Falcons end Panthers’ quest for perfection

“Ain’t no disrespect. They made one play that put them over in this game, and that was kind of a throw up”, Norman said, referring to Julio Jones’ 70-yard touchdown catch.

Graham Rebounds in a Big Way: After missing his initial field goal attempt, Shayne Graham redeemed himself by booting a 54-yard field goal with 1:30 left in regulation to give the Falcons a seven-point lead-effectively forcing the Panthers to go for a touchdown in the waning moments of regulation.

An hour later, Newton emerged from the locker room. He was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft and the Panthers saw that potential in his future when they selected him. “We put ourselves in a situation that we can use this as fuel to the fire”.

“We knew that this was their Super Bowl, that their whole season came down to today”, Olsen said. The Carolina quarterback went after him for a hit on a running play. The Panthers host Tampa Bay next Sunday.

“We didn’t coach to our abilities or play to our abilities”, Carolina coach Ron Rivera said.

With the Arizona Cardinals (12-2) beating the Green Bay Packers, the Panthers have to defeat the Buccaneers to guarantee home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Too bad we’ll probably have to wait until next September to see what this means for the Falcons’ future. Much of the past week was spent explaining why the Panthers had a baseball bat on the sideline before facing the New York Giants last week and whether wide receiver Odell Beckham felt threatened by it to the point he lost his composure.

Julio Jones: After three games of being held mostly in check by Josh Norman, Jones got the better of Norman on the day. “There’s a better way to show class if you get a victory”, Schofield said. But mostly defense. Becasue most of their games were very close games and in those games defense was getting the offense on the field and giving Cam Newton and his offense scoring oppurtunities.

Curry, a Golden State Warrior point guard who grew up in Charlotte, is a big Panthers fan and has been known to cheer them on.

The Falcons (8-7) spoiled the Panthers’ undefeated record only two weeks after being humbled in a 38-0 loss at Carolina. The former Arkansas Razorback signal caller completed 28 of 41 throws, for 274 yards with a touchdown and no turnovers.

It wasn’t all Newton’s fault.

“We didn’t match the Falcons’ intensity at times”, Newton said.

The tone for this one was set on Atlanta’s first series.

A rare personal foul penalty on Charles Tillman gave Atlanta life on its first series of the game.

“It was huge”, Rivera said. Kuechly seemed to be in good position until Jones plucked the ball off the top of his head and then trotted into the end zone.

“I just thought we would be able to choose the direction we kicked off from”, Slater said.

– Drew Brees (breez) looked good despite tearing his plantar Fascia ligament in his right foot last Monday, throwing for 412 yards and three touchdowns in New Orleans’ 38-27 victory against Jacksonville.

Chase Reynolds, running back/special teams, St. Louis Rams: The Drummond native registered a tackle in the Rams’ 23-17 win over the Seahawks. “We’ll have to talk to the league officials about what transpired and we’ll go from there, but there’s nothing we can do about it. We didn’t get off the field”.