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Former Panthers play key roles in outcome of Super Bowl LVII

anthony rizzuti
·2 min read

There was a total of three former Carolina Panthers on the field for Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. And of those three, two played extremely critical roles in helping decide the outcome—and neither were the one most had their eyes on.

It wasn’t Eagles pass-rushing menace Haason Reddick, one of the favorites to make a run at the game’s Most Valuable Player honors, who wound up being a major player in the dramatic contest. It was, instead, his teammate James Bradberry and Kansas City kicker Harrison Butker.

We’ll start with the former, who set the stage for the latter.

Bradberry, with the game tied at 35 apiece right under the two-minute mark, was called for a defensive holding on a third-and-8 play that originated on the Eagles’ 15-yard line and ended in an incompletion. So instead of a fourth down and a field goal try with 1:54 remaining, the cornerback’s hold on wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster gave Kansas City a fresh set of downs to eat the clock with.

From there, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs were able to take it all the way down to 11 seconds for Butker—who’d try to redeem himself after a 42-yard miss earlier in the night. Well, he did—nailing a 27-yard go-ahead kick and giving Philadelphia just eight seconds to work with.

Following a squib kick and a short return by running back Kenneth Gainwell, the Eagles had one more shot from their own 36 to get the ball into the end zone. The ensuing and final play, however, fell well short—as quarterback Jalen Hurts barely got his chuck to the 20-yard line.

So, history was made—and a few old friends, for better or for worse, made it happen.

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Story originally appeared on Panthers Wire