Takeaways
- The first team offense scored an easy touchdown to Kelvin Benjamin despite throwing only two passes. Cam Newton didn’t play after the first series, indicating either confidence or conservative for snaps Cam.
- The defense came up with 3 first half sacks against most of the Jaguars first team unit. Mario Addison, Thomas Davis, and Bryan Cox came up with sacks during the first half. Pass rush will power this unit.
- Kelvin Benjamin continues to look unstoppable, 4 receptions for 36 yards including the Panthers first team score of 9 yards. He is looking more like pre-ACL tear Benjamin than 2016 Benjamin.
- Jonathan Stewart had 5 carries for 39 yards, averaging 7.8 yards per carry against mostly the Jags first team defense. You better believe he will still be involved in the regular season.
- The Panthers made a concerted effort to get the ball into Curtis Samuel’s hands during this game. We should be excited for week one when they bust out the real playbook.
The Panthers started off the game with 6 straight runs by Jonathan Stewart and Christian McCaffery, then Cam Newton hit McCaffery for a 12 yard pass. Then two runs by McCaffery in 3rd and 6, where Cam found Kelvin Benjamin for a 9 yard score. The Jags answered with a 3 and out that ended with a sack by Mario Addison. The Panthers went three and out following that as Cam Newton went out after the very first drive, seems the Panthers are happy with his performance on that first drive.
As the second quarter opened, the Panthers allowed the Jags to score on a rush by Ivory. The defense had two penalties that made it worse, with a face mask call on Kawann Short and a holding penalty on Shaq Thompson. The Panthers got the ball to Curtis Samuel a couple of times on the next drive, but had to punt after an incompletion due to some great coverage by the Jags secondary. The defense forced a three and out after a sack by Bryan Cox on second down. The Panthers answered with a field goal drive, with catches by Kelvin Benjamin and Curtis Samuel, along with a nice first down run by Fozzy Whittaker. Graham Gano nailed the kick down the middle. The Panthers forced a punt, only to have Derek Anderson threw a pick into double coverage. The Jags lead a field goal drive to end the half.
The Panthers forced a punt on the first drive of the second half as Blake Bortles took over at QB. The teams proceeded to exchange punts throughout the 3rd quarter. Then, Zach Sanchez made a beautiful interception over Allen Hurns and returned the ball inside the five for the offense. The offense answered with two handoffs to Cameron Artis-Payne, the second of which he took in for a touchdown. The Jags committed a penalty on the PAT, which prompted Carolina to go for 2. Artis-Payne got bottled up in the backfield on that attempt. The Jaguars created a long drive that resulted in a touchdown pass for Blake Bortles and the PAT gave the Jags a 17-16 lead.
As the Panthers took over in the 4th, the offense made some progress on a drive. Moze Frazier made a nice 30+ yard catch that would have been a touchdown were it not for a Jag tagging him before he hit the ground off the catch. Artis-Payne followed that up with a first down run, and then another power run into the endzone. Gilbert found Kaelin Clay on the two point conversion to put Carolina up by 7. The Jaguars lead a scoring drive, but Jeff Richards intercepted the pass on a two point conversion to keep the lead at 24-23. The Panthers punted on the ensuing drove, giving Jacksonville around a minute and no timeouts to drive into field goal range from their own 20. The Panthers defense played aggressive with the blitz, and ended up winning 24-23.