Rico Dowdle’s Big Day and Ryan Fitzgerald’s Big Kick Give Panthers 16-13 Win Over Packers
Packers star tight end Tucker Kraft was carted off the field with a knee injury in the third quarter.
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Rico Dowdle made one big mistake on an otherwise splendid afternoon.
Dowdle and Carolina Panthers kicker Ryan Fitzgerald made sure it didn’t prove costly.
Dowdle rushed for 130 yards and two touchdowns, and his big run in the final minute set up Fitzgerald’s last-second 49-yard field goal as Carolina beat Green Bay 16-13 on Sunday to climb above .500 and snap the Packers’ three-game win streak.
It was the second time this season that Fitzgerald, a rookie from Florida State, has made a winning field goal as time expired. He hit a 33-yarder in the Panthers’ 30-27 triumph over Dallas on Oct. 12.
“I think there is a sort of comfort level from the fact that I’ve done it before,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m still learning new experiences. Tough environment on the road this week, tough conditions.”
The loss could prove costly for Green Bay (5-2-1). Packers star tight end Tucker Kraft was carted off the field with a knee injury in the third quarter.
“It doesn’t look good,” coach Matt LaFleur said. “It’s going to be tough, but it’s football. Other guys are going to have to step up.”
Carolina (5-4), a two-touchdown underdog according to BetMGM Sportsbook, bounced back from a 40-9 home loss to Buffalo. Fitzgerald and Dowdle both had to redeem themselves from setbacks earlier in the game.
Dowdle’s second touchdown of the day gave the Panthers a 13-6 lead late in the third quarter. He celebrated that score by thrusting his hips twice, an homage to a “Key & Peele” sketch, and was called for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“From my understanding and everything I’ve learned, we go over stuff like this every week in the meeting room. I definitely think you’re supposed to get two pumps,” Dowdle said. “Hopefully, I don’t get a fine.”
Fitzgerald’s ensuing 48-yard extra-point attempt into a swirling wind was well short, keeping Carolina’s lead at 13-6. So when Green Bay’s Josh Jacobs scored from 1 yards out on third-and-goal with 2:32 left, the Packers didn’t need to go for 2 and tied the game on Brandon McManus’ extra point.
After Carolina got the ball back, Dowdle’s 19-yard carry on second-and-10 from midfield set up Fitzgerald’s kick.
“I just wanted to make up for it,” Dowdle said. “So I knew I had to come out there and keep putting my best foot forward, because I didn’t want that to end up biting us.”
Panthers coach Dave Canales said this past week that Dowdle would get the bulk of the carries after splitting time with Chuba Hubbard. Running behind an injury-riddled offensive line, Dowdle delivered against a Green Bay team ranked third in the NFL in rushing defense.
“From carry one, it was attitude, it was aggression and violence at the end of it,” Canales said. “It really does affect the group. It affects the whole sideline when they see that kind of energy. That kind of violence, it gives them confidence. It’s who we want to be.”
That wasn’t Canales’ only pregame move that paid off.
The Panthers usually defer when they win the coin toss, but they took the ball first. As a result, Fitzgerald’s game-winning kick was much easier than the jumbo-sized extra-point attempt he missed in the third period.
“I’ve got to give a lot of props to (special teams coordinator) Tracy Smith,” Canales said. “He and I were talking before the game and he was like, ‘If we take the ball, we can set ourselves up to have the ball with the wind to our backs to finish the game to give us the opportunity.’ And it played out just like that.”
Green Bay had itself to blame for this loss.
Before Jacobs’ touchdown, the Packers had marched inside the Carolina 35 on five of their first six possessions but had only two field goals to show for it.
“It’s very frustrating,” said Jordan Love, who went 26 of 37 for 273 yards with an interception on his 27th birthday. “I think everybody was feeling that as an offense. First half, we were limited in possessions. Those games, you have to maximize every time you’re on the field. We didn’t do that.”
Green Bay entered the day with just three turnovers all season, matching Philadelphia for the lowest total in the league. Savion Williams had a red-zone fumble that thwarted a scoring opportunity, and Carolina’s Tre’von Moehrig picked off a pass by Love, leading to a Panthers touchdown.
McManus converted from 49 and 27 yards out but also missed a 43-yarder that would have put Green Bay ahead in the third quarter. Dowdle’s second touchdown came after Green Bay’s Keisean Nixon was called for pass interference on a third-and-goal incompletion.
Green Bay also passed up a short field-goal attempt while trailing 13-6 in the fourth quarter and went for it on fourth-and-8 from the Carolina 13. Love’s desperation, across-the-field pass was dropped by Carolina’s Mike Jackson in the end zone.
“Hindsight’s 20-20,” LaFleur said. “I wish we would have taken the points. Didn’t do that there. Bad decision.”
