On a day when it was nearly impossible to get to Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner, second-year defensive end Charles Johnson did it twice accounting for both Carolina sacks in a 27-23 victory.

"He did well today," said Julius Peppers. "He got pressure and was disruptive, got two sacks for us and held it down for the D-Line today."

Johnson now has 3.5 sacks this season, just one-half sack behind Peppers for the team lead.

Peppers said it was a tough day to be a defensive lineman because of Warner's quick release. Rarely did he hold the ball for longer than three seconds.

"It was very frustrating because sometimes it feels like no matter how fast you beat somebody you are never going to get there," said Peppers, who had three tackles and one quarterback hurry. "But you just have to keep fighting through that, and I think we did a good job up front."

TURNING POINT: Trailing 17-10, Maake Kemoeatu forced an Edgerrin James fumble and Thomas Davis jumped on the loose ball at the Arizona 18.

On the next play, Delhomme lobbed one up for Steve Smith, who came down with an 18-yard touchdown pass to tie the game at 17, erasing Carolina's 14-point deficit. Smith appeared to get away with a push-off on Arizona cornerback Roderick Hood on the play.

"I can neither confirm nor deny that," Smith said with a laugh.

UPON FURTHER REVIEW: What a bizarre turn of events near the end of the first half.

As Neil Rackers lined up for a 39-yard field goal with 1:14 left, coach John Fox called timeout just before the snap. Rackers actually missed the field goal wide right, but the Cardinals got a second shot because of the timeout.

On the second try, the Cardinals got tricky on fourth-and-15 and ran a fake, but holder Dirk Johnson's pass to tight end Jerame Tuman got held up in the wind and Charles Godfrey was able to recover in time to tackle Tuman before he reached the first down marker.

BY THE NUMBERS: 3 - Number of 65-yard touchdown receptions by Steve Smith in his last three games against the Arizona Cardinals. Smith caught a 65-yard touchdown from Delhomme in 2005, another from Vinny Testaverde in 2007 and a third from Delhomme on Sunday. Bizarre, huh?

DEPTH CHART MOVES: The Panthers were without defensive tackle Darwin Walker, who was sidelined with a minor neck injury after being involved in a fender bender over the weekend. Walker was inactive, along with receivers D.J. Hackett and Kenneth Moore, safety C.J. Wilson, linebacker Adam Seward, center Ryan Kalil and tackle Jeff Otah. Jeremy Bridges started for the fourth straight week at right tackle, while Geoff Hangartner got his third straight start at center for Kalil.

DID YOU SEE THAT: The Panthers ran four direct snaps to running back Williams on the same drive in the second quarter, splitting quarterback Jake Delhomme out wide as a receiver. Williams picked up 23 yards on the four carries, including one first down.

He also warned that he might try to throw, something nobody really believes.

"I can throw. I've been studying Joe Montana and Steve Young," Williams said.

DID YOU KNOW: DeAngelo Williams admitted to missing a block that led to a Karlos Dansby sack on Jake Delhomme and fumble. The Cardinals recovered at the 5-yard line and scored on the next play.

"That was a missed assignment by me," Williams said. "I should have picked up the linebacker."

UNSUNG HERO: Dwayne Jarrett made the catch of the day when he hauled in a 17-yard grab on a third-and-10 with 2:53 left in the game to help the Panthers move the chains and run out the clock.

"I warned him in the huddle and he had a pretty good idea that I might be going to him," said quarterback Jake Delhomme. "I figured they might try to take Steve (Smith) out of the equation and Dwayne's route was going to give him a chance to make a play."

"That is what he can do, that big body going to snatch the football and he took a really good hit. He's big and as a quarterback when you see that and he has to run inside somebody, that's a big body they have to go around. He can go up and snatch it. He's got very long arms and big hands. I'm sure Kurt (Warner) feels the same about Larry Fitzgerald."

NOTABLE: The Cardinals won the coin toss but deferred to the Panthers.

That turned out to be a great decision as the Cardinals held the Panthers to just 2 yards on three plays to open the game, forcing a quick Jason Baker punt. Then, the Cardinals proceeded to drive 80 yards on 13 plays to take a 3-0 lead on a 21-yard field goal by Neil Rackers.
When the Cardinals got the ball to open the second half, they drove 64 yards on eight plays and scored on a 2-yard touchdown run by Tim Hightower to take a 17-3 lead.

BEHIND THE SCENES: Dropped touchdown passes are getting contagious for the Panthers.

Muhsin Muhammad dropped an easy 5-yard touchdown pass from Jake Delhomme in the second quarter that would have cut Arizona's lead to 10-7. However, the Panthers failed to punch it in on the next two plays and eventually settled for a short field goal by John Kasay.

"In his defense, right when he turned, the ball hits him," Delhomme said of Muhammad. "He'll catch it nine out of 10 times. I wanted to get rid of him because they were coming with pressure. We had two other downs to get in and we didn't get it done. That was disappointing that we couldn't capitalize."

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS: The game clocks at Bank of America Stadium went on the fritz in the second quarter, so the official time had to be kept on the field. The official stopped on offensive play before the snap because of the two-minute warning.

He inadvertently left his microphone on a second too long and quarterback Kurt Warner's voice resonated through the stadium as he screamed at the official, "Well, why didn't you tell me (ahead of time)?"

MONDAY MORNING QB: Warner hurt the Panthers with his ability to step up in the pocket and buy time for his receivers to get open down the field. The Panthers continued to get pressure from the outside, but on a few occasions Warner would simply elude the rush by stepping up in the pocket.

The Panthers knew there wasn't a chance Warner would run it, yet they couldn't prevent it. Warner was simply on fire Sunday, throwing for 381 yards and two touchdowns.

"It was frustrating, but they had two weeks to prepare for us and they came in here and gave us their best shot," said safety Chris Harris. "And they are a good football team. Yards and stats don't win ball games, points do, and we got more points than they did this game, so I'm happy with the result."

IN MY OPINION: OK, here's my gripe of the week.

Why in the world are fans doing "the wave" while the Panthers have the football in the fourth quarter in a 3-point game?

As a quick reminder, when your team has the ball, sit down and be quiet. When the opponent has the ball, be as loud as you want, do the wave, whatever.

But not when your team has the ball and a 3-point lead.

THEY SAID IT: "Guys are extremely happy. It was tough for me, because I'm spent right now, I'm on ‘E' right now. I have nothing left in the tank, I'm on ‘E.' That's how you should finish the game. Hopefully I can go get something to eat and lay down for a little bit then maybe have a little bit more energy. Right now it was a real emotional game for me. I was trying to refrain from dropping a few tears because I really get emotional when guys go out there and fight for each other like that."
-Panthers MLB Jon Beason on how he felt after the game.

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