By David Rogers. LAS VEGAS, Nev. — Folks in North and South Carolina might want to start putting M.D., or at least EMT behind Andy Dalton’s name. That’s because the 14-year veteran NFL quarterback resuscitated a near-dead Carolina offense on Sept. 22, and revived the region’s hopes for the 2024 professional football season in leading the Panthers to a dominant, 36-22 road win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
Benching Bryce Young, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and inserting the 36-yearold Dalton to lead the Carolina offense may have been a difficult, even controversial decision for head coach Dave Canales and his assistant decision-makers, but there is no question that the guy once nicknamed, “The Red Rifle,” proved them right. He riddled the Raiders’ defense, completing 26 of 37 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns vs. no interceptions.
On the receiving end of Dalton’s aerials, wide receiver Diontae Johnson finally showed why the Panthers went after him in free agency, catching 8 of 14 targets for 122 yards and a TD, his first as a Panther after being drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2019 and spending five years as one “Steel City’s” go-to wide receivers.
Now the Panthers’ featured running back, Chuba Hubbard caught all five passes on which he was targeted, for 55 yards and a TD — and, oh yeah, carried the ball 21 times for 114 yards rushing.
Carolina’s longtime veteran WR Adam Thielen made the most of his time on the field before having to leave with a hamstring injury after a 31-yard TD pass. He caught three Dalton passes for 40 yards, along with the TD. Of note, it was Thielen’s 60th receiving touchdown, just the third undrafted player in NFL history with 60 receiving TDs, joining Antonio Gates (116) and Rod Smith (68). Before joining Carolina a year ago, the UDFA got a shot with Minnesota in 2013, made the team and enjoyed a 10-year stint with the Vikings before becoming available as a free agent.
The early back and forth — that didn’t last
Las Vegas and Carolina traded TDs in the first quarter, in front of paid attendance reported as 62,417 packing Allegiant Stadium, with Hubbard catching Dalton’s first TD pass, from six yards out, to cap a 9-play, 70-yard drive that took 4:47 off the game clock.
Not to be outdone, the Raiders forged a 10-play, 97-yard drive that kept the Panthers offense off the field for 5:24, finished off with a 2-yard plunge by running back Alexander Mattison to even things up (with the PAT kicks).
From there, though, Carolina was the only team able to put points on the board until the outcome was all but out of reach.
Early in the second quarter, Johnson hauled in a 5-yard pass from Dalton to put an exclamation point on a 10-play, 75-yard drive. Then, after the Raiders were unable to convert on 4th down from the Carolina 39-yard line and the two teams traded possessions a couple of times, with just 33 seconds remaining in the half, Dalton found Thielen for a 31-yard TD. Eddie Pineiro’s third PAT kick of the afternoon gave Carolina a 21-7 lead going into intermission.
In the third quarter, both defenses seem to dig in, but Carolina was able to capitalize and put the game a little more out of reach with field goals by Pineiro of 43 and 35 yards. The Piedmont’s favorite sons earned some insurance with former Penn State running back Miles Sanders’ 1-yard carry to paydirt early in the fourth quarter, completing an 11-play, 84-yard drive kept the Las Vegas offense off the field for yet another, almost five minutes. A few plays later, the Raiders’ QB, Gardner Minshew, connected with wide receiver Jacobi Meyers for a 13-yard TD pass on the left side, capping an efficient, 7-play, 70-yard drive that took only 2:37 off the clock, with 10:56 remaining in the game.
But for the rest of that almost 11 minutes, the only scoring was another field goal by Carolina’s Pineiro, this one from 26 yards out when the 7-play drive stalled after 28 yards gained. The Raiders’ backup QB, Aidan O’Connell, made the loss to Carolina a little less embarrassing with a an 8-yard pass to wide receiver Tre Tucker, in his second year after playing college ball at Cincinnati.
After the game, Canales opened his press conference predictably upbeat.
“Great game. Really a group that dove into the process, the fundamentals, the work we are looking for,” said Canales. “Starting off this week, just stacking up three great days of practice, the coaches challenging guys and the guys challenging each other.
“Sunday is about the players and putting them in position to have success. They took advantage of that in different ways. It was just a great picture of Panthers football — being able to run the ball, stopping the run, playing complementary football on third down, taking advantage of red zone opportunities, the whole thing. The coverage units just flying around with great energy and chasing,” Canales added.
For his part after the game, Dalton was feeling it, too.
” I mean, it felt great. Obviously, for me to get an opportunity to be out there and for it to go the way it did, it couldn’t have been drawn up any better,” said Dalton. “I thought our guys came out with the right attitude, the right mentality from the start and we never slowed down. That was the fun part of it. We didn’t just put one drive together. We were able to do it the whole game. Played complementary football, and guys were having a ton of fun, and that’s how it should be.”
Next, the Panthers return home to host a Sept. 29 encounter with the Cincinnati Bengals at Bank of America Stadium before an Oct. 6 date at the legendary Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears.
The Raiders stay at home to host the Cleveland Browns on Sept. 29.
All game stats compiled and distributed by NFLGSIS.
