Panthers' offense strikes a balance
December 15
Charlotte Observer
"The word for the Carolina Panthers' offense last week was "run."
This week, it's "balance."
Six days after the Panthers rushed for a franchise-record 299 yards in a Monday Night Football victory against the Tampa Buccaneers, their offense offered up more of a two-pronged approach against Denver in a 30-10 victory Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.
This time, the Panthers combined 253 passing yards with 147 on the ground in an attack that kept the Broncos' defense on its heels the entire game. "It was just a matter of us taking what the defense was giving us," said fullback Brad Hoover. "Then, we took advantage of that."
The Broncos were well aware of the bruising rushing attack the Panthers used against the Bucs. So early in Sunday's game, Denver often brought eight defenders to the line of scrimmage, essentially daring Carolina quarterback Jake Delhomme to throw.
Delhomme obliged, completing 17-of-26 passes for a touchdown. Nine of them went to receiver Steve Smith for 165 yards and a touchdown.
"We knew we had to stop their running game," said Broncos coach Mike Shanahan. "I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part, but they came in and made some big plays in the passing game. They made some great catches one-on-one."
Delhomme made the Broncos pay immediately. On the Panthers' first drive - on which Carolina went no-huddle after the Broncos had gone up 7-0 - he completed passes of 24 and 27 yards to Smith, then one final one to Smith for 15 yards and a touchdown.
"They were susceptible to some big plays and luckily were able to connect on them," said Panthers coach John Fox. "We've had teams earlier in the season play similar types of things on us that we didn't connect as well. That's something the players and coaches have worked very hard on and we saw some results today.""
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