Patriots mugged by Panthers, but game was decided long before that

With 6:42 left in regulation and a tie score between the New England Patriots and the Carolina Panthers, the Patriots had a 3rd down and one yard to go at the Panthers' 14 yard line.

New England had run the ball well all game and on the two previous plays, LeGarrette Blount, the Patriots' 250 pound hammer back had gained three and six yards respectively, yet when they broke the huddle, a pass play had been called, one that ended with the ball sailing well over receiver Aaron Dobson's head - and the Patriots had to settle for a field goal, leaving four points - four very important points - on the field.

Forget everything else.

Forget the Ridley fumble deep in Panthers' territory, forget that the Panthers had gotten into the heads of Aqib Talib and Logan Mankins to draw hurtful personal fouls.  Forget the absolutely horrific, controversial non-call of an obvious holding call in the back of the end zone on the final play of the game.

Where this game was lost for the New England Patriots was on that 3rd and 1 call.

What it was that caused Patriots' offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to think that a field goal was going to be good enough against a Carolina quarterback that had scored on four of the Panthers' six posessions - that a three point lead was going to hold up against said hot quarterback with a full six minutes and change to drive the field - well, there is no reasoning to it.

No guts, no glory.

Particularly frustrating for Patriots' fans is the fact that the defense played well enough to win, but hurt themselves at the most critical of times, either by penalty or loss of containment on Panthers' quarterback Can Newton, who extended three different scoring drives with his elusiveness and scrambling ability.

Newton ran seven times for a game-high 62 yards and hit speedy wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr on a short out pattern with just less than a minute left in the game that Ginn turned into a 25 yard touchdown and the Carolina defense did just enough to hold off the New England Patriots 24-20 in an exciting Monday Night Football matchup at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

On offense, it was Newton - there was nothing else.  This was not a coming of age for a Panthers' team that has now won six in a row, not a statement game for a team that now is just one game back of the New Orleans Saints in the NFC South race, nor an evolution of an up and coming team.

It was Cam Newton coming of age.  It was Cam Newton making a statement.  It was the evolution of a good young quarterback into a great young quarterback.  Cam Newton put his Carolina Panthers' team on his shoulders and carried them to victory.

The Patriots completely shut down the Carolina run game, three Panthers' running backs combined for 45 yards on 16 carries for a 2.5 yards per carry average - but Newton sliced through the New England defense for nine yards per carry.  He threw for 209 yards and three touchdowns on a 19 for 28 performance.

This was Cam Newton's win.  He put the ball where it needed to be and he put his teammates in the position to be successful.

The Carolina defense couldn't stop the Patriots offense, running back LeGarrette Blount hammering the Panthers' vaunted front seven for five yards per carry, quarterback Tom Brady completing three quarters of his passes to seven different wide open receivers, throwing for 296 yards and a touchdown to Gronkowski...

...but it was the last pass that he threw to the monstrous tight end that will be the subject of much conjecture for weeks to come, the play that ended with a Brady interception as Gronkowski was escorted forcefully out of the play by Panthers' linebacker Luke Kuelchy, regardless if it was pass interference, face guarding or simply defensive holding, the fact remains that the back judge threw a penalty flag - and was overruled by the side judge and the umpire.

Naturally, the Patriots would still have to execute and score on the next play as the game could not end on a defensive penalty, but they never were given the opportunity - in the end, however, it was the Patriots miscues, and a poor play call on a certain 3rd and one late in the game that ultimately doomed them to defeat.

The Carolina defense couldn't stop them, so they were fortunate that the Patriots did that job for them.