Panthers don't get blowout, just a win

CHARLOTTE -- The blowout didn't blow in.

Instead, the Carolina Panthers had plenty of difficulty beating the winless Detroit Lions on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.

For the second straight game, the Panthers came precariously close to losing to one of the NFL's worst teams. Last week, it was the Oakland Raiders (now 2-8). This week, Detroit (0-10).

An interception by rookie safety Charles Godfrey in the final five minutes, when the Panthers were clinging to a two-point lead, was the save-the-day play the team needed to secure a 31-22 win.

The victory kept the Panthers (8-2) in first place in the tightly bunched NFC South. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-3) also won Sunday. Next week's opponents, the Atlanta Falcons (6-4), lost.

Despite the struggle, there was no sense of shame or regret in the Carolina locker room.

Coach John Fox and the Panthers took a bottom-line approach to narrowly avoiding a loss to Detroit. Their message had nothing to do with style points or margin of victory.

"It's never 'a win, but ...' in this league," quarterback Jake Delhomme said. "It's always 'a win.'"

Fox said every loss is ugly and every win is beautiful in the NFL, where upsets hardly are rare.

"That's why my hair is very gray and starting to go away," he said.

"You see it every week. It's not a shock. Turn on the scores every Monday, and you see it. The difference between the teams with winning records and losing records is they've lost some close games. ... Always has been, always will be."

Detroit has lost four games by eight points or fewer but also has lost the same number of games by 18 or more points.

From Fox's perspective, winning Sunday was plenty lovely even though Carolina fell behind 10-0, was outgained 125 yards to 10 in the first quarter, and failed to gain a first down until early in the second period against a Lions team that has won only one of its past 18 games dating to last year.

The most aesthetically pleasing part of the Panthers' performance was its record-setting rushing performance. Carolina ran for a team record 262 yards, with all but six coming in the final three periods.

DeAngelo Williams (120 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries) and rookie Jonathan Stewart (130 yards and one TD on 15 attempts) became Carolina's first backfield tandem to rush for 100 yards each in a game.

"Both of them had runs that inspired us today," Fox said. "I think they are both fine backs and hopefully they have a lot more fine days ahead."

Delhomme said Detroit's defense essentially dared the Panthers to run -- so run they did.

A 21-yard gain by Stewart with just over 11 minutes left in the first half, when Detroit led 10-0, seemed to be the spark the Panthers needed.

It gave them their second first down of the game and their first trip to the Lions' side of midfield. Three plays later, Delhomme completed a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jeff King.

Less than six minutes after that, Williams broke off a 56-yard touchdown run, followed 100 seconds later by Stewart's 22-yarder for a TD.

Carolina led 21-16 at halftime and built the margin to 24-16 before the Lions and quarterback Daunte Culpepper again threatened to pull off what likely would have been the biggest upset of the NFL season.

Culpepper's 1-yard dive for a touchdown with 6:05 remaining cut the lead to 24-22 and the Lions chose to go for a two-point conversion to try to tie the score.

Culpepper tried to run into the end zone, but was stopped inches short by middle linebacker Jon Beason and others.

The Lions got the ball back at their 14-yard line with 4:58 remaining, but their comeback drive lasted only one play.

Culpepper tried to complete a short pass to wide receiver Calvin Johnson, but Godfrey, who was in man-to-man coverage on the Lions' star, intercepted and returned the ball to the 4.

Williams scored a TD on the next play, effectively ending the game.

At 8-2, Carolina has the third best record in the NFL behind 10-0 Tennessee and the 9-1 New York Giants, who host the Panthers Dec. 21.

"We've put ourselves in a good spot," said Delhomme. "We'll see if we can keep it going."