Just how good are the Carolina Panthers?

“The interception at the end that I committed was a killer”, added Luck. “We’ve got to fix these things in practice, and fix these things in games”.

On if he was ready for overtime: “To be honest, you have to be prepared on the sideline but I had faith in my defense so I was cold, stiff, all that, but they held them to the field goal and we went into overtime”. His interception of a Roman Harper tipped pass in overtime set up Graham Gano’s winning 52-yard field goal. [Jansen] waving at me as he was waiting to snap the ball. “All I had to do is catch it”, Kuechly said.

NBC Charlotte’s Eugene Robinson compared them to the Super Bowl team from 2003, saying these guys are very similar and he thinks they have even more talent. “He got his hand in there”. To be fair, the Colts did a better job blocking for Luck late in the Carolina game, which Panthers coach Ron Rivera pointed to as the No. 1 reason Luck led Indy back from a 17-point deficit. The Panthers (7-0) remain the NFC’s only unbeaten team. The Colts and Andrew Luck, their enormously talented but erratic quarterback, scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns and, as the clock wound down, a field goal.

“I messed it up at the end by throwing an interception”, Luck told reporters.

Adam Vinatieri’s 50-yard field goal on the opening possession of overtime put the Colts in good position. The Panthers matched it when Gano connected from 42 yards.

Wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. almost cost the Panthers the game when he let a potential game-winning 56-yard touchdown pass slip through his fingers in overtime.

Indianapolis Colts’ Andrew Luck, center, is tackled by Carolina Panthers’ Luke Kuechly, right, and Kurt Coleman, left, in the first half of an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, November 2, 2015. Earlier in his career, he might have gambled, trying to make a throw that wasn’t there or breaking out of the pocket and running when a short pass might have kept a drive going. He also ran for 41 yards on 10 carries. He was picked off once.

“Colin didn’t play good enough and neither did the team”, he said. “He made a great play on the ball, and I was in the right spot”. It was an eight-play, 86-yard march.

At halftime, Luck was just 4-of-10 for 37 yards and an interception.

Of Luck’s first 16 passes, only five were complete while two were intercepted.

The Panthers were on the verge of scoring late in the third quarter, reaching the Indianapolis 1-yard line. This time, they capitalized as Newton found tight end Greg Olsen for a 27-yard touchdown to make it a 17-6 lead with just 17 seconds to play in the third quarter. At the end of the half, it was 10-6 Panthers. Once he was called for blocking downfield on a route and the second for offensive holding to nullify what would have been a first-down run for the Panthers. Gano made a 42-yard field goal to tie the score at 26.

Honestly, for three quarters, during which the Panthers took a 24-6 lead, I was far more interested in the political activists who somehow got through security with their wares and hung from the rafters flying a protest banner. With 7:04 to play, he hit Andre Johnson with an 18-yard strike to get the score to 23-13.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department charged four people Monday night, saying they refused to cooperate with officers’ commands to come down. That should be clear based on their fourth-quarter performance against the Panthers. When a play that wins the game has to be made, they make it.