Sunday’s tilt between the Carolina Panthers and the Indianapolis Colts didn’t get off to the prettiest of starts. But, hey, it wasn’t all completely ugly.
What has been a bruised and battered defense finally made a stand inside their own 20-yard line, something they haven’t done too often this year. In fact, Carolina had allowed a touchdown on 12 consecutive red-zone possessions—a franchise record.
That streak, however, came to a stop—even with the Colts getting all the way to the Panthers’ 1-yard line. The stand began at the beginning of the second quarter, when safeties Alex Cook and Xavier Woods took down Indianapolis running back Jonathan Taylor for a loss of a yard.
Then, following a false start on wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., quarterback Gardner Minshew was forced way out of the pocket and into an incompletion. The Colts would settle for a 26-yard field goal from kicker Matt Gay, giving them a 3-0 lead with 13:52 left in the first half.
