Carolina wings Falcons

CHARLOTTE -- For the second straight game, the Carolina Panthers lost a key player to a season-ending injury and watched an 11-point halftime lead dwindle.

Last week, that resulted in a 10-point loss to the Saints at New Orleans.

But it was different Sunday inside sun-splashed Bank of America Stadium.

Showing mettle that defied their circumstances, the Panthers used three big plays and two untimely Atlanta Falcons mistakes - all in the final seven minutes - to hold on for a 28-19 victory.

Coach John Fox jumped at the opportunity when asked to discuss how his team had responded to adversity over the past three weeks, sandwiching wins over the Arizona Cardinals and Atlanta around a near-miss against the unbeaten Saints.

"I'm proud of them the way they've fought back," Fox said. "We dug ourselves one heck of a hole [at the start of the season] at 0-3. So, I like talking about it."

Even though the Panthers have won four of their past six games to reach 4-5, it's serious business that they march into their brutal finishing schedule minus All-Pro left tackle Jordan Gross, who broke an ankle in the second quarter.

Just a week ago, linebacker Thomas Davis, who was having a Pro Bowl-caliber year, tore an anterior cruciate ligament in a knee.

The Panthers were further hampered Sunday because star defensive end Julius Peppers was limited to playing only on passing downs because of what Fox described as a "messed up" hand. It turns out, according to middle linebacker Jon Beason, that there's a broken bone in Peppers' hand.

Carolina fought through it all against one of their staunchest rivals, pulling to one game behind the Falcons (5-4), who have the surprising midseason problem of dealing with turnover problems by quarterback Matt Ryan.

The Panthers' passing game, so dormant most of the season, showed signs of life in the first half as two Jake Delhomme-to-Steve Smith touchdown passes helped stake them to a 21-10 halftime lead.

Those TDs doubled the number of scoring passes Smith caught in the first eight games, prompting him to creatively explain why it means so much to him to be an asset to the Panthers.

Similar to the previous week at New Orleans, when the Saints came roaring back, the Falcons cut Carolina's lead to 21-19 midway through the fourth quarter and looked set to take the lead with 6:39 remaining when kicker Jason Elam lined up for a 34-yard field goal.

Elam, 39, has been one of the NFL's best, most reliable kickers for years but has struggled from medium range this season, missing from 34, 38 and 42 yards.

On a sunny day with very little wind, his kick seemed almost certain to put the Falcons ahead, but he hooked it and missed wide left.

"My timing was just a mess from the start," said Elam. "I need to take that blame. It seems like everything that can go wrong is going wrong for me."

Lately, about the same also has been true for Ryan, the Falcons' highly-regarded second-year quarterback.

After Panthers' punter Jason Baker made a saving tackle to prevent a likely touchdown return by Atlanta's Eric Weems, Ryan got the ball back near midfield in good position to lead the Falcons to a go-ahead score.

Instead, Ryan's deep pass to receiver Michael Jenkins sailed high, just like a first half interception.

This pass was picked off by Carolina cornerback Richard Marshall, who returned it 28 yards to the Panthers' 49 with 3:45 remaining.