Carolina makes a statement in Seattle
Stays undefeated with last-minute win over nemesis
Of all the sounds the Carolina Panthers heard Sunday, none was better than the silence that filled CenturyLink Field after Greg Olsen’s game-winning touchdown catch.
It was far sweeter than the fire alarm that blared at the Grand Hyatt in downtown Seattle at 5:30 a.m. PT, a sound that forced weary players to slip on T-shirts and shoes and trudge down 16 flights of stairs and onto a rainy Seattle sidewalk, and far more comforting than the raucous din that filled the stadium as the Seahawks built a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter.
But Olsen’s touchdown catch, on a perfect 26-yard strike from quarterback Cam Newton, gave the Panthers a 27-23 victory, quieted all that noise and helped the Panthers make a loud statement.
At 5-0, and alone atop the NFC South, the Panthers are legitimate contenders.
“We kept our composure, and I think that’s a sign of a mature team. From last year to this year, obviously the continuity is there, but you really have seen us grow up,” center Ryan Kalil told USA TODAY Sports. “That’s going to be big for us, ’cause we’re going to have some more close games like this later on down the stretch. So for us to have that win, going into these games knowing we can do that, I think that will give us a lot
of momentum and give us a lot of confidence going forward.”
Kalil was referring to the Panthers as a whole, of course, but it is certainly a statement about Newton, who was 0-4 in his previous starts against the Seahawks.
Think this was just another game for Newton? No way.
That much was clear after he rumbled into the end zone for the 36th rushing touchdown of his career. He turned to face the Seattle crowd before starting his celebration dance, relishing the boos that were showered upon him.
After his touchdown strike to Olsen, Newton sprinted through that same end zone, seemingly taunting Seattle’s famed 12th man.
Newton threw a pair of interceptions earlier in the game, one each to Seattle safeties Earl Thomas and Kam Chancellor, and he struggled against the Seahawks pass rush early, when he was sacked three times.
But in the fourth quarter, it was Newton, and not Seattle’s Russell Wilson, who performed in the clutch, leading two 80-yard touchdown drives to help erase the Seahawks’ 23-14 lead.
“We knew what kind of environment this was going to be, and we just had to keep fighting,” Newton said.
It was hectic in the moments before Olsen’s TD catch, yet Newton was eerily calm. The play clock ticked perilously close to zero as Newton received the play call. Kalil, who said he had one eye on the clock and another on Newton, emphatically urged his fellow offensive linemen to get into their stances and snapped the ball with fractions of a second to spare.
“Once we get set, it was just Greg being Greg,” Newton said.
Newton’s pass hit Olsen in stride, and he was so wide open he was just telling himself not to drop it, praying no one had committed a penalty that would have wiped the score away. But the play was perfect and, despite the frantic moments before the snap, was amazingly easy.
“You don’t catch a lot of passes against them without people hitting you,” Olsen said.
Olsen turned to see his teammates celebrating as a hush fell over the stadium, with fans and Seahawks players stunned after another fourth-quarter collapse. The Seahawks, who fell to 2-4, have surrendered a late lead in each of their losses this season.
“It’s very frustrating, especially when you know we had them,” Thomas said. “We don’t suck. We know who we are. We’re not finishing.”