The Carolina Panthers moved to 2-0 in their season with a commanding 24-7 victory in their NFL clash with the Detroit Lions.
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The Lions moved the ball well on offense as Matt Stafford engineered an strong drive to put his side into Carolina territory. However, Joique Bell killed the move as he fumbled the ball and Antoine Cason gathered for the home side.
In the first quarter, the Panthers could produce nothing on offense as quarterback Cam Newton was sacked by Jason Jones and Ezekiel Ansah for a two-yard loss on third down, as the Lions covered the home side's wideouts well downfield.
Carolina got on the scoreboard just before half time as they moved into the endzone, but Newton's pass to Kelvin Benjamin fell incomplete. Graham Gano kicked a 29-yard field goal to hand his side the lead.
Gano added another field goal from 53 yards just before the break to give his side a six-point advantage at half time.
In the second half, the Lions responded to their failings as they drove the length of the field and took the lead as Stafford faked the handoff and found full-back Jed Collins in the endzone for a one-yard score.
The Panthers eventually got into gear on offense as Newton hit his stride with his receivers, before firing his side ahead with a strike to Jason Avant in the endzone.
Ron Rivera's side took control of the game with a solid drive that culminated in Jonathan Stewart powering into the endzone for the score and they added the two-point conversion to go 14 points ahead.
Gano made sure of the win as he added a late field goal.
Simon Sinclair
