OAKLAND, C.A. — It was a tale of two halves, as the Carolina Panthers made their second west coast trip in the month of November, and overcame a 17 point half-time deficit, before falling to the Oakland Raiders 35-32 in Oakland.
The Raiders took a 7-0 lead when quarterback Derek Carr connected with Seth Roberts for a two yard touchdown pass with 4:55 left in the first quarter.
On the next series, Jonathan Stewart broke free for a 47 yard run, which set up a three yard touchdown run by quarterback Cam Newton to tie the game at seven, but the Panthers offense never looked particularly sharp in the first half.
Oakland stormed back down the field, gaining large chunks of yardage at a time against a Carolina defense missing All-Pro Linebacker Luke Kuechly and defensive end Mario Addison. Latavius Murray capped off Oakland’s second touchdown drive with a four yard run.
Another productive Oakland drive resulted in a 23 yard Sebastian Janikowski field goal to extend Oakland’s lead to 17-7 midway through the second quarter.
The teams exchanged punts for most of the second quarter, but Khalil Mack intercepted a screen pass from Newton to Fozzy Whitaker and returned it six yards for a touchdown with 1:00 left in the first half to make the score 24-7 Raiders at the half.
The Panthers seemed to be on the verge of suffering a blowout loss, and then the second half happened.
Derek Carr fumbled and dislocated his finger, following a bad exchange with the center, on the first drive of the second half. The Panthers took advantage of the short field when Jonathan Stewart pounded in a one yard touchdown run to close the gap to 24-13 in favor of the Raiders. Graham Gano’s extra point attempt was blocked.
Carr’s injury forced the Raiders to play backup quarterback Matt Mcgloin. Sensing the momentum shift, the Panthers defense stepped up and quickly forced a punt.
On the next series, Cam Newton launched a bomb from inside his own ten yard line, connecting with Ted Ginn Jr. in stride near midfield. Ginn Jr. easily outran the defender for an 88 yard touchdown, the longest of the season for Carolina. The Panthers failed to covert the two point conversion when Newton’s pass to Corey Brown was off target.
Carr returned for the next series, but was intercepted by Thomas Davis as he attempted to find Amari Cooper while scrambling away from Wes Horton.
Davis returned the ball 31 yards to the Oakland 28 yard line. The Panthers again took advantage of the favorable field position taking their first lead of the game at 25-24 when Jonathan Stewart stretched for a three yard touchdown run with just under two minutes to go in the third quarter. Carolina again failed to convert the two point conversion, as Greg Olsen bobbled and dropped a well thrown pass by Cam Newton.
After a Raiders punt, Kelvin Benjamin hauled in a juggling 44 yard touchdown pass from Newton with 13:34 left in the fourth quarter, to give the Panthers a 32-24 lead in the fourth quarter.
The lead wouldn’t last long as Carr, finding the rhythm he enjoyed before dislocating his finger, drove the Raiders 75 yards and completed a 12 yard touchdown pass to Clive Walford, as well as the two point conversion to Seth Roberts, to tie the game at 32-32 with 8:30 remaining in the game.
On the ensuing drive, Newton and Benjamin connected on third and 10, but Benjamin came up a yard short of a first down, and Coach Ron Rivera decided to punt rather than go for it on his own 40 yard line with 5:57 to go in the game.
Carr again drove the Raiders down the field, but they settled for a field goal and took a 35-32 lead with only 1:30 left in the game.
The Panthers seemed like they might be able to get into Graham Gano’s field goal range when Newton completed a 20 yard pass to Greg Olsen followed by an 11 yard pass to Devin Funchess. However, with a minute left in regulation, Newton was strip sacked on fourth and ten at the Raiders 45 yard line, to seal the victory for the Raiders.
It was another mistake filled game for the Panthers who fell to 4-7, and another close victory for the raiders who improved to 9-2.
Carolina is all but out of playoff contention as Atlanta, New Orleans, and Tampa Bay all won on Sunday.
Next up, the Panthers remain out west for a matchup with the rival Seattle Seahawks, who lost to Tampa Bay 14-5 on Sunday.
