The Carolina Panthers never led, never played that well and never looked very confident Sunday.
And yet there they were, with a second-and-5 on Washington’s 16, with 47 seconds to go and two timeouts in their pocket.
Washington led 23-17, but Carolina was 16 yards and one touchdown from stealing a victory. The great teams do that. They find a way to win on mediocre days like this one.
But the Panthers (3-2) aren’t a great team, and they showed it on the next three plays. Cam Newton overthrew Christian McCaffrey, Devin Funchess and Jarius Wright, in that order.