Panthers Lose 10th in a Row

Chris Weinke tucked the ball under his arm, pushed forward for what he thought was the needed inch for a first down and quickly tried to line the Carolina Panthers up for another play.

He should have known better. Nothing has gone Carolina’s way this season.

The Atlanta Falcons stuffed Weinke on fourth down with under two minutes to play Sunday to preserve a 10-7 victory over Carolina, the Panthers’ 10th consecutive loss.

It was the second key stop of the game for the Falcons, who kept Carolina (1-10) out of the end zone on four straight plays early in the game, holding them six inches shy of a touchdown.

“It’s a game of inches, and we didn’t get them,” Weinke said. “I don’t know how else to explain it.”

In a game of little offense, Atlanta (6-4) got just enough from fullback Bob Christian, a 39-yard field goal from Jay Feely, and more than enough defense to win their third straight game and improve to 4-1 on the road.

“It was a tough journey to get to three wins a row,” Atlanta Coach Dan Reeves said. “I thought our defense did an unbelievable job to get this one.” The Panthers had their energy deflated in the second quarter when they failed to capitalize on their best field position of the day on Atlanta’s goal-line stand.

Chris Mohr’s 24-yard punt gave Carolina the ball at the Atlanta 31, and the Panthers moved to the one on four straight runs by Richard Huntley and Weinke’s 12-yard pass to Donald Hayes.

But Carolina couldn’t go the last yard. Weinke threw an incomplete pass and three straight runs came up short.