Monday, September 12, 2011

Carolina Uses Second Half Comeback To Top Washington

By Ross Everett


The Carolina Panthers finally got one in the win column on Sunday afternoon, using a furious second half comeback to defeat the slumping Washington Redskins 20-17. Washington led 17-2 early in the third quarter before Carolina scored the final 18 points of the game to earn the victory. Jonathan Stewart's eight yard fourth quarter run for a touchdown with a successful two point conversion completed the Panthers comeback. Carolina improved to 1-3 on the season while Washington dropped to 2-3.

NFL betting devotees who backed Washington as +5 road underdogs were finally rewarded for their faith as the Redskins covered for the first time this season. The Redskins are now 1-4 against the spread while the Panthers remain winless against the money at 0-4. The 37 combined points just managed to stay UNDER the posted total of 38. Washington has gone UNDER in four of five games this season, while Carolina evened their NFL totals mark at 2-2 on the year. 6 of the last eight meetings between the two teams have gone UNDER the total.

Redskins coach Jim Zorn is now on the hotseat after another defeat. The Redskins started the 2008 season 6-2, but are only 4-9 since then. The biggest problem this year has been offensive productivity"heading into this game the Redskins were averaging a mere 14 points per game. By that metric, the 17 points they put up in the first contest under new offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis has to seen as a marginal improvement. Of bigger concern, however, is the fact that the team blew a 15 point second half lead.

The victory, meanwhile, may have taken at least some of the pressure off of Panthers QB Jake Delhomme who is suffering through an awful season. Delhomme now has eight interceptions in four games this season, contributing greatly to the -8 turnover margin that the Panthers took into Sundays encounter. After the game, he expressed relief at getting a win under his belt:

"Anything that could have gone wrong the first month or so has gone wrong. We'll take it any way we can get it."

His Washington counterpart Jason Campbell was efficient, if not spectacular, with 145 yards and one touchdown with no interceptions. In another bright spot for the Redskins, Clinton Portis scored his first rushing touchdown of the season early in the fourth quarter. He had caught a pass for a touchdown to open the Washington scoring in the first quarter.

The Panthers will now try to string together a short winning streak as they head to Florida next Sunday to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Theyll return home the following week to face a struggling Buffalo Bills team before going back on the road to play the Arizona Cardinals. The Redskins will play their next two games at home and then enjoy a bye week. Theyll welcome the Kansas City Chiefs to FedEx Field next Sunday, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles the following week.




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