The Washington Post - USA (2021-11-22)

D10 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2021

1234 FINAL

Washington 0147 627

Panthers 770721

Washington’s drives

Time

received

How ball

obtained

Drive

began

Number

of plays

Net

yards

Last

snap

Drive

result

19 :32 KickoffWAS 25 37 WAS 32 Punt

25 :52 Punt WAS 23 564 CAR 13 Fumble

31 :25 Punt WAS 3 47 66 CAR 6Touchdown

41 0:41 Punt WAS 23 3-2WAS 21 Punt

55 :52 KickoffWAS 29 12 71 CAR 12 Touchdown

61 5:00 KickoffWAS 34 10 66 CAR 4Touchdown

76 :05 Punt WAS 20 83 7CAR 43 Punt

81 0:44 KickoffWAS 25 12 58 CAR 17 Field goal

92 :53 Downs CAR 34 52 3CAR 11 Field goal

10 1:05 Downs CAR 48 2-2CAR 49 End of game

FIRST QUARTER

Carolina: DJ. Moore 10 pass from Newton (Gonzalez

kick), 9:39.

SECOND QUARTER

Washington: Sims 6 pass from Heinicke (Slye kick),

13:29.

Carolina: Newton 24 run (Gonzalez kick), 5:52.

Washington: McLaurin 12 pass from Heinicke (Slye

kick), :09.

THIRD QUARTER

Washington: D.Carter 4 pass from Heinicke (Slye kick),

9:21.

FOURTH QUARTER

Carolina: McCaffrey 27 pass from Newton (Gonzalez

kick), 10:44.

Washington: FG Slye 36, 4:13.

Washington: FG Slye 29, 1:50.

A: 73,350.

WAS CAR

First downs ........................................... 2418

Rushing ................................................. 125

Passing .................................................. 1010

Penalty .................................................... 2 3

Third-down efficiency ....................... 6-13 2-9

Fourth-down efficiency ...................... 2-2 1-3

Total net yards .................................... 369 297

Total plays ............................................ 6549

Average gain ........................................ 5.7 6.1

Net yards rushing ............................... 190 111

Rushes .................................................. 4021

Average per rush ................................. 4.8 5.3

Net yards passing ............................... 179 186

Sacked-Yards lost ............................. 3-27 1-3

Gross-Yards passing ........................... 206 189

Completed-Attempted ................... 16-22 21-27

Had intercepted ...................................... 0 0

Yards-Pass play ................................... 7.2 6.6

Kickoffs-End zone-TB ...................... 6-5-5 4-2-2

Punts-Average ............................... 3-46.3 4-46.3

Punts blocked ......................................... 0 0

FGs-PATs blocked ............................... 0-0 0-0

Total return yardage ............................. 5331

Punt returns ....................................... 0-0 1-10

Kickoff returns .................................. 2-53 1-21

Interceptions ...................................... 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards ................................ 8-69 7-65

Fumbles-Lost ...................................... 3-1 1-0

Time of possession .......................... 35:53 24:07

RUSHING

Washington: Gibson 19-95, McKissic 7-46, Heinicke

6-29, Patterson 7-23, Carter 1-(minus 3).

Carolina: McCaffrey 10-59, Newton 10-46, Abdullah 1-6.

PASSING

Washington: Heinicke 16-22-0-206.

Carolina: Newton 21-27-0-189.

RECEIVING

Washington: McLaurin 5-103, Bates 3-23, Humphries

2-30, Carter 2-22, Sims 2-19, Milne 1-5, McKissic 1-4.

Carolina: McCaffrey 7-60, DJ.Moore 5-50, Anderson

5-30, Tremble 2-35, Thomas 1-7, Zylstra 1-7.

PUNT RETURNS

Washington: None.

Carolina: Erickson 1-10.

KICKOFF RETURNS

Washington: Carter 2-53.

Carolina: Abdullah 1-21.

TACKLES-ASSISTS-SACKS

Washington: Curl 7-1-0, Holcomb 3-7-0, Jackson 3-1-0,

J.Allen 2-1-0, Davis 2-1-0, McCain 2-0-0, Smith-Wil-

liams 1-5-.5, Collins 1-4-0, Fuller 1-1-0, Toohill 1-1-0,

Johnson 1-0-0, Scherff 1-0-0, Payne 0-4-.5, Settle 0-

2-0, Ioannidis 0-1-0.

Carolina: Chinn 10-3-0, Jackson 6-2-0, Reddick 4-1-1,

Fox 4-0-0, Bouye 3-1-0, Gilmore 3-0-0, Carter 2-3-0,

Burris 2-0-0, S.Thompson 1-3-0, Jones 1-2-0, Burns 1-

1-1, Haynes 1-1-1, Der.Brown 1-1-0, Hartsfield 1-1-0,

Henderson 1-1-0, Gross-Matos 1-0-0, Roy 0-2-0, Luvu

0-1-0.

INTERCEPTIONS

None.

MISSED FIELD GOALS

None.

NFL WEEK 11

Panthers’ drives

Time

received

How ball

obtained

Drive

began

Number

of plays

Net

yards

Last

snap

Drive

result

11 5:00 KickoffCAR 25 97 5WAS 10 Touchdown

27 :53 Punt CAR 22 37 CAR 29 Punt

33 :03 Fumble CAR 10 36 CAR 16 Punt

41 3:29 KickoffCAR 25 52 0CAR 45 Punt

58 :25 Punt CAR 30 57 0WAS 24 Touchdown

60 :09 KickoffCAR 25 1-1CAR 25 End of half

79 :21 KickoffCAR 25 62 0CAR 45 Punt

81 4:53 Punt CAR 97 91 WAS 27 Touchdown

94 :13 KickoffCAR 25 49 CAR 32 Downs

10 1:50 KickoffCAR 25 62 3WAS 49 Downs

JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST

Wide receiver Cam Sims struck a pose after his six-yard touchdown reception tied Sunday’s game at 7 in the second quarter.

SCORING

Excerpted from

washingtonpost.com/sports

Heinicke plays spoiler

in Newton’s return

Cam Newton was sharp in his

first start for the Carolina

Panthers since September 2019,

but former Panthers quarterback

Taylor Heinicke was even better,

spoiling Newton’s return to

Charlotte’s Bank of America

Stadium and giving Washington

Football Team Coach Ron Rivera

a win over the team he coached

for nine seasons. Heinicke, who

started one game for Carolina in

2018, was 16 for 22 for 206 yards

and three touchdowns, including

a pair of perfectly placed first-half

strikes to Cam Sims and Terry

McLaurin.

Heinicke, who had his second

consecutive turnover-free game,

added six carries for 29 yards. He

improvised to convert a key

fourth down that seemed

destined to fail on Washington’s

go-ahead scoring drive in the

fourth quarter, scrambling to his

left, stopping to avoid an

oncoming rusher and finding

tight end John Bates for a first-

down completion. Newton

started and played the entire

game, completing 21 of 27 passes

for 189 yards and two

touchdowns. The 2011 No. 1 draft

pick also had a 24-yard

touchdown run.

Defense recovers

W ashington allowed a nine-play,

75-yard touchdown drive on

Carolina’s first possession, the

sixth time this season that the

opposition has found the end

zone on its opening drive.

Defensive coordinator Jack Del

Rio’s unit got better from there,

forcing punts on Carolina’s next

three possessions, including a

couple of three-and-outs, and

holding the Panthers without a

third-down conversion in the

first half.

TAKEAWAYS

TOTAL NET

Y ARDS

x

x

WASH CAR

369 297

65 plays 49 plays

5.7 avg.6.1 avg.

NET PASSING

YARDS

x

x

WASH CAR

179186

22 att.27 att.

7.2 avg.6.6 avg.

NET RUSHING

YARDS

x

x

WASH CAR

190111

40 att.21 att.

4.8 avg.5.3 avg.

TIME OF

POSSESSION

x

x

WASH CAR

35:53 24:07

SEPT. 12

L

LAC

20-16

SEPT. 16

W

NYG

30-29

SEPT. 26

L

@BUF

43-21

OCT. 3

W

@ ATL

34-30

OCT. 10

L

NO

33-22

OCT. 17

L

KC

31-13

OCT. 24

L

@ GB

24-10

OCT. 31

L

@ DEN

17-10

NOV.

7

BYE

NOV. 14

W

TB

29-19

NOV. 21

W

@ CAR

27-21

NOV.

29

SEA

8:15, ESPN

DEC.

5

@ LV

4:05, Fox

DEC.

12

DAL

1, Fox

DEC.

19

@ PHI

TBD

DEC.

26

@ DAL

8:20, NBC

JAN.

2

PHI

1, Fox

JAN.

9

@ NYG

1, Fox

Washington’s schedule

Casey Toohill and James

Smith-Williams played well in

place of injured edge rushers

Montez Sweat and Chase Young,

with Smith-Williams and Daron

Payne combining to sack Newton

to end the Panthers’ final

desperation drive. On Carolina’s

previous possession, linebacker

Cole Holcomb’s open-field tackle

of Christian McCaffrey set up

fourth and three from the

Carolina 32-yard line. Newton

completed a pass to McCaffrey in

the left flat on the ensuing play,

but safety Kam Curl wrestled the

running back down shy of the

line to gain.

Gibson struggles

Coming off one of his better

games of the season, a two-

touchdown performance in last

week’s upset of Tampa Bay,

Antonio Gibson was a major part

of Washington’s offensive game

plan against Carolina’s second-

ranked defense. He carried five

times for 17 yards in the first

quarter but spent the rest of the

first half on the sideline after his

third lost fumble of the season

ended a Washington drive in the

red zone.

The second-year running back

returned to action after halftime

and finished with 19 carries for a

season-high 95 yards, but he

probably would like his last

attempt back. With Carolina out

of timeouts after the two-minute

warning, Gibson was tackled out

of bounds on a seven-yard run on

third and 10, leaving 1:50 on the

clock for the Panthers after Joey

Slye’s field goal extended

Washington’s lead to 27-21.

Third-down success

Washington struggled mightily

on third down in the first half of

the season but has found a way to

convert and sustain drives over

the past two weeks. After

converting 11 of 19 third downs

against the Bucs, Washington

was 6 for 13 on third down

against a Carolina defense that

was allowing opponents to

convert only one-third of its

opportunities. Washington was

also 2 for 2 on fourth down for a

second consecutive game.

McLaurin accounted for

Washington’s first third-down

conversion with a leaping grab

along the sideline for a 39-yard

gain. After being limited to

82 yards over his past two games,

McLaurin had five catches for

103 yards and a touchdown, a

1 2-yard score in the final seconds

of the first half with Panthers

safety Jeremy Chinn draped all

over him.

— Scott Allen

JOHN MCDONNELL/THE WASHINGTON POST

Wideout DeAndre Carter scored in the third quarter, his third consecutive game with a touchdown.

of the game before the Steelers

scored 17 straight points to take

the lead. Roethlisberger connect-

ed with Eric Ebron for a five-yard

touchdown to draw them to 34-27.

On the ensuing drive, Cameron

Sutton picked off Herbert’s pass

intended for Allen and returned it

to the 10. Pat Freiermuth tied it

three plays later on a five-yard

touchdown reception.

—Associated Press

BY JOE REEDY

inglewood, calif. — Justin
Herbert threw a 53-yard touch-
down pass to Mike Williams with
2:17 remaining, and the Los Ange-
les Chargers held off the Pitts-
burgh Steelers, 41-37, on Sunday
night.
Los Angeles had a 27-10 lead
going into the fourth quarter be-
fore the Steelers rallied to take a
37-34 lead on Chris Boswell’s
4 5-yard field goal with 3:24 left.
Los Angeles took over at the 25
and scored four plays later when
Williams was wide open and went
untouched up the left sideline.
Herbert was 30 for 41 for
382 yards and three touchdowns.
He had 90 yards rushing, which is
the most by a Chargers quarter-
back in a game. Keenan Allen had
nine receptions for 112 yards, and
Williams had 97 yards on five
catches.
Austin Ekeler scored a career-
high four touchdowns. Ekeler,
who had 115 yards from scrim-
mage (65 receiving, 50 rushing), is
the ninth player in the Super Bowl
era with at least two rushing and
two receiving scores in a game.
Ben Roethlisberger passed for
273 yards and three touchdowns
for Pittsburgh after missing last
week’s game vs. Detroit after test-
ing positive for the coronavirus.
Diontae Johnson had seven
catches for 101 yards. Najee Harris
had 39 yards and a touchdown.
Two of Pittsburgh’s scores dur-
ing its rally came off Chargers mis-
takes. Harris scored on a one-yard
run to get the Steelers to 27-20 four
plays after Miles Killebrew blocked
Ty Long’s punt and it rolled out of
bounds at the Los Angeles 3.
Ekeler put the Chargers back up
by two scores with his fourth score

Pittsburgh comes back

but can’t close out L.A.

CHARGERS 41,

STEELERS 37

PITTSBURGH ........................... 3 7027 —37

L.A. CHARGERS ....................... 7 10 10 14 —41

FIRST QUARTER

Pittsburgh: FG Boswell 36, 8:29.

LA Chargers: Ekeler 6 run (Hopkins kick), 2:09.

SECOND QUARTER

LA Chargers: Ekeler 10 pass from Herbert (Hopkins

kick), 3:42.

Pittsburgh: D.Johnson 10 pass from Roethlisberger

(Boswell kick), 1:09.

LA Chargers: FG Hopkins 30, :02.

THIRD QUARTER

LA Chargers: Ekeler 17 pass from Herbert (Hopkins

kick), 11:50.

LA Chargers: FG Hopkins 41, 3:40.

FOURTH QUARTER

Pittsburgh: FG Boswell 36, 14:10.

Pittsburgh: N.Harris 1 run (Boswell kick), 11:35.

LA Chargers: Ekeler 5 run (Hopkins kick), 8:48.

Pittsburgh: Ebron 5 pass from Roethlisberger (Boswell

kick), 4:49.

Pittsburgh: Freiermuth 5 pass from Roethlisberger

(Boswell kick), 4:23.

Pittsburgh: FG Boswell 45, 3:24.

LA Chargers: Williams 53 pass from Herbert (Hopkins

kick), 2:09.

PIT LAC

First Downs .......................................... 2233

Total Net Yards ................................... 300 533

Rushes-Yards ................................. 18-55 26-159

Passing ................................................ 245 374

Punt Returns ....................................... 0-0 1--1

Kickoff Returns ................................. 2-63 2-45

Interceptions Ret. ............................... 1-4 0-0

Comp-Att-Int ............................... 28-44-0 30-41-1

Sacked-Yards Lost ............................ 3-28 2-8

Punts .............................................. 1-46.0 1-0.0

Fumbles-Lost ...................................... 1-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards ................................ 8-38 12-75

Time Of Possession ......................... 28:14 31:46

RUSHING

Pittsburgh: Harris 12-39, Snell 2-7, McCloud 1-5, Bal-

lage 1-3, Claypool 2-1.

L.A. Chargers: Herbert 9-90, Ekeler 11-50, Palmer 1-6,

Rountree 2-5, Roberts 1-4, Guyton 1-2, Jackson 1-2.

PASSING

Pittsburgh: Roethlisberger 28-44-0-273.

L.A. Chargers: Herbert 30-41-1-382.

RECEIVING

Pittsburgh: D.Johnson 7-101, Claypool 5-93, Harris

5-20, Freiermuth 4-11, Ebron 3-24, McCloud 2-12,

Washington 2-12.

L.A. Chargers: Allen 9-112, Ekeler 6-65, Williams 5-97,

Parham 4-38, Cook 3-28, Guyton 1-18, Palmer 1-17,

McKitty 1-7.

MISSED FIELD GOALS

L.A. Chargers: Hopkins 46.