Panthers 27, Falcons 20: The Meltdown of DeAngelo Hall

Do you want to know why Steve Smith is the MVP of the Carolina Panthers? It's this simple -- even when he's having a statistically garbage day, he finds a way to help his team win.

Carolina was down 17-10 early in the 3rd quarter, and Joey Harrington was lighting up the Panthers' defense -- and let me just repeat for emphasis that Joey Harrington was lighting up the Panthers' defense. After Harrington hit Alge Crumpler for his second TD pass of the afternoon, Jake Delhomme opened the next drive throwing down the field to Smith, who had zero catches at that point. However, Smith got Hall to commit a pass interference penalty, which cost the Falcons 36 yards.

It's unclear what Smith said to Hall after that; my guess is that it involved Michael Vick tying Hall's mother to a rape stand. Whatever it was, Hall became unglued and took a shot at Smith on the next play, drawing a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Then, when the Panthers' drive appeared dead, Smith and Hall started jawing once more, and Hall wouldn't stop. The refs flagged him once more for unsportsmanlike conduct.

All told, that's 67 yards worth of penalties on one player on one drive -- a drive that ended with Delhomme hitting tight end Jeff King for a touchdown, tying the score at 17-17.

We'll get back to Hall in a minute. I want to talk next about DeShaun Foster.

This is exactly the game that DeShaun Foster needed to silence his critics. at least until next week. Foster finished the day with 20 carries for 122 yards and a touchdown, plus a 13-yard touchdown reception. Why he didn't get the ball more remains a mystery to me. Sure, DeAngelo Williams gave him a rest with 47 yards on 11 carries, but really, Foster was stunningly dominant in running the ball today.

I dare say he was as dominant as Harrington was for the Falcons. The much-maligned QB finished the day completing 31 of 44 passes for 361 yards and 2 TDs. He did this because the Panthers' pass rush sucked emu eggs. Kris Jenkins got one sack early, and after that, there wasn't much pressure on Harrington in the pocket. Even when there was pressure, Harrington rolled outside and hit his receivers in the hands, but not all of them caught his throws. Laurent Robinson and Joe Horn both let the ball slip out of their hands in the end zone late in the 4th quarter, forcing the Falcons to settle for a field goal and cut the lead to 7, but thanks to Foster, they never touched the ball again.

Harrington usually went to his left, abusing the hell out of Ken Lucas, who let Roddy White slip through his hands once, resulting in a 69-yard TD for Atlanta.

There was additional drama late in the third quarter. With the score tied and 1:42 left, Jake Delhomme appeared to blow out his elbow on a pass attempt and was forced to leave the game. Mr. White Gloves himself, David Carr stepped in, and much to everyone's surprise, he didn't do too badly. He completed 3 of 4 passes for 56 yards, including a 9-yard completion to Christian Fauria on 3rd & 8 to put the Panthers in position for Foster's second TD of the day. He even looked fairly calm in the face of the Atlanta blitz.

The Falcons' pass rush was strong, too. John Abraham was abusing Travelle Wharton all afternoon and notched two sacks on the day. For a while, it looked like Abraham would disrupt Carolina's offense enough to ruin it.

Alas, it was the disruptive power of Steve Smith, combined with the strong running of DeShaun Foster, than eventually won the day for Carolina. The press in Atlanta will lay into DeAngelo Hall for this one. Had he just kept his cool, this might have turned out differently.