Panthers defeat Lions, move to 8-2

The Carolina Panthers did what they had to do in the game against the Detroit Lions. They beat a team that they were supposed to and didn’t have to deal with being the Lions first win.

Despite another subpar performance by quarterback Jake Delhomme and losing the time of possession battle the Panthers won 31 to 22. Turnovers won this game for Carolina as they had one against four by the Lions.

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Daunte Culpepper had a commendable performance for someone who wasn’t even in the NFL 3 weeks ago. He went 20 of 35 for 207 yards one touchdown and two interceptions against the Panthers.

Delhomme followed up his 4 interception performance against the Raiders by not throwing any this week, but he only passed for 98 yards but he did have one td pass. The Panthers running game was the best it has been all season. DeAngelo Williams had 120 yards rushing on only 14 carries. Rookie Jonathan Stewart added 130 on 15 attempts despite coming off a heel injury.

Julius Peppers is still playing well (yes I know it was a bad team) and added two more sacks against the Lions. But the Panthers let rookie running back Kevin Smith run for over 100 yards against them. All in all the Panthers did what they had to do to win and bring their record to 8-2. Oh yeah the last time they were 8-2 they went to the Super Bowl in 2003.

By Randy Inman
ProFootball-fans.com Carolina Panthers Correspondent

For more of Randy's work check out FootballDogz.com where he is the Chief Writer!