Recap and Reaction: Haynes King leads Panthers to last second win

The Carolina Panthers played the Arizona Cardinals in an all time preseason game, and Haynes King came away the hero with a rushing touchdown on the game’s final play.

The Panthers got the ball first, and as one would expect from the Hall of Fame game, not much happened. Kenny Pickett completed two short passes to Ja’Tavion Sanders who, to his credit, actually looked a little tough to bring down. A sack ended the drive, and the Panthers punted it away. The Cardinals got a first down on a Carson Beck scramble, but their drive also ended in a punt after a couple of ineffective plays after that.

The punt downed the Panthers inside the 2 yard line, and it seemed like that was going to doom the drive before it got started, but they were bailed out by a pass interference call on a Brycen Tremayne go ball. That was only the useful play of the drive, and Sam Martin was called back in. He matched his counterpart with his own punt downed near the goal line.

The Cardinals also used a long pass to get out from the shadow of their own goal post, but theirs was via a long completion. That built some momentum, and the Panthers couldn’t stop it. Beck completed some nice passes down the field, including one that got Arizona to the one yard line as the quarter ended.

Corey Kiner punched in the touchdown on the first play of the second quarter.

The Panthers found their own groove offensively on the ensuing drive. Trevor Etienne had a couple of nice runs and John Metchie had a long catch and run. AJ Dillon had his own nice catch and run and then capped off the response with his own touchdown run.

Carson Beck kept dealing. He dropped a bomb to Jalen Brooks to get deep into Carolina territory in one play. A few plays later, he connected on a fade route with Simi Fehoko to put the Cardinals up 14-7.

Haynes King checked in, and he went toe to toe with his rookie counterpart. He led the Panthers down the field with a bunch of chunk completions and a nice scramble. He looked composed running through his progressions and paid it off with a touchdown pass on a crossing route to Ja’seem Reed.

The Cardinals went on a long but rather uneventful drive on their next possession. Sales Wheatley punched the ball out on one play, but the Panthers couldn’t fall on it. Eventually Jared Harrison-Hunte ended the drive with a sack and forced a field goal just inside the two minute warning.

King led a pretty impressive two minute drive. He completed a number of passes to the sidelines, and Jimmy Horn had a nice catch and run. King had Horn open in the end zone on one play, but he missed him. The Panthers settled for a field goal to tie the game at 17 going into the half.

Carson Beck continued as the quarterback to start the second half and led another drive into Panthers territory. A holding penalty slowed the drive down, but they almost bounced back to keep it alive with a couple of modest completions. They went for a deep pass off a double move on fourth down, but Isaiah Simmons broke it up (with a little help from an uncalled pass interference on the corner). The Panthers literally handed the ball back two plays later with a fumble.

The defense responded well to the sudden change. Another Cardinals penalty put their offense behind the sticks, and then a Nick Hampton sack effectively killed the drive and forced a field goal.

King led the Panthers back down the field. He picked up a 3rd and 5 with his feet, but it was called back for a penalty. He was unfazed and picked up the 3rd and 15 with a beautiful layered pass. The quarter ended with the Panthers facing a fourth down just outside the red zone.

The fourth quarter started with the Panthers facing a 4th and 2. King found Caden Prieskorn on a bootleg to easily pick up the first down and set the Panthers up inside the five. Brad Idzik called a similar play right after going the other direction, and it ended in a touchdown catch for Anthony Tyus.

Kedon Slovis hit a big pass to start the next drive, but the Panthers defense did a good job bowing up after that and forcing a field goal. The Panthers did similar with a big run from Miles Davis followed by not much else, which resulted in a matching field goal to restore the four point lead about halfway through the quarter.
The Cardinals strung together a few big plays to quickly move the ball deep into Panthers territory as time waned away. The two minute warning hit with the Cardinals on the doorstep of the end zone. On the first play on the other side of the stoppage, they narrowly scored on a sideline completion to Bryson Green.

After a couple of missed deep shots, King connected with Casey Washington to get the two minute drill started. He moved the Panthers across midfield. The drive took a major setback when a screen pass got blown up, but King saved it with a 28 yard scramble on 3rd and 14. As a bonus, he got out of bounds to stop the clock without a timeout. A couple plays later, he found Jimmy Horn Jr. inside the five to set up a grandstand finish. Finally, with two seconds left, King broke free from the pocket, he found some open space in the middle and bolted for it, breaking through a couple of Cardinals defenders as he stretched for the game winning touchdown as time expired.

Haynes King stole the show. At one point on the broadcast, Cris Collinsworth said something along the lines of “not bad for a guy who wasn’t supposed to be able to throw the ball.” He went undrafted because of questions about his arms, but he certainly looked capable given the situation. He made some quality throws and was very poised throughout the game, and he used his legs when he needed to. The Panthers might have found themselves some nice quarterback depth with an undrafted free agent, which is pretty hard to do.

The Panthers heavily rotated every other position on the field, so it was hard to make any real judgments on any other player. A few guys had moments, but there wasn’t anything that would definitively change anyone’s standing on the roster. We’re more likely to see stuff like that in the coming weeks.

For now, we get to enjoy a Panthers win in what has to be one of if not the best Hall of Fame Game ever played. It’s certainly setting a high bar for the rest of the NFL season.