Carolina Panthers vs New England Patriots Match Player Stats On Oct 01, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Oct 1, 2017

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Graham Gano, making up for missing an earlier extra point, drilled a 46-yard field goal as time expired, giving the Carolina Panthers a 33-30 upset of the New England Patriots on Sunday.

The Patriots (2-2) rallied from 14 points down to tie the game with 3:09 left, but a costly holding penalty against cornerback Stephen Gilmore on a third-and-7 play that ended in a sack kept a Carolina drive alive. Quarterback Cam Newton brought his team down to the New England 30 - and the Panthers (3-1) called time out with four seconds remaining.

Newton, shaking off a slow start to his season, torched the shaky Patriots defense for 316 yards and three touchdowns and also ran for a score.

Newton finished 22 of 29 and also threw an interception. Devin Funchess had seven catches for 70 yards and two touchdowns as Carolina became the fourth straight team to pass for over 300 yards against the Patriots, who came in the lowest-rated defense in the NFL.

Tom Brady, recording his 79th 300-yard game, was 11 of 14 in the two scoring drives that tied the game -- Dion Lewis running 8 yards for one score and then Danny Amendola catching a 1-yard TD pass that tied the game with 3:09 remaining.

Brady finished 32 of 45 for 307 yards and two touchdowns, with running back James White catching 10 but for just 47 yards.

It was the first time since 2012 that Brady lost two games at home in a season.

Jonathan Stewart ran for 68 yards on 14 carries, including a 15-yarder on the final drive, and became Carolina's all-time rushing leader, while Rob Gronkowski's 80 yards on four catches made him the all-time leader catching Brady passes.

Unlike last week, when 16 Patriots kneeled and Carolina's Julius Peppers remained in the locker room during the national anthem, there were no protests during the national anthem. Patriots owner Robert Kraft joined his team on the sideline, where the players had their right hands on their hearts and their left on a teammate's shoulder.

Two Panthers -- Stewart and Thomas Davis -- appeared to be in prayer during the song.

NOTES: Patriots LB Dont'a Hightower, who missed the first four games of the season with a knee injury, returned and had a big fourth-quarter sack. ... A record-setting 58-yard field goal by Patriots K Stephen Gostkowski was a yard longer than kicks made both by he and Adam Vinatieri ... The already banged-up Panthers lost S Kurt Coleman (knee) and WR Damiere Byrd (forearm) in the first half. ... LB Julius Peppers, playing with a brace to stabilize his injured right shoulder, suffered a knee injury in the first half but came back into the game. ... Carolina, which opened a stretch of four of five games on the road, visits Detroit next Sunday while the Patriots are at Tampa Bay on Thursday night.