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October 13, 2003
Panthers reach 5-0
Kasay's field goal in overtimegives Carolina a hard-fought victory against Indianapolis
By Joe Menzer | JOURNAL REPORTER
In a season that continues to produce hero after hero, the Carolina Panthers discovered several new ones in unlikely situations yesterday - and needed every single one of them to churn out a 23-20 victory over the Indianapolis Colts in overtime.
The win, in front of 57,082 at the RCA Dome, was the fifth in a row for the Panthers this season, giving them a 5-0 record for the first time in the nine-year history of the franchise.
And the Colts? Well, they came into yesterday's game with a 5-0 record, identical to the one that the Panthers escorted out of town several hours later.
How the win came to pass was remarkable on many fronts.
One hero for the Panthers was running back DeShaun Foster, who took over in the second half for injured starter Stephen Davis and racked up 139 total yards of offense (85 rushing and 54 receiving). Another was linebacker and special-teamer Brian Allen, who somehow emerged from a sea of blue jerseys with the football after recovering teammate Rod Smart's fumble on the opening kickoff of overtime. Still another was rookie cornerback Ricky Manning, who made a momentum-changing interception at the start of the second half and later added a fumble recovery of his own.
And, of course, there was place-kicker John Kasay, who drilled the game-winning field goal through the uprights from 47 yards with 9:21 left in the overtime period.
Said quarterback Jake Delhomme of the Panthers: 'That's one of the things that I really like about our team. Different guys every week are making the plays that are winning the games of us. Offense, defense, special teams ... it doesn't matter. Someone is going to make the plays that will make the difference for us.'
The Colts had some heroes of their own. After falling behind 20-13 and spending almost the entire second half struggling to move the football while playing without running back Edgerrin James, quarterback Peyton Manning pieced together a 91-yard scoring drive and tied the game on a 25-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Reggie Wayne with 45 seconds left. Included in the drive was a conversion on a fourth-and-4 play at their own 15-yard line, when Manning hit tight end Marcus Pollard, the first in a string of six completions that culminated with the pass to Wayne.
Manning's magic electrified the crowd, but the Panthers remained confident after winning the coin toss and maintaining possession when Allen recovered Smart's fumble on the kickoff. Allen recovered the ball by diving into a pile and parting a sea of blue jerseys.
'At that point, guys are trying to gouge your eyes out and grab you in places they shouldn't be grabbing you in. But it's about will then,' Allen said. 'It turned out to be huge. I didn't know how big it was right then when it happened.'
There were a number of other huge plays.
The Panthers trailed 13-3 at halftime after being outplayed badly by the Colts during the first two quarters. The game turned on a two-play sequence that began on the third snap of the second half, as a pass by the Manning intended for and tipped by wide receiver Marvin Harrison was gathered in by Manning and returned to the Indianapolis 28-yard line.
One play later, running back Davis - who had been held to 10 yards on eight carries in the first half - scampered down the right side of the field for a 28-yard touchdown.
Strong safety Mike Minter of the Panthers said that the back-to-back plays by Manning and Davis were byproducts of the halftime mantra that Coach John Fox has repeated time and time again this season.
'He understands football and how it's played. He kept saying that all we needed was one big play and we would turn this thing around,' Minter said. 'Sure enough, that's exactly what happened.
'We came out and got the turnover right at the start of the (second) half. Then Stephen Davis got the ball and broke five or six tackles and went in for the touchdown. That changed the game right there.'
It changed it, but it hardly sealed it. The Panthers still trailed 13-10, and that didn't go ahead until receiver Steve Smith caught a 52-yard touchdown pass from Delhomme to make it 17-13 with 10:22 left. They added a 23-yard field goal by Kasay early in the fourth quarter to make it 20-13 - and then survived what appeared to be an interception of a Delhomme pass by defensive end Chad Bratzke of the Colts at the Carolina 5-yard line with 8:10 left in regulation.
Officials originally ruled that Bratzke intercepted the pass intended for tight end Kris Mangum, and then coughed up a fumble that was recovered by the Colts. But Fox requested an instant-replay challenge, and after officials huddled for several minutes they announced that both Bratzke and Mangum had their hands on the ball and that neither had full possession before the ball popped loose at the end of the play.
The interception was overruled and the call was changed to an incomplete pass. The Panthers retained possession, much to the dismay and disbelief of the Colts and Coach Tony Dungy.
'I'm watching the same replay as the official, and I'm trying to figure out what they see to overturn,' Dungy said. 'But (the official) said he saw enough evidence that Chad never had the ball.'
The Panthers might have been ahead by more at that point if Davis hadn't fumbled away a scoring chance at the Indianapolis 12-yard line toward the end of the third quarter.
It later was revealed by Fox that Davis had sneaked back into the game on the play, despite earlier suffering a bruised forearm that made it difficult for the running back to hold onto the ball. Trainer Ryan Vermillion eventually had to hide Davis' helmet from him on the Carolina sidelines to prevent Davis from attempting it again, but even Davis eventually learned to sit back and enjoy watching Foster.
'A lot of people, they're in trouble now. Now it's a two-headed monster,' said Davis, who still managed 76 yards rushing on 15 carries and, combined with Foster and Rod Smart, helped the Panthers pile up 189 yards rushing for the game.
Foster carried four times for 25 yards and Delhomme found Smith for a key 18-yard pass completion on third down to help the Panthers move into position for Kasay's game-winning field goal in overtime.
'I've done this once or twice before,' said Kasay, now in his 13th NFL season. 'It's never easy. But at least it's familiar.'
The same can now be said of the 5-0 Panthers, one of only three NFL teams left unbeaten this season.
• Joe Menzer can be reached at jmenzer@wsjournal.com