Carolina Panthers beat New Orleans Saints, 44-38 – NFL Week 17 Recap
Carolina Panthers tied up with New Orleans Saints and Tampa Bay Buccaneers for second position in National Football Conference (NFC) South, after beating Saints by 44-38 in Week 17 game on Sunday, December 30, 2012, at Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans,
LA.
However, all these three teams failed to qualify for the postseason.
Saints played well along with solid pressure from Panthers defence. However, four consecutive touchdowns took Panthers to the victory.
Saints quarterback Drew Brees performed well in the game, but could not save his team from losing the game.
Brees completed 29 out of 43 passes for 396 yards and scored four touchdowns with an interception. He also got sacked twice by Panthers defensive end Charles Johnson.
He has scored a total of 43 touchdowns, the highest in this National Football League (NFL) season.
Brees threw 7- and 9-yard touchdown passes to wide receiver Marques Colston in second and fourth quarters, tight end Jimmy Graham received a 19-yard touchdown pass during third quarter and running back Darren Sproles caught a 33-yard touchdown pass at the
end of fourth quarter.
In post-game remarks, Brees said:
“It's going to be an eye-opener for some people, I'm sure, as it should be, because this is not our standard, what happened this year."
Little decline was seen in Panthers quarterback Cam Newton’s performance. He did not score any touchdown and ended the game with 16 of 33 passes for 248 yards with an interception.
It was the fourth time in this season that Newton has not scored any touchdown.
Newton got sacked by Saints defensive tackle Brodrick Bunkley, and Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma scored a touchdown on his interception return in second quarter of the game.
Panthers fullback Mike Tolbert played really well, he scored three touchdowns by rushing 1-yard each in second, third and fourth quarters.
Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams rushed for 54 and 12 yards in third and fourth quarters respectively, and scored two touchdowns.
The Associated Press quoted Panthers head coach Ron Rivera:
"I'm proud of the fact that those guys showed up every day and worked, did the things we asked and did them very well. This is a good group of men and they deserved this. They deserved the opportunity to win four in a row."
Meanwhile, Saints interim coach Joe Vitt showed his disappointment after the game, and said:
"Totally unacceptable what happened today. Very disappointing. There's no way to sugar-coat this. We just have to believe that what happened this year is going to serve us well in the future."
Panthers kicker Graham Gano scored on three field goals of 20, 31 and 42 yards in first, second and fourth quarters respectively.
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