Chuba Hubbard ran for two touchdowns and Ryan Fitzpatrick kicked a 54-yard field goal as time expired as the visiting Carolina Panthers defeated the New Orleans Saints 20-17 on Sunday.
Hubbard rushed for 92 yards and Bryce Young, who passed for 200 yards, drove the Panthers (4-5) to the winning field goal after Charlie Smyth had tied the score with a 55-yard field goal with 41 seconds remaining. Carolina ended a three-game losing streak and resides in first place in the NFC South.
Alvin Kamara caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Shough, who finished with 187 passing yards, to give the Saints (3-6) their only lead with 3:49 left, but a 39-yard pass from Young to Hubbard led to Hubbard’s 1-yard touchdown run that gave the Panthers a 17-14 lead with 1:49 remaining.
On their first possession of the third quarter the Saints converted a fourth-and-1 from their 45 when Audric Estime rushed for 3 yards. Shough followed with completions of 18 and 11 yards, leading to Kamara’s 3-yard touchdown run that tied the score at 7.
On the ensuing possession Fitzgerald kicked a 55-yard field goal to give the Panthers a 10-7 lead at the end of the third quarter.
The first possession of the game ended when Devin Lloyd intercepted a Shough pass and returned 41 yards to the New Orleans 23. Carolina failed to score after Young was tackled for no gain on fourth-and-2 from the 3 and the game remained scoreless through the end of the first quarter.
Jaelen Phillips recovered a Shough fumble, giving Carolina the ball at its 44. Three plays later Young threw a 34-yard completion to Tommy Tremble and seven plays after that, on fourth-and-goal, Hubbard ran 2 yards for a touchdown to give the Panthers a 7-0 lead.
On the ensuing possession New Orleans reached a second-and-2 at the Carolina 26, but ran for 1, 0 and minus-1 yards and turned the ball over on downs, preserving the Panthers’ 7-0 lead at halftime.
–Field Level Media
