Biakabutuka Tears It Up as a Starter

Tshimanga Biakabutuka had the best game of his brief career. Tony Graziani had one to forget.

Making his first start since undergoing major knee surgery 13 months ago, Biakabutuka rushed for 104 yards and two touchdowns to lead Carolina to a 21-12 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday night.

Biakabutuka’s yardage and his 23 rushes both were his highest outputs since the Panthers made him the No. 8 overall selection in the 1996 NFL draft.

Carolina (4-4) won its second in a row, and in both cases, the Panthers faced a rookie quarterback making his first NFL start.

Last week, Carolina sacked Danny Wuerffel seven times and intercepted him twice in a 13-0 victory over New Orleans.

This time, the Panthers kept Graziani, a seventh-round draft selection from Oregon, on the run and he completed only four of 18 passes for 24 yards. Graziani was intercepted twice before being lifted at halftime, when the Falcons had four first downs, 64 total yards and trailed, 14-3.

Billy Joe Tolliver took over in the second half and was 17 of 28 for 217 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown pass play to Jamal Anderson with 6:41 left, but the Falcons (1-7) could get no closer.

A moment of silence was held before the game in memory of Falcon owner Rankin Smith, who died earlier in the day of heart failure.

Heavy rains that began Friday made for some difficult conditions, and they were worsened by a Rolling Stones concert that was held Oct. 10 at Ericsson Stadium. After the concert, crews re-sodded 25 yards at the end of the field where the stage had been set up, but the sod clearly did not have enough time to take root before Sunday night’s game.

As a result, players were constantly slipping and tearing up chunks of turf. There were nine fumbles and countless dropped passes.