Panthers vs. 49ers: Highlights, game tracker and more

The Carolina Panthers faced the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, September 10 in Week 1 of the 2017 NFL season. Highlights and recap of the game are below

Neither of these teams could brag much about how 2016 went. The San Francisco 49ers owned one of the worst records at 2-14 and made some big changes in the offseason. The Carolina Panthers finished 6-10, which was a far cry from their 15-1 record in 2015.

Despite not having much to brag about coming off of last season, the Panthers offense looked much more productive and fearsome when on the field. Especially when talented 49ers rookie linebacker Reuben Foster had to leave the game due to injury — this while he was being disruptive — the Panthers struck. They jumped out ahead 7-0 with a bomb to Russell Shepard from Cam Newton.

After that, they continued to move the ball decently with their running game, both Jonathan Stewart and Christian McCaffrey coming through in that regard. Meanwhile, their defense was big as they didn’t allow Brian Hoyer, Carlos Hyde or much of anything to get done on that side of the ball. They took a 13-0 lead into halftime.

However, things looked about the same in the second half. Newton and company were hardly perfect as the Niners defense did show some promise. With that said, their offense was so poor that it ultimately didn’t matter. The Panthers were able to just flip on the cruise control and ride it out. A Luke Kuechly interception helped to seal the deal for Carolina.

If there was one silver lining for each team, though, both should be formidable on defense. Only allowing 23 points when the offense was so inept is a positive for the 49ers. Even still, you have to wonder how they’re going to win with that kind of imbalance.

Highlights

One coach is a rookie trying to find his way, the other is trying to prove last year was a fluke. This game could help shape the whole season for both franchises.