CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On a slant route with under two minutes remaining Sunday, Carolina Panthers’ Adam Thielen cradled a Bryce Young touchdown pass, forcing overtime against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium.
The clutch catch wasn’t the veteran wide receiver’s best play during the Buccaneers’ eventual 26-23 victory. It wasn’t his second-best, either.
Thielen’s best efforts came on a drive-extending, one-handed, overtime snare that counted and a second-quarter touchdown reception that didn’t.
Panthers coach Dave Canales challenged the call, but NFL Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth said in a pool report that he didn’t see enough evidence to overturn the on-field call.
“The ruling on the field was incomplete, and the officials were giving the bobble signal,” Butterworth said. “We purposely stopped the game. For us to overturn, we need clear and obvious video evidence to change the ruling on the field. As we looked at available views, there was an initial bobble while the receiver was in the air. He then did get control which is the first part of the catch process. He did get a knee inbounds and as he is going to the ground, the third act would be surviving the ground. As he goes to the ground and turns over, there was no shot showing that he maintained possession throughout completing the process of the catch. On one of the angles – and there were not a lot of available angles, and we didn’t have a shot to overturn it – as he is rolling over, you can see at least one hand come off the ball. So with an on-field ruling of incomplete, we would have to show that he had control to award him a touchdown.”
Thielen, who finished with eight catches for 99 yards, disagreed.
“I think it’s a catch because I knew my left hand was locked on it the whole time,” Thielen said. “I knew I was obviously in, but at the same time, we should have caught the first time. So I can’t put it in the refs’ hands and obviously New York’s either.”
The Panthers settled for an Eddy Pineiro 27-yard field goal and a 13-10 halftime advantage. Falling to 3-9, the rebuilding Panthers have dropped back-to-back games on walk-off field goals.
“I feel like we’ve been doing that the last few weeks, which is definitely a step in the right direction,” Thielen said. “Now we’ve got to be able to finish those drives when we get in the red zone. I feel like that’s been kind of the theme the last few weeks: we’re getting good drives, getting good movement, getting in the red zone, and aren’t getting seven.
“So that’s going to be the difference maker for us moving forward.”
@Panthers WR Adam Thielen shares his thoughts on #NFL replay officials ruling his acrobatic TD catch incomplete during Sunday’s OT loss to @Buccaneers … pic.twitter.com/1vBOuTZXH6
— Jeff Hawkins (@WriterHawkins) December 2, 2024
Welcome To ‘The Twilight Zone,’ Charlotte-Style
Some unique developments unfolded Sunday:
- The NFL game was played with six on-field officials after umpire Carl Paganelli suffered a first-quarter leg injury.
- The Panthers kicked a field goal with five seconds left in the first half, but it came after the first attempt was waved off because the ball was set during a television timeout. That was a first for about everyone in the Panthers’ press box.
- Special teams ace Sam Franklin Jr. was captured attempting to storm the Buccaneers’ locker room trying to pick a post-game fight.
RB Chuba Hubbard, who fumbled in OT with @Panthers in FG range, sat on the bench for a while after the 26-23 loss to @Buccaneers … pic.twitter.com/LfHxzIJfHW
— Jeff Hawkins (@WriterHawkins) December 2, 2024
