By Cameron Lee
November 9, 2025
Photo: Jacob Kupferman / AP
The Panthers had a chance to move to 6-4 for the first time since 2018 and firmly position themselves in the NFC playoff race, but they fell well short. After what looked like a momentum-shifting win on the road last week, Carolina opened strong with a 12-play, 67-yard touchdown drive capped by a 5-yard Rico Dowdle run, aided by a roughing-the-passer penalty that wiped out a bad interception by Bryce Young. It briefly felt like the Panthers were ready to control the game with their ground-and-pound style of attack against a struggling Saints team starting a rookie quarterback in Tyler Shough.
Ricooooooooo
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/1jzwctJKna
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 9, 2025
Instead, everything unraveled from there. Bryce Young looked unsettled in the pocket, forcing throws and hesitating on reads. And while the offense stalled, the defense began to bend in ways it hadn’t in recent weeks. Shough led the Saints on a 10-play, 78-yard drive highlighted by a 52-yard pass to Juwan Johnson that led to an easy field goal. Moments later, Chris Olave burned Jaycee Horn for a 62-yard catch to take a 10-0 lead, with Horn stumbling while pleading for an offensive pass interference call.
Shough it 🤷♂️
Shough to Olave for 62 yards and the TD 🔥
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/gUChFRqtyo
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) November 9, 2025
A defense that held Green Bay — one of the best offenses in the league — to just 13 points last week allowed the Saints offense, ranked among the league’s worst, to look confident, versatile, and explosive. Credit to Shough, who played poised, on time, and within rhythm.
Dowdle, the NFC’s leading rusher entering the game and fresh off raising over $44,000 for the Children’s Home Society of NC after his highly publicized celebration fine, was bottled up after the opening quarter. He finished with just 53 yards on 2.9 yards per carry, appearing noticeably sluggish after several heavy hits by the Saints defense.
“They had a great plan for our run game and they executed better than us,” Dowdle said postgame.
Coming out of halftime, the Panthers looked ready to flip the momentum, after a performance by North Carolina A&T’s Blue and Gold Marching Machine. Young hit Jalen Coker on a 10-yard pass for a first down and then Tetairoa McMillan on a 26-yard strike, but the drive stalled on a blocked 48-yard field goal attempt by Ryan Fitzgerald, which came out low off his foot. Carolina caught a break when the ball was recovered by a Saints player and then fumbled, giving them new life at the Saints’ 30. But again, they failed to capitalize when Jimmy Horn Jr. muffed a handoff on a jet sweep.
While Bryce Young took the blame for the fumble on the Jimmy Horn Jr. play, it was clear that Horn wasn’t expecting the ball — just one of the many miscues for the offense today. pic.twitter.com/vQs7khVOeh
— CLTure® ( culture ) (@CLTure) November 9, 2025
Early in the third quarter, Young then threw a costly interception to Alontae Taylor, later calling it “a bad read on zone coverage” and taking full responsibility, visibly frustrated by his poor performance:
“I have to make better decisions. I have to do a better job with the ball,” he said. “As a quarterback, as a leader, it all falls on my shoulders. I have to be better with that. I’ll work to be better.”
ALONTAE TAYLOR pic.twitter.com/pmHfCDylka
— Saints Film Room (@SaintsFilmRoom) November 9, 2025
The Saints immediately responded with a touchdown, as Jaycee Horn slipped again, freeing Johnson for a 30-yard score. Horn also took accountability: “I let them down today — two big plays that cost us the game. We can’t let this one loss weigh on us.”
Despite several chances to regain control, the Panthers never found a rhythm. Head coach Dave Canales took ownership of the ineffective passing game:
“Missed opportunities across the board and I look at it and I’ve got to do a better job. I’ve got to do a better job of making sure that we have answers and complements to our run game,” Canales said.
The Panthers finished with just 175 total yards of offense: 102 passing and 73 rushing. They allowed a rookie quarterback to throw for 282 yards, two touchdowns, and several big plays. After weeks of progress behind a power-running identity and disciplined defense, the issues that have plagued Young and the offense resurfaced: hesitancy, lack of a vertical threat, and inconsistent timing in the passing game.
The Panthers will try to regroup next week on the road in Atlanta in another key division matchup. Yet after today’s showing, and with the 49ers and Rams looming, any playoff hopes feel far more distant.
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