Dallas on Thursday next for 10-0 Panthers

The Carolina Panthers’ Cinderella season continued Sunday as Cam Newton threw five TD passes in a 44-16 punch-out of a dispirited Washington team.

Following Week 11’s 44-16 drubbing of Washington, the Carolina Panthers sport a 10-0 record for the season and have now won 14 consecutive regular season games dating back to 2014.

Newton gave the Panthers another lead with a 2-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. midway through the second quarter.

Since the start of the Super Bowl, six of the 15 teams to start 10-0 won the Super Bowl. Of the previous 15, all made the playoffs and nine advanced to the Super Bowl, with six winning it all.

“You’ve got to protect the ball, and we haven’t done a very good job in the games we’ve lost”, said Roberts, a Columbia native who played at Spring Valley High School and later at The Citadel.

The Panthers scored the next 30 points – 27 of them off five Washington turnovers, three by quarterback Kirk Cousins, who was constantly under pressure.

“We’ve had a tendency here of when we have a couple of bad things happen, they get magnified and some more things happen”, Gruden said. He doesn’t get celebrated enough for these types of little plays that have a huge impact because they don’e make Sports Center. The Redskins find themselves in the thick of the NFC East race after a 47-14 dismantling of New Orleans last week as they sit a half-game behind the division-leading NY Giants. His four scoring tosses in the first half against the Redskins were the most ever in a half for a Panthers quarterback and his five for the game tied Steve Beuerlein’s franchise record. Granted, one of those was Nortman, whose minus-1 yard rushing gave Washington its final two points, while also giving the visitors an opportunity to walk out. He’s now amassed a passer rating above 100 in three straight games – including a rating of 123.3 in the latest win, in which he threw for a career-high five touchdowns. That would have broken a 14-14 tie and put the Skins up 21-14 in the second quarter.

Texans 24, Jets 17 – DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown catches and Alfred Blue caught a TD pass from receiver Cecil Shorts to help Houston (5-5) over NY (5-5) for its third straight win.

On the season, the Dallas Cowboys average 219.8 yards in passing and 119.0 yards in rushing. The Ravens also lost running back Justin Forsett, who broke both bones in his right forearm. The Bucs converted 10 third downs and gained 521 yards, while the Eagles had four giveaways, including three interceptions from Mark Sanchez.

While JPP is back has been back on the field for two games, he still has a lingering injury that’s bothering him.

BIG RETURN: The Panthers still have some flaws, particular on special teams where they allowed a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Seahawks 29, 49ers 13: In Seattle, rookie Thomas Rawls rushed for 209 yards and had two total touchdowns, while Tyler Lockett caught a pair of TD passes from Russell Wilson. Newton’s run extended the drive and set up a field goal and a 31-14 halftime lead.

The Panthers were in such control that Kuechly didn’t play in the fourth quarter.