle’s offense off the field immediately after the failed drive. From there, the Panthers leaned on their running game to punished the Seahawks and keep the ball away from the Seattle offense.
But it wasn’t breakout star D’Onta Foreman carrying the rock on the Panthers’ most dominant possession of the 30-24 win over the Seahawks (7-6). That work fell to backups Chuba Hubbard and Raheem Blackshear.
Quarterback Sam Darnold handed the ball off to Hubbard and Blackshear and watched the duo pick up huge chunks of yardage. The game-clinching possession, Hubbard and Blackshear combined for 66 rushing yards and a touchdown, as the Panthers pulled ahead of the Seahawks by 10 points.
The Panthers had lost nine consecutive road games coming into the Week 14 matchup, but Wilks snapped that streak for the first road victory of his interim tenure. Wilks also won his fourth game, surpassing his total from his one-year stint as the Arizona Cardinals head coach (3-13) in 2018.
Here is how we graded out the Panthers for the win over the Seahawks:
Rushing offense
B+. The Seahawks came into the game with a bottom-five rushing defense, and the Panthers were happy to chip away at that foundation.
The Panthers ran on 16 of the first 25 plays on offense, picking up 62 yards and a touchdown on the ground to begin the game. While starter D’Onta Foreman — while dealing with a foot injury — put together a couple of early runs, backup Chuba Hubbard did a nice job of asserting himself on the third drive of the game, picking up 11 rushing yards and a touchdown on three carries.
Foreman paced the offense in the first half with 30 rushing yards on 10 carries. The Seahawks held the Panthers to 3.5 yards per carry in the first half, despite Carolina’s dominance for most of the first quarter.
The Panthers went back to the ground in the second half, but didn’t have immediate success. Surprisingly, a 26-yard run by Darnold in the middle of the second half broke open the ground game for Carolina. For the most part, the Panthers leaned on their rushing attack for Carolina’s fifth scoring drive of the afternoon, as Foreman started to chip away after a relatively forgettable start.
On fourth-and-1 from the Seattle 4-yard line, Wilks trusted his running game, having Darnold hand off the ball to Foreman for the conversion. It was a major play for the Panthers, who had just a three-point lead at the time. However, the Panthers’ staff essentially wiped out that play’s importance with four failed plays from the 3-yard line and a turnover on downs.
Following the failed drive, the Panthers learned their lesson and went back to the rushing attack. They used Hubbard to pick up ground on three carries for 29 yards. Third-string running back Raheem Blackshear then got involved with back-to-back runs for 22 yards. Essentially, the Panthers waited until the fourth quarter to break open the Seahawks’ wall against the run.
That turned out to be smart strategy, as the Panthers rode the running game down the field on a dominant drive. The backup duo of Hubbard and Blackshear combined for 66 rushing yards and a touchdown on the series that put the Panthers up by 10 with 6:57 remaining in the game.
The Panthers then leaned on Foreman, their resident bulldozer, to close out the matchup with a healthy load of carries to end the game. Foreman finished with 21 carries for 74 yards. Hubbard led the team with 74 rushing yards and a touchdown on 14 carries. Blackshear contributed 32 rushing yards and a touchdown of his own on four carries.
Passing offense
C. The Panthers were patient in the passing game to start the matchup. Darnold essentially took what was in front of him, outside a lofted throw down the seam that almost got picked off on the opening drive. After the “lucky” pass breakup by Seahawks cornerback Tariq Woolen, Darnold worked the short passing game to move the sticks and complement the ground attack. He led an opening field-goal drive by targeting receivers around the line of scrimmage and taking small-but-steady chunks on tosses.
Following the first-drive interception by the Panthers defense, Darnold took advantage with a 13-yard touchdown strike to wideout Shi Smith. The passing touchdown was the first of Smith’s young career and put the Panthers up, 10-0, to start the game. After that score, Darnold and the offense kept pushing, getting into scoring position for the third time in as many drives to start the game. A quick dump off to Hubbard led to a 17-yard gain that forced the Seahawks to defend the red zone to avoid another touchdown score. Darnold, though, ended up leading a back-to-back touchdown-scoring drive with the running game leading the way.
The Panthers finally let up on their fourth offensive series, as protection broke down on the drive. Darnold was sacked by Seahawks linebacker Darrell Taylor on third down, and Carolina was forced to punt for the first time in the game.
Despte being setup at the Seattle 39-yard line after a second pick of Smith, the Panthers struggled to move the ball in the air. Left tackle Ikem Ekwonu gave up his first sack since Week 2 to defensive end Bruce Irvin, forcing a 3rd-and-19 situation that the Panthers couldn’t overcome. The offense was forced to settle for a field goal.
Darnold completed 9 of 12 passes for 84 yards and a touchdown in the first half.
After a listless start to the third quarter, Darnold connected with wideout Terrace Marshall Jr. for an impressive completion. Darnold fired a bullet between two defenders, and Marshall caught the ball between his legs. Marshall controlled the ball for a 17-yard gain. Seattle challenged the play, but the completion stood.
Darnold’s play eroded deep in the drive, as he struggled to connect with receivers within the red zone. Despite receiving a first down at the 3-yard line, Darnold had four consecutive failed plays as a passer. The play-calling was aggressive but inept, and the Panthers turned the ball over on downs.
After the failed red-zone trip, the Panthers largely relied on their running game to pull away from Seattle. Darnold completed 14 of 24 passes (58.3%) for 120 yards and a touchdown in the game. He had a 85.4 passer rating.
Rushing defense
A. With the Seahawks missing their top two runners — Kenneth Walker III (ankle) and DeeJay Dallas (ankle), Seattle was limited on the ground to begin with. Travis Homer — who had just nine carries on the season before the matchup — served as the top back against the Panthers. The Carolina defense did a nice job of containing Homer early on — the running back picked up just 8 yards on 5 carries in the first half.
With the Seahawks trailing by multiple scores at the start of the second quarter, Seattle had to focus more on the passing game, and that one-dimensional approach helped the Panthers.
Homer finished the game with 9 carries for 26 yards. While it’s easy to point out that the Panthers were facing a third-string running back, the unit did its job against the Seahawks and made Seattle one-dimensional on offense.
Passing defense
B. The Panthers got off to an excellent start against Smith. On the Seahawks’ first offensive play, cornerback Jaycee Horn collected his third interception of the season. Horn picked off Smith, who had only thrown six interceptions in his first 12 games, on a toss to the middle of the field. Horn returned the ball 31 yards and put the Panthers in the red zone, leading to a 13-yard touchdown toss from Darnold to Smith. On the follow-up drive, the Panthers held the Seahawks to just seven yards and forced a punt.
Smith bounced back in the second quarter, connecting with wideout Marquise Goodwin for a 38-yard gain. Goodwin, a track star off the gridiron, got lost in coverage and made the play wide open. Smith followed up that play by hitting wideout Tyler Lockett for a 17 yards to get them in the red zone. Three plays later, Smith hit Lockett for a 4-yard touchdown, as he broke away from a mismatch against linebacker Frankie Luvu.
Despite that bad blip by Luvu, the linebacker made a huge play on the next drive. Luvu forced pressure up the middle on third-and-9, and Smith made a poor decision, throwing into double coverage to wideout DK Metcalf. Cornerback CJ Henderson jumped in front of the pass to Metcalf for an interception and returned the ball 20 yards to the Seattle 39-yard line, setting up another Panthers field-goal scoring drive.
Luvu continued to attack the Seahawks’ passing attack in the first half. He picked up a sack for a four-yard loss on Smith on the Seahawks’ final drive of the half. It was a nice bounce back for Luvu, who should have never been matched up against Lockett on the touchdown play earlier in the quarter.
However, the Seahawks were able to still make the most of their two-minute offense, pushing down the field with Smith anchoring the passing game. Seattle capped its final drive of the first half with a 12-yard touchdown connection between Smith and Metcalf. Cornerback TJ Carrie was beat by a step in the end zone by Metcalf, and Smith hurled a perfect dagger to the wideout for the score.
Smith completed 10 of 17 passes (58.8%) for 119 yards, 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions in the first half.
Smith came out firing in the second half, hitting Goodwin for a 14-yard gain on the second play of the third quarter. However, the Panthers defense was eventually able to clamp down, holding Seattle to a field goal despite good field position. The Panthers were able to keep a pass from Smith to Goodwin in front of the secondary, and Seattle came up short on third-and-8.
The defense continued to battle on the next series, forcing a three-and-out because of back-to-back plays in coverage. Luvu rushed a screen attempt and broke up the pass on second down. On third down, safety Jeremy Chinn broke up a pass to the sideline by Smith.
The pass defense came up big during the Seahawks’ first drive of the fourth quarter, getting a three straight stops. Defensive end Brian Burns forced pressure on third down, as the Panthers sent Luvu and fellow linebacker Shaq Thompson on separate blitzes. Thompson was able to corral Smith for a third-down sack and force Seattle to punt.
The Panthers made one of the most efficient passers in the league look like everyone else. After strong performances against Tom Brady, Russell Wilson and Lamar Jackson, defensive coordinator Al Holcomb’s unit did a terrific job against Smith, Metcalf and Lockett.
Smith finished with a 58.3% completion percentage and a 85.9 QB rating. He threw for 264 yards, 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. He was sacked three times.
Special teams
B. Long snapper JJ Jansen set the franchise record for most games played by a Panthers player on Sunday. Jansen registered his 222nd game in the NFL when he snapped for a 47-yard field goal attempt by kicker Eddy Piñeiro. The kick was good and Jansen was alone in the franchise history books after surpassing his former mentor, kicker John Kasay.
Piñeiro was steady from the opening drive onward, making all three of his field goal attempts and all three of his extra point attempts. On the season, Piñeiro is 25 of 27 on field goals (92.5%) and 21 of 23 on extra points (91.3%).
Punter Johnny Hekker, from nearby Redmond, Washington, punted twice for 107 yards for an average of 53.5 per attempt.
The Panthers’ lone major blemish on special teams was kickoff coverage. Running back Godwin Igwebuike had a 50-yard kick return at the end of the second quarter that set up a touchdown drive. Igewebuike then had a 35-yard return to start the third quarter that led to a field goal. Both kick returns led to a combined 10 points for the Seattle offense.
