3 winners and 3 losers from Panthers win at the Falcons in Week 8
By Jason Huber
Zane Gonzalez – Carolina Panthers K
If you would have been told just a month ago that the Carolina Panthers’ best offensive player through the first half of the season was their kicker, would you have believed it?
Zane Gonzalez has turned into one of the most reliable pieces on this Carolina offense and he is one of the biggest reasons they even won the game on Sunday.
Gonzalez nailed all four of his field-goal attempts that included a career-high 57-yarder before halftime – which is also the second-longest in franchise history – and the former Arizona Cardinal also struck a 51-yard effort through the uprights for good measure.
Supplying 12 of the Panthers’ 19 points made him the sure-fire MVP of this game. It’s quite remarkable considering how bad the kicker position was the first few weeks of the season before Carolina eventually took a chance on Gonzalez after bringing him in for a tryout at mandatory minicamp.
Hopefully, nothing changes because the last thing Carolina needs is another question mark on offense. Gonzalez has been flawless in recent weeks and could be set for a longer-term stay with the franchise if he keeps this up over the second half of the season.