Last night the Carolina Panthers faced off against the Pitsburg Steelers in their last Preseason game of 2017. We were just 9 seconds away from a 10-14 victory, but the Steeler’s managed to squeeze in one last touchdown on their final drive to win the game with a final score of 17-14.
If it’s any consolation, the fourth preseason game is traditionally regarded as the least important game of the season. Most of our starters, including Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey stayed on the bench the entire game.
Cam, however, was able to find other ways to entertain himself while off the field;
This weeks dance Cam pic.twitter.com/sUn9uxn2RK
— Joe Mazur (@joemazurabc11) September 1, 2017
The Panthers’ second-team dominated most of the first half. Panthers cornerback Teddy Williams blitzed in the first quarter to pressure Steelers quarterback Landry Jones, who then threw a jump ball. David Mayo came down with the interception, and soon Fozzy Whittaker punched it in on a short run for a 7-0 lead. Toward the end of the second quarter, Joe Webb launched a bomber to Kaelin Clay for a huge catch that set up a touchdown for Damiere Byrd, giving the Panthers the lead going into halftime.
Cameron Artis-Payne also had an incredible night, finishing with 51 yards on eight carries.
Although Joe Webb did show a mostly strong performance, it’s unlikely he’ll replace Derek Anderson as our second string, giving the fact that he threw two interceptions, including the terrible decision early in the second half to set Pittsburgh up deep in Carolina territory that resulted in our loss.
The Panthers will now have a lot of decisions to make as Cut Day is this coming Saturday when the team will have to trim the roster from 90 to 53.
They’ll then fly off to San Francisco for our season opener on Sept. 10.