RADIO
The 2015 Carolina Panthers have now broken their record for the best start in franchise history, as they improved to 6-0 with a 27-16 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Cam Newton didn’t have the best day through the air, but he used his legs and head to beat the Eagles. Jonathan Stewart, Mike Tolbert, and even Ted Ginn were able to get it going on the ground as well for the Panthers. Their defense continued to play well and shut down the Eagles on the heels of Josh Norman’s coming out party as a shutdown cornerback.
Cam Newton, the passer, finished the game with 14 completions on 24 attempts for 197 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. So one could wonder how he really led the team with a stat line like that. Well, he also was able to effectively utilize his hard count and draw the Eagles’ offside, and then polished off a drive with a touchdown on the ground. He finished with four rushes for 20 yards and the touchdown, but the box score just doesn’t tell the whole story. While Sam Bradford looked like a deer in the headlights, Newton appeared to stay upbeat and continued to rally his team.
Jonathan Stewart posted another strong effort on the heels of his two touchdown game against the Seahawks last week, as he rushed the ball 24 times for 125 yards. Of course, many football fans, especially those who are Panthers fans, have come to know Mike Tolbert as quite the touchdown vulture, and he scored two more short yardage touchdowns on Sunday night. One was on the ground and one was a two yard reception.
Ted Ginn even got the ball on an end around and took it 43 yards downfield, and though there were many tweets about how he could have scored if he had just lowered the shoulder instead of running out of bounds, it was still very nice to see that versatility from Ginn pay off from Carolina’s perspective. He has had a strong year in a time where Carolina is in desperate need of wide receivers. Greg Olsen remains a stalwart for the Panthers as a strong blocker (he was leading the way for Ginn on the end around all the way downfield), and adding on 65 yards on three receptions of his own.
Carolina gets the Colts at home next week on Monday Night Football, and then have another home date against the likes of Aaron Rodgers. They have quite a bit of momentum heading into the next week, and it appears they are making believers out of much of the football world.
