CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- On this Veterans Day, the Panthers and Falcons delivered a gritty, blue-collar game that any career military man or woman could appreciate.
The field at Bank of America Stadium stood chewed and pot-holed after this NFC grudge match, which featured determined running games and veteran kickers. The Falcons (3-6) had the age advantage in both categories in a 20-13 victory.
But it came down to the final moments.
And it featured a familiar name to Falcons and Panthers fans.
A 30-yard touchdown pass from Joey Harrington to North Carolina native Alge Crumpler with 20 seconds left gave the Falcons a second-straight win and more footing in the ever-fragile NFC South standings with Tampa Bay set to visit the Georgia Dome next Sunday.
"I think the thing I’m most happy about is winning the game in the fourth quarter," Head Coach Bobby Petrino said. "That’s something that we’ve been talking a lot about and working hard at. We understand that all of these games are going to be close. We had some earlier in the season that we didn’t get it done in the fourth quarter. We certainly found a way to today, and that’s a good thing."
Crumpler, who missed the last two games with knee and ankle injuries, hauled in the fourth-quarter pass to cap a three-play, 45-yard drive. The Pro Bowl tight end got separation over the middle and showed a burst of speed as he sprinted toward the end zone. Harrington, who finished 19-of-26 for 192 yards, took a hard hit on the throw as he elected to hold the ball until the last moment.
The victory erased most of the initial pain, however, as the Falcons head back down the I-85 corridor to Atlanta with a 1-1 season record over their intra division rivals.
"We had Alge coming across the middle," Harrington said when asked about the touchdown. "We had a re-route coming in behind him. They did a good job of disguising the pressure. They brought it right at the last second. I knew I could get the ball out. I saw Alge come open and then I listened to the crowd. You learn to do that as a quarterback. You let go of the ball and you listen to the crowd.
"Knowing that we put the drive together, that makes you feel great. All of the pain goes away."
It took some work, though, as the Falcons had to put together a second-half comeback.
Two field goals by 25-year veteran Morten Andersen pulled the Falcons back from a 10-7 halftime deficit. Andersen eclipsed the 2,500-point mark on the afternoon and gave the Falcons most of their scoring punch after 11th-year pro Warrick Dunn gave the team an early 7-0 lead on a 30-yard touchdown run.
Dunn finished the game with 89 yards on the ground and 51 receiving yards, including a 35-yard catch and run that set up the first of Andersen's field goals.
On defense the Falcons were led by rookie cornerback Chris Houston (eight tackles) who drew the starting assignment and got plenty of action on the outside despite the Panthers well-publicized issues at quarterback.
Under the direction of 21-year veteran Vinny Testaverde, the Panthers offense often took on the appearance, and operation, of a classic car -- at times steady, but not always reliable at high speed. It took a defensive score (a 26-yard return by Ken Lucas off a Laurent Robinson fumble) to tie the game at 7 and a 33-yard punt return by rookie Ryne Robinson led to the 29-yard, go-ahead field goal by John Kasay as the first half expired.
Testaverde, who was signed after training camp and was questionable throughout the week with an ankle injury, finished the game with 153 passing yards and a 65.3 passer rating. The Falcons didn't pick up the last of two sacks (both by Rod Coleman) until the final minute, when the Panthers were lobbing bombs toward the end zone in a miraculous comeback attempt. The defense did it's job however, holding Carolina to 3-of-16 on third down and making every play difficult.
"They played well," Petrino said of the defense. "They were having a lot of fun. They had a lot of energy. At halftime we said that it was going to come down to the fourth quarter. That everyone should keep fighting. We’ve got to make a play in the fourth quarter. The defense did an outstanding job the entire game."
A crowd of 62,928 left with frowns as the Panthers (4-5) fell to 0-4 at home this season (0-6 dating back to the end of last season).
The game remained close until the end, however, as the teams traded punts for the majority of the third quarter. Michael Koenen and Panthers punter Jason Baker combined for 17 punts on the day.
Both teams struggled to get anything done on offense but the Falcons held strong late and managed two drives into field goal range and the a last-minute effort sparked by a 23-yard punt return by Adam Jennings.
Neither team cracked the 300-yard mark in total offense, but Atlanta did hold an advantage in first downs (12-10) and passing yards (189). The Falcons defense held the Panthers to 90 yards rushing in the game.
Roddy White had two key catches to set up the second of Andersen's field goals, which gave the Falcons the lead. He finished with a game-high six catches for 57 yards. Panthers superstar Steve Smith was held to five catches for 61 yards and running back DeShaun Foster remained off-balance for much of the game. The back, who picked up 122 yards on the ground in the last meeting between these teams, had 59 yards and a 3-yard per carry average.
Crumpler had just two catches on the day, but the second resulted in his second score of the season.
"It was just a catch and run, I’ve done that several times in my career," he said. "But it’s not about me, it’s about our team punting it away to win the game. We won the game in the fourth quarter last week against San Francisco and we found a way this week. That’s huge for us; we haven’t won back-to-back games this season. Now we’ve got to make it two, three, four and five to for us to continue to build upon what we are doing."
Stay with AtlantaFalcons.com through the week for recap coverage of today's game and more info on the Falcons next opponent
MORE FROM THE FALCONS-PANTHERS GAME:
- GAMEDAY: All the coverage from the Panthers-Falcons game
- STATS AND PLAY-BY-PLAY: NFL.com Game Center
- GAME NOTES: Updates and injury news from the Bank of America Stadium press box
- INACTIVES AND STARTERS: Inactives and starters from Week 10
- QUOTABLE: Thoughts on the game from Falcons players and coaches
- VIDEO: Head Coach Bobby Petrino
- VIDEO: Quarterback Joey Harrington
- VIDEO: Falcons-Panthers Highlights
