Carolina hadn’t won a game all year, including the exhibition season. And Sunday’s game in Atlanta, decided on John Kasay’s 39-yard field goal as time expired, almost didn’t work out, either.
The battle of field goals was 6-6 as the Panthers were driving near the end of regulation time. Carolina didn’t have any timeouts when Muhsin Muhammad caught a 5-yard pass from Steve Beuerlein along the left sideline and failed to get out of bounds at the Atlanta 21 with about 15 seconds remaining.
Carolina rushed to the line and waited for the officials to place the ball as the clock ticked toward zero. Beuerlein took the snap and slammed the ball to the turf with a second remaining, then trotted to the sideline with his hands on his helmet in obvious relief.
Kasay then came in and provided the winning points in the 9-6 victory before 51,829 at the Georgia Dome, including many Carolina fans who made the four-hour drive.
“This one was a little too exciting,” said Beuerlein, the replacement for injured Kerry Collins who was sacked six times Sunday.
“I did not want to get it down to one second. But what a great way to end it.”
