CHARLOTTE — Brad Hoover will never forget his first taste of Monday Night Football.
The rookie running back ran for over 100 yards and scored his first career touchdown while helping the Carolina Panthers down the Green Bay Packers 31-14 at Ericsson Stadium.
“It was a dream come true,” said the former Western Carolina University and Ledford High School star after running for 117 yards in 24 carries in only his second start in the National
FootballLeague.
“It was a great feeling.I’d never imagine that in a million years. I’d never imagine to be starting on Monday Night Football coming in as a free agent rookie when camp started. But things happen in mysterious ways. When you get the opportunities, you’ve just got to take advantage of it,” said Hoover.
The 6-foot-2, 225-pounder, taking over for the injured Tshimanga Biakabutuka, had many of the fans in the crowd of 62,518 chanting “Hoover, Hoover, Hoover” late in the game.
“That was nice to actually have some guys supporting me in the stands. It was really great to hear down on the field. I’m glad those people come to the games and support me like that,” exclaimed Hoover.
Hoover, who had 92 yards for the season before last night, said he treated the nationally televised contest like any other game.
“I just went out and played. Things just went a little different this week. The holes were open, I hit the holes and the yards just came,” he said.
He had run for 59 yards in 18 carries in his first start eight days earlier in a 31-17 loss at Minnesota.
The combination of Hoover’s hard running, quarterback Steve Beuerlein’s passing and a solid defensive effort against dangerous Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre gave the Panthers a 5-7 record with four games to play. The Packers are also 5-7.
“I think, going into this game, this whole team felt that we needed this win and we needed to do whatever we needed to do to get the win,” said Hoover. “We’ve got to put these kind of victories together for the next four weeks. We believe we can do it.”
Beuerlein, making only his second MondayNight Football appearance, had a solid passing effort, going 22-for-37 for 243 yards and three touchdowns. He threw two TD passes to wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad and one to fullback Chris
Hetherington. Muhammad was his top receiver with 11 catches for 131 yards. He found Hoover three times for 41 yards.
Beuerlein said he was not surprised at Hoover’s strong showing.
“I thinkMuhsin was calling him ‘silent, but violent.’ ... He made some great plays. He runs with a lot of authority. ... We’ve seen a lot of him from the preseason on and always knew he was the kind of guy who was going to take what’s there,” said the veteran quarterback.
The Panthers dominated the first quarter, driving 68 yards for the TD that was scored byHetherington on a 3-yard pass from Beuerlein, then going 47 yards to score on a 12-yard throw from Beuerlein to Muhammad.
“We got two scores early, had a chance to go up on them and let them back in the game,” said
Beuerlein.
Green Bay’s LeRoy Butler hit Beuerlein early in the second quarter, causing a fumble that was recovered by Nate Wayne at the Panthers’ 38.
Two plays later the Packers had their first TD on a 26-yard run up the middle by running back Ahman Green.
Later in the second period, with Carolina in possession at the Green Bay 15, a Beuerlein pass was intercepted by Tyrone Williams, who had a 46-yard return down the right sideline to the Carolina 44.
It took five plays for Favre to rifle a 32-yard TD pass to wide receiver Donald Driver. The score was tied at 14 with 2:02 left in the half.
“I had another interception (his 14th of the season) down there in the red zone, and I feel bad about that,” said the Panthers quarterback. “We let them back in. But it was nice to see us respond to the challenge and come out of this thing running away from them.”
The Panthers charged back to break the tie quickly, going 65 yards in seven plays before Joe Nedney’s 26-yard field goal put Carolina head 17-14 with 1:01 left in the half.
The home team took advantage of a Green Bay turnover to score early in the second half and go up 24-14.
Favre had completed an 8-yard pass to wide receiver Antonio Freeman, who fumbled when he was hit by Mike Minter. Eugene Robinson recovered for Carolina at the Green Bay 5.
Beuerlein passed 3 yards to Muhammad three plays later, and the Panthers were up by 10.
Carolina’s defense protected the lead the rest of the way, and JimmyHitchcock (former Concord High star, Eric Davis and Hannibal Navies) intercepted Favre passes.
“I thought we played a very, very good team — offensive team — with very good weapons and we were able to hold them to 14 points. I thought that was a very good defensive effort, and I thought our offense came to play, no doubt,” said Robinson.
The Panthers wound up with 356 total yards to 326 for Green Bay. Green Bay had five turnovers to only two for the winners.
The Panthers host the St.Louis Rams on Sunday afternoon, then finish out the regular season at Kansas City, at home against San Diego and at Oakland.
“We’ve still got some breath of life in us,” said Robinson. “We said this past meeting that we had as a team, ‘We are not dead.’ ... We had to have an effort like this to show what we can do.”
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