Newton, Panthers pound Falcons 38-0, clinch 1st-round bye

Carolina Panthers’ Greg Olsen (88) catches a pass in front of Atlanta Falcons’ Robert Alford (23) in the first half of an NFL football game in Charlotte, N.C., Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015.

Newton – and the fans – had plenty of reason to celebrate.

It was 28-0 at the half after backup tight end Ed Dickson with 17 seconds left in the second quarter. Gould has missed three field-goal attempts in the Bears’ last two games, including a potential game-winner last week. He finished with a career-high quarterback rating of 153.3, and the Panthers won their 17th straight regular-season game. “We didn’t want to lose our poise, and we wanted to make correct decisions”.

Brady, sacked three times, completed 22 of 30 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.

Atlanta (6-7) lost its sixth game in a row, further damaging remote chances to reach the playoffs.

Although they dealt the Falcons their first shut-out loss since a 27-0 defeat at Tampa Bay in December of 2004, it wasn’t all good news for the Panthers. “I thought they were a complete club”.

I’ve been waiting each week to see when I’ll have to write that first “welp, we lost” piece, and it still hasn’t happened. Some will question why some starters were left in during a blowout, but the Panthers are intent on earning the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

The Chiefs spilled onto the field to celebrate another big win in their playoff chase.

Stewart (left ankle), who ran for 75 yards, and tight end Greg Olsen (left knee) left the game in the second quarter and did not return.

Several players from both teams had taken part in a bout of pushing and shoving before the game even started but when it came down to the real on-field action it was the Steelers who had the edge. It could become a bit more complicated going forward after cornerback Bene Benwikere exited the Atlanta game with a fourth-quarter broken leg and safety Colin Jones went out with a first-half groin injury. Carolina clinched a first-round bye with Sunday’s victory.

The Falcons deferred the opening kickoff, so Cam Newton and the offense came out and quickly made them regret that on the back of Jonathan Stewart, who piled up more than half of his rushing yardage on the opening drive before doing his best Superman impersonation and jumping in for the first score.

After the Falcons won the coin toss and elected to defer, the Panthers went to work establishing the ground attack.

Against a Falcons team in free-fall, Newton connected on two first-half touchdown passes to wide receiver Ted Ginn jnr.

But Ginn scored two more times as an encore to his stellar outing in New Orleans, this time off longer combined distances of 74 and 46 yards.

In the midst of Newton showing he deserves the MVP Award, running back Jonathan Stewart looked unstoppable and averaged a whopping 7.5 yards per carry to go along with a score, before a foot injury ended his day. The rout was on. The five TD throws matched a career high – set earlier this season against Pittsburgh – and gave him 16 over his last four games.

Newton left for a play in the second quarter after hitting his amusing bone on his own helmet.

Wilson, who threw three TD passes to Doug Baldwin, who had six catches for 82 yards – was 23-of-32 on completed passes for the Seahawks (8-5).