49ERS SMOTHER PANTHERS 23-10

Vs.

By Scary Barry Rodriguez          January 12, 2014

Bank of America Stadium , Charlotte , NC - The San Francisco 49ers traveled to Charlotte for their second straight playoff road game and prevailed against the the Carolina Panthers , who had the number one rated defense during the regular season. From the very start of the game the Panther player's engaged in gratuitous smack talk and thug behavior after every play ! Unfortunately for them the " Pete Caroll " Seahawk method of gamesmanship didn't work in their favor.

" Pete Caroll " Seahawk

Cam Newton

Phil Dawson

In the first quarter the Niners had the ball first and drove down the field. Despite moving the ball easily they could only manage to get three points off  a 49 yard field goal by the steady Phil Dawson. On the Panther's first offensive series , QB Cam Newton had a shaky start ,when a tipped pass was intercepted by Patric Willis. Again , despite good field position the Niners had to settle for another Phil Dawson field goal from 33 yards out to put the score at 6-0 in their favor.

Patric Willis

Josh Tolbert

 

Ron Rivera

The real story of the first quarter was the  goal line stand by the 49er defense. Down on the Niner one yard line , first Josh Tolbert attempted to run in the ball and was turned back . Coach Ron Rivera was faced with a fourth and goal situation. He kept his offense on the field. Cam Newton attempted to bull the ball into the end zone but was met head on by Ahmad Brooks for no gain. The Panthers had to turn the ball over on downs to the 49er offense , having scored no points. Of note was the two " unnecessary roughness " penalties on Carolina. This set the tone for the entire game.

Ahmad Brooks

Steve Smith

The second quarter spotlighted one of the problems that only scoring field goals presents for the 49ers. After the defense dominated in the first quarter the Carolina Panthers put themselves right back in the game by scoring on a near perfect 31 yard pass play from Cam Newton to Steve Smith in the left corner of the end zone. Just like that, the Panther went ahead of the Niners 7-6. They scored again on a Graham Gano field goal from 24 yards out. With time running out in the half the Niners found themselves behind 10-6 . The defense had another brilliant goal line stand otherwise the situation would have been dire at this point in the game.

Graham Gano

Vernon Davis

Anquan Boldin

Against a stout defense the 49er offense had to respond in order to stay in the game in the second half. With time winding down in the second quarter the Niners went on a scoring drive that resulted in a 1 yard touchdown pass to Vernon Davis in the right corner of the end zone. At first the game official standing right at the spot signaled that Vernon Davis had both of his  feet in bounds , therefore  it was not a touchdown. The video replay clearly showed that Davis had dragged his right foot in bounds , putting a divot in the turf as proof. This put the score at 13-10 in favor of the 49ers at the half.

Kaepernick

Frank Gore

On the 49er's first drive of the third quarter they marched down the field to score. Featured in the drive was a 45 yard pass to Anquan Boldin that put the ball at the Panther 2 yard line. Next Kaepernick recovered a fumble of his own making. His hand off to Frank Gore was low. He quickly redeemed himself by scampering 4 yards into the end zone on a designed run play to put the score at 20-10 in favor of the Niners.

The next offensive series for the Panthers was critical. They held onto the ball for over eight minutes without scoring. The 49er defense sacked Newton on the San Francisco 37 yard line and then on the next play sacked him again on the 45 yard line ! The Niner offense got the ball back with only 33 seconds left in the third quarter.





In the fourth quarter the 49ers used the game clock to their advantage. In their first offensive series of the quarter they used the rushing of Frank Gore to eat up valuable game clock. Once again , when it counted the most Gore rose to the occasion by breaking through for a 39 yard run to the Carolina 27 yard line ! The Niners settled for another Phil Dawson field goal from 34 yards out to put the score at 23-10 in their favor. 

Donte Whitner

With over seven minutes left in the game the Panthers went on the offense again. The 49er defense was relentless sacking Newton again. Under pressure , in 49er territory , Newton threw in between three Niner defenders and was intercepted by Donte Whitner. Carolina did get the ball back but it was too late for them to change the course of events. Before 73,784 fans , on home turf , the Carolina Panthers couldn't deliver a victory in prime time ! The 49er defense shut them out in the second half.


 

The MVP for this San Francisco 49er victory was the defensive unit ! They mounted two superlative goal line stands in the first half , intercepted Cam Newton twice and sacked him five times. They wiped the Colgate toothpaste grin right off his face ! The 49er offense highlighted the usual suspects. Frank Gore ran 17 times for 84 yards , Anquan Boldin muscled 8 catches for 136 yards and Kaepernick went 15-30 for 196 yards , one passing touchdown and one rushing touchdown. Even though the Carolina Panthers were statistically better then the 49ers it didn't translate into a victory for them. 

Troy Aikman

Joe Buck

This article is dedicated to Cam Newton and smack talking Carolina Panthers. My advice to young Mr. Newton is , pose less , celebrate less and do your talking through real deeds. You are not Superman ! The Panther's defensive unit should concentrate on less smack talking and after the play cheap shots. Your three personal foul penalties cost your team ! Right now this strategy seems to work for the Seattle Seahawks but the Panthers are not the same team ! I would be remiss to forget to mention that Ron Rivera would be wise to rethink his use of Cam Newton as a running back. It almost cost poor Cam his head ! Kudos to the television broadcast team of Troy Aikman and Joe Buck ! In addition to being totally boring your blatant bias against the San Francisco 49ers in your commentary made the victory much more meaningful !

 

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