Cardinals Shake Past Demons With Win vs Panthers

The Cardinals' defense got off to quite the start. On the opening drive of the game, Panthers quarterback Bryce Young was strip-sacked by Josh Sweat with the ball rolling into the backfield. Zaven Collins recovered and rolled into the end zone to put Arizona up 7-0 before Kyler Murray even touched the field.

AZ 7, CAR 0

Things went from bad to worse for the Panthers on their second drive - facing another third-and-long, Young was hit while throwing and the Cardinals' defense came out with their second takeaway after Baron Browning caught the floating pass for an interception.

The Cardinals thought they found the end zone on their first offensive possession with a Michael Wilson catch-and-run, though a holding penalty negated the play and ultimately forced Chad Ryland out for a 29-yard field goal.

Cardinals 10, Panthers 0

Carolina responded with a massive play downfield by Tetairoa McMillan, which put Carolina in prime position to get themselves on the board with a Ryan Fitzgerald kick from 27 yards out.

Cardinals 10, Panthers 3

The Cardinals lost CB Max Melton due to a knee injury - which you can read more about here.

Near the two-minute warning, Ryland booted home his second field goal (this time from 47 yards) of the afternoon to extend Arizona's lead to double digits.

Cardinals 13, Panthers 3

After forcing a quick three-and-out, the Cardinals saw a nice punt return by Greg Dortch to put them in Carolina territory with 50 seconds left in the half and two timeouts.

Facing a third down with just seconds remaining on the clock, the Cardinals found the end zone for their first (offensive) touchdown of the day - an absolute dot between Kyler Murray and Michael Wilson.

Cardinals 20, Panthers 3

Second Half: Carolina Cuts it Close

The Cardinals marched down the field on a nine-play, 76-yard drive to extend the lead with a short James Conner rushing touchdown near the goal line.

Cardinals 27, Panthers 3

Young and the Panthers' offense went up-tempo in hopes of generating some momentum on the offensive side of the ball - converting a fourth-and-short on their opening drive of the second half.

Capping a 14-play drive was Hunter Renfrow, who found himself open on a nice play design to draw Carolina closer. The attempted two-point conversion failed.

Cardinals 27, Panthers 9

Driving and threatening to score on their ensuing drive, Arizona looked like they were ready to completely shut the door on Carolina - before a Murray interception (hit while being thrown) gave the Panthers new life.

Young and co. made good on their next opportunity. With Arizona playing soft zone, the Panthers slowly but surely made their way downfield on another 14-play drive - this time with Hubbard receiving a ball wide open in the end zone with roughly five minutes to go.

Their two-point attempt again was no good.

Cardinals 27, Panthers 15

After Arizona went three-and-out, the Panthers gained possession back with 4:31 remaining and again found ease dinking and dunking themselves down the field - eventually scoring just under the two-minute warning to make it a one-possession game.

Cardinals 27, Panthers 22

Carolina was successful in their onside kick attempt, gaining possession around midfield.

On a fourth down, Zaven Collins strip-sacked Bryce Young and appeared to have ended the game... until a defensive holding penalty gave Carolina new life.

However, the Cardinals' defense held strong and got one final stop with 30 seconds left - with Calais Campbell bringing down Young in his first game back at State Farm Stadium as a Cardinal to secure the win.