Panthers Win, however Lose Beginning CB Benwikere for Stretch Run

Carolina coach Ron Rivera plans to talk to Johnson, who was playing in his third game since returning from injured reserve.

Newton completed 15 of 21 passes for 265 yards and three touchdowns, as the Panthers secured a first-round bye in the NFC playoffs.

An integral late-season replacement on the outside for the second straight year, Benwikere fractured his left leg while attempting to make a tackle on the Falcons’ first play of the fourth quarter.

Tillman suffered a knee injury against Tennessee last month and has missed the past four games.

The Panthers are considering elevating Lou Young from the practice squad or signing a player such as Robert McClain, who worked out with the team last month before the Panthers signed Finnegan.

The Panthers 13-game winning streak has not been entirely peaches and cream, as the team had to fight off challenges from the New Orleans Saints 41-38 in Week 13, as well as a 29-26 overtime nail biter against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 8.

The New York Giants host the Carolina Panthers in one of the most anticipated games on Sunday, December 20 start time at 1:00 pm ET at MetLife Stadium, E. Rutherford, NJ.

The Bengals are also going to need to count on a backup quarterback in AJ McCarron as they close in on clinching their fifth straight playoff spot.

“It was looking rough, but the positive was defensively, we kept them out of the end zone, limited them to field goals in the first half”, said Raiders safety Charles Woodson, who appeared in his 250th regular-season game, the most among active defensive players. “Our deal is to go out there and have a fast start and that’s something we’ve been trying to strive for the whole year and it worked out attractive for us”. All along I have told our guys we are taking each week one at a time. But the Bucs beat them with some late-game heroics by rookie quarterback Jameis Winston.

In the waning moments of the Panthers’ 38-0 victory over Atlanta, quarterback Cam Newton gathered about a dozen of his offensive teammates around him on the sideline for a photo while the group dabbed.

There really isn’t much to say about Atlanta’s performance this week, various adjectives come to mind: grotesque, disheartening, unpleasant, unacceptable, you get the picture.

The game – and potentially Cincinnati’s season – turned on one interception.

And communication is really the only thing worth questioning in this case.

As long as our guys aren’t doing anything malicious or hurting anybody, I’m not going to worry about those things.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins passed for 300 yards and a touchdown and rushed for another touchdown, as Washington held on to beat Chicago and end a nine-game road losing streak.

Short attributed his success to the cohesion on the defensive line, saying “you come in and you’re not anxious about the guy that’s behind you and come in and be dominant as well”.

Wilson went 23-for-32 for 292 yards.

Cornerback Josh Norman seemed to have a running feud with Atlanta receiver Julio Jones, who entered the game with an NFL-leading 102 catches.

Stewart started his career as one half of a great running back tandem with DeAngelo Williams.

Carolina’s defense forced four turnovers and had five sacks, while limiting struggling Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan to 224 yards passing. “It’s a collective, shared plan if you will, week to week, and we’ll see what gives us our best chance to win”.

Oakland Raiders (6-7) 15 Denver Broncos (10-3) 12: Brock Osweiler couldn’t get the ball in the end zone and was sacked five times, while Derek Carr threw a couple of touchdowns to make all the difference. “We need to do that now”.