Washington Football Team defeats Carolina Panthers 27-21
November 21, 2021
By Noonefromtampa
First Quarter
Washington won the coin toss and deferred until the second half. Cam Newton handed off to Christian McCaffrey, who ran for eight yards on the first play from scrimmage. The first drive mainly featured running plays, with McCaffrey picking up 15 yards on 4th and 1. That gain was compounded by a horse collar tackle penalty by Cole Holcomb. The drive culminated with a fake quarterback draw and pass to D.J. Moore for a 10 yard touchdown completion. Newton was 3 for 3 for 31 yards and touchdown on the opening drive. Zane Gonzalez converted the extra point.
Washington responded with a 3 and out series. The offense looked to be in confusion as to what play was being run on third down. Tress Way boomed a 56 yard punt and Alex Erickson returned it 10 yards to the Carolina 22 yard line.
Washington’s defense did a better job on the second drive. Rthe defense was able to stop McCaffrey for a 2 yard loss on third and one after a botched shotgun snap.
Washington’s next drive opened with a 30 yard completion to Terry McLaurin. Carolina was called for unnecessary roughness on DeAndre Carter for a hit to the helmet on the next play. John Bates caught a 7 yard pass and Antonio Gibson rushed for 10 yards on the next two plays to get the ball down to the Panthers 15. After Gibson had a short gain on first down, he fumbled on the next play, which was recovered for Carolina by Frankie Luvu.
Carolina was not able to generate much offense and lost 5 yards on a false start. The result was a third down and four yards to go play where Kamren Curl was able to break up the short pass to McCaffrey.
To end the first quarter, on third and nine Heinicke hit McLaurin for 39 yards between two Carolina defenders on third and nine, with Terry high pointing the ball over the defenders.
Carolina 7, Washington 0
Second Quarter
J.D. McKissic was able to pick up 15 yards rushing on second down after no gain by Jaret Patterson on first down. Patterson gained 5 yards over right guard to take the ball down to the Carolina 6 yard line. Cam Sims then caught a 6 yard touchdown on a quick slant on a throw between two defenders. Joey Slye converted the extra point to tie the game.
Newton was able to hit Moore for 11 yards on the next series to pick up a first down, but after two short gains, Danny Johnson broke up a 3rd down pass attempt to Moore to force the punt on the 4th down.
Washington went 3 and out on the next series. This possession was doomed by a second down sack which lost 8 yards. Way punted 49 yards and Erickson called for the fair catch.
After picking up a holding call on first down, McCaffrey picked up 9 yards and Newton hit Tommy Tremble for 19 yards. The next big play was a McCaffrey six yard run, which was made worse by a 15 yard face mask penalty on Curl. Newton kept the ball on a fake handoff and ran around left end untouched for the 24 yard score.
McKissic ran for 11 yards to open the next drive, but Tyler Larsen was injured on the play. Wes Schweitzer took over at center. Washington ran it three more times with Patterson and McKissic gaining a total of 12 yards. Then, Heinicke hit Dax Milne for 5 yards and Patterson subsequently picked up 4 yards to leave Washington with a 3rd down and one. Patterson came up inches short on the third down run, with Washington electing to go for it on fourth down. Schweitzer was called for a false start negating the first down pickup. On 4th and 6, Carter was left uncovered after a move to the inside and caught the completion for 18 yards. After an incompletion and short gain by McKissic, Heinicke hit Adam Humphries for a 12 yard completion. From Carolina’s 12 yard line, Heinicke hit McLaurin between two Carolina defenders for a touchdown. Slye converted the extra point.
Carolina 14, Washington 14
Third Quarter
Washington started on offense in the second half. Gibson returned after not playing since his fumble in the redzone in the first half. He picked up 40 yards on the drive while Heinicke hit completions of 7 yards to McLaurin and 13 yards to Sims to make it first and goal from the Carolina 6 yard line. After two short gains by Gibson, Heinicke hit Carter for the touchdown pass from the 4 yard line.
On their next possession, Carolina went a short 9 play drive picked up that picked up only 15 yards. After two straight incompletions, the Panthers were forced to punt. Lachlan Edwards was unable to keep his punt from going into the endzone for a touchback.
Gibson opened Washington’s next drive with an 11 yard run. Heinicke then hit McLaurin for 15 yards. After a 9 yard by Gibson and a false start penalty, Heinicke scrambled for 9 yards on third down. After a second down sack lost 10 yards and a delay of game penalty, Washington failed to convert on third and 21 yards to go. Washington took another delay call trying to get Carolina to jump offside in an attempt to get into better field goal range.
Washington 21, Carolina 14
Fourth Quarter
Carolina started their next drive on their own 10 yard line thanks to a well-placed Tress Way punt. After two short gains, Newton was able to scramble for a first down on third down. Newton hit Moore for a 10 yard gain which was enhanced by a 15 yard unnecessary roughness penalty on Daron Payne. Newton then gained 10 yards on a quarterback keeper. Carolina then pulled out a trick play where McCaffrey threw it backwards to Newton who then threw a 16 yard completion to Tremble. Newton then hit McCaffrey on a vertical seam route for a 27 yard touchdown on a nice throw over the linebackers.
Heinicke took over by force of will on Washington’s next drive. He ran for 22 yards on two runs and drew an unnecessary roughness penalty on the first one. After a sack which set up a 3rd and 21 play, Heinicke hit Humphries for 18 yards, and then hit John Bates on 4th down for 6 yards to get the first down. The drive stalled out on the Carolina 17 and Slye hit a 36 yard field goal to give Washington the lead.
Carolina opened their next drive with an offensive holding penalty which put them deep in their own territory. They were only able to pick up 17 yards on the next three plays. In a strange game management decision, Carolina elected to go for it on their own 35 yard line. They failed to convert after Curl tackled McCaffrey short of the first down.
Washington was able to pick up a first down and run the clock down to the two minute warning, forcing Carolina to consume their remaining timeouts. Then, Gibson ran out of bounds on his third down run which was short of the first down, essentially giving Carolina back a timeout. Slye was able to convert a 29 yard field to give Washington a 6 point lead with 1:50 left on the game clock.
Newton hit McCaffrey for 8 yards to start the drive. Robby Anderson then made a 11 catch which was upheld after a booth review. Newton was only able to complete one more pass and was sacked on fourth down by Payne and James Smith-Williams to force a turnover on downs. Washington then ran out the clock.
Washington 27, Carolina 21
Heroes
Taylor Heinicke, who went 16/22 for 206 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Antonio Gibson for rushing for 95 yards despite being benched for the 2nd quarter
Kamren Curl for several key stops and pass breakups
Ron Rivera for winning his “return to Carolina” game
Washington Football Team with a two game win streak
Zeroes
Three personal fouls on the defense which gave Carolina 45 free yards.
Gibson’s redzone fumble