Vintage Panthers snuff out Saints rally

For most of the game Thursday night against the , it looked like the were turning back the clock to a year ago. The Panthers played suffocating defense for most of the night, holding the high-powered Saints offense to just six points in the game's first 49 minutes. Carolina got after , held and Allen Robinson Jersey and in check, and didn't let break into the secondary with long runs. The offense wasn't nece sarily efficient, but it converted the opportunities it was afforded by that smothering defense into points. An early fumble by Brees yielded a field goal. An interception by Brees led to a touchdown. A blocked field goal led to another. The Panthers stayed committed to the running game and even though it wasn't working well, it allowed them to chew up the clock and grind the game down to a pace at which the Saints didn't want to play. They converted their third downs and didn't turn the ball over. In the fourth quarter, things started to turn. Carolina got conservative offensively when left the game with an injury. The Panthers stopped getting pre sure when left the field. Brees started finding some creases. The Saints put two touchdowns on the board and cut the lead to three. left the field with an injury on that second New Orleans touchdown drive. The Panthers started their final drive of the game in dire straits, with two straight plays yielding no gain. They faced third-and-10 from their own 15-yard with 2:39 to go. The Saints elected to sit back in coverage rather than sending extra rushers after , and he calmly delivered a strike to for a first down. The new set of downs allowed Carolina to run off enough clock that its defense only had to stop a token last-ditch attempt from Brees to walk away with a win. Carolina surely wishes it had finished the game without losing three high-level starters, but the win was much needed. It pushed the Panthers to Anthony Miller Jersey 4-6, and they avoided falling three full games behind the first-place . Here are a few more things to know about the Panthers' 23-20 win: 2. That's not how it's supposed to workWhile a lot of things went well for the Panthers this evening, not everything did. Their opening drive, which started on the Saints' 32-yard line after Brees fumbled while being sacked by Mario Addison, turned into a farce. The Panthers used 4:46 on the clock to run 11 plays that totaled 18 yards. Cam Newton was sacked twice. had a touchdown overturned. was stopped on a goal line carry. The Panthers kicked a field goal on fourth-and-goal, were given another goal-to-go try after a roughing the kicker penalty... and then went 12 yards backward in order to kick an even longer field goal. They led 3-0 by the end of the drive but it was pretty ugly. 3. A litany of mistakesWhile the Panthers made a bunch of plays, the Saints did their share to help the Panthers put points on the board. They made a ton of mental and physical errors. Let's list just a few: They gave up a sack/fumble on their first drive of the game, which set up a Carolina field goal. was called for roughing the kicker on that initial Panthers drive, which gave the Panthers a new goal-to-go series, as mentioned above. It eventually ended in a field goal anyway. was called for a late hit out of bounds that gave the Panthers an extra 15 yards while driving in Saints territory. It set up a Jonathan Stewart touchdown run. muffed a kickoff and dropped it out of bounds, setting New Orleans up to start a drive on its own 1-yard line. The Saints had a field goal blocked and returned for to the end zone, the second straight week they let a team do that. (They Teven Jenkins Jersey had an extra point blocked and returned for two points to lose the game to the last week.) Thursday night's TD return by the Panthers was called back for a block in the back, but it was still bad. They were called for a block in the back on a 2-yard punt return. They were called for holding on a late-game punt, which e sentially short-circuited their last-ditch drive before it began. That's a whole lot of helping out the opposition. 4. Touchdown TeddyTed Ginn does not have the best hands in the world. He's routinely among the NFL leaders in drops. What Ginn does have in spades, somehow, is the ability to make incredible catches for touchdowns. He did just that in this game, making a sliding grab in the back of the end zone off an incredible throw from Cam Newton. Check this one out:Cam + Ginn. TOUCHDOWN!WHAT A PLAY!: : NBC + NFLN NFL (@NFL) And check it out in slow-mo:That TD in SLO-MO = : : NBC + NFLN NFL (@NFL) If you're thinking that was an awesome catch, you're right. It was an catch. (Of course, because he is still Ted Ginn, he muffed a punt later in the game.)5. Ingram injuredThe Saints caught a bad break in the third quarter. Running back Mark Ingram broke through the line for his longest run of the game, but once he got about 12 yards past the line of scrimmage, he began to fall forward and his head banged into that of Panthers safety . Ingram laid motionle s on the Caleb Johnson Jersey field for a couple seconds before trainers rushed out to get him. He eventually walked off under his own power but could be seen on the sideline being examined by trainers. The Saints announced he was being evaluated for a concu sion. Mark Ingram is being evaluated in concu sion protocol New Orleans Saints (@Saints) Ingram did not return to the game. He was relieved by , who had been sharing snaps to that point. And by the way, let's give a quick shout-out to Hightower right here. This is a guy that went FOUR YEARS between snaps in the NFL and that has, in each of the last two seasons Chicago Bears Kids Jersey , been a vaguely effective running back at times for the Saints. (He finished with 69 yards on 12 carries and added 57 yards on eight catches.) Incredible. 6. Panthers stars go downIngram wasn't the only notable player that left the game. Kalil, the Panthers' starting center who had mi sed the last two games before returning Thursday, exited with a shoulder injury. Injury Update: Center Ryan Kalil (shoulder) is doubtful to return Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) Addison, who had two sacks in this game including the strip-sack of Brees on the opening drive, left with a foot injury. Mario Addison (foot) will not return. Jourdan Rodrigue (@JourdanRodrigue) Neither player returned to the game. The worst injury the Panther suffered, though, was to superstar linebacker Luke Kuechly, who left the field in tears after making a tackle during the fourth quarter. Luke Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) Prayers go out for Luke Kuechly. Nobody loves football more than this guy NFL Retweet (@NFLRT) We love ya, Luke. Jeremy Igo (@CarolinaHuddle) Prayers up for New Orleans Saints (@Saints) Kuechly's left leg appeared to buckle underneath him while he was making the hit. He also clearly took a blow to the chest. It was not immediately clear which part of his body was