Carolina Panthers Win Third Straight, Beat Reeling New Orleans Saints

NFL News - January 3rd, 2010 - Written by John

If anything can be said about an otherwise meaningless game, it's that Matt Moore can clearly perform under pressure, and that he is a legitimate candidate to be the Carolina Panthers starting quarterback in 2010.

In what amounted to be an audition for the job against an indifferent New Orleans Saints team, Moore was error free for the second-straight game, throwing for 162 yards and a score in a 23-10 win on Sunday, covering the five-point spread they received in most online sportsbooks featuring NFL Betting Lines. Moore is now 4-1 as a starter, and will certainly be looked at when the season gears up next August.

The Panthers' favoritism was because New Orleans only offered up a handful of it's starters in the finale because the top spot in the NFC has already been secured and nothing could have been gained from a win. Instead, it lost it's third-straight game to close the season, and is certainly not riding a wave of momentum into the playoffs.

Drew Brees was given full rest and Mark Brunell got his first start at quarterback since Week 10 of 2006.

He went 15-of-29 for 102 yards and an interception with few legitimate targets to throw to. With almost all the starters out, Brunell had to dish the ball to leading receivers Lynell Hamilton and Darnell Dinkins, and didn't get any help from a running game that totaled 111 yards. New Orleans 212 total yards were the fewest of the year. Hamilton also led the team with 38 yards receiving.

The Panthers struck first on a blistering run by Jonathan Stewart on the Panthers' first possession that made it 7-0. Stewart, getting his third-straight start thanks to an injury to DeAngelo Williams, took a handoff up the middle, and went untouched as he eventually veered to the right sideline. It ended up as a 67-yard score, which made up the majority of his 125 yards on the day. By halftime, he already had his third-straight 100-yard game and his fourth in the last five.

His big day put him over the 1,100-yard mark, making he and Williams the first teammates in NFL history to both top that total in the same year.

Moore then increased his team's lead with a 30-yard dart up the middle to a diving Dwayne Jarrett in the end zone. John Kasay then booted through three short field goals to give Carolina 16 unanswered points to give it a 23-3 lead, which stood until Hamilton scored New Orleans' first touchdown with 10 seconds left to go in the game.