The game started out not looking too promising. The main culprit being inaccurate passing and a running game that was nullified. Also the Panthers picked up on picking on Kiko Alonso in coverage which gave them some results to keep drives alive.
In the battle of short passes during the first half it was the Panthers that came out on top 17 – 7. Although there was some life on the scoring drive the Miami Dolphins had that was capped off with a shovel pass to Julius Thomas.
This carried over into the second half, but with the Panthers winning this battle as well as Cam Newton being able to run they started pulling away.