Ron Rivera's Carolina Panthers have secured a 27-22 victory against the New Orleans Saints thanks to a star performance from quarterback Cam Newton.
The Saints put the first points on the scoreboard courtesy of a 30-yard Zach Hocker field goal.
Mark Ingram then extended the lead for the Saints by dancing into the endzone from five yards out after a 16-play, 94-yard drive.
The Panthers got up and running and came back into the game with just over five minutes remaining in the second quarter as Newton found Greg Olsen in the endzone.
With the first half coming to a close, Graham Gano successfully hit a 20-yard field goal to level things at 10-10 at the break.
Into the third quarter, and Saints running back Marcus Murphy was able to sprint past the entire Panthers squad with a 74-yard punt return touchdown to put New Orleans into the lead.
Olsen was found by Newton from 11 yards for the second time in the match for the Panthers' second touchdown, before a field goal from Gano put Carolina back into the lead at the end of the third quarter.
Newton was involved once again, but this time ran 13 yards for his own touchdown to seal a fine performance in the fourth quarter.
Saints running back Khiry Robinson ran for a two-yard touchdown with just under five minutes remaining in the match, but the resulting two-point conversion attempt was incomplete and New Orleans were unable to scramble anything else out of the game.
Miles Jolliffe
