5 things I liked about Panthers' 35-31 win over Green Bay

1. It was incredibly entertaining. When offenses go up and down the field like that, defensive coordinators grimace. But fans -- and sportswriters -- love it. It helped that the snow mostly held off. It is now snowing extremely hard in Green Bay and Lambeau Field is covered with white as I write this, truly looking like a frozen tundra. But there was little snow until the game ended.

2. The Panthers' red zone success. The Panthers made five trips inside Green Bay's 20 and scored on every one of them -- all of them 1-yard TDs (a team-record four by DeAngelo Williams). "Getting 7s rather than 3s when we were down there was the difference in the game," QB Jake Delhomme said.

3. Carolina's goal-line stand. The Panthers' defense was picked apart by Aaron Rodgers (298 passing yards) for most of the second half, but came up with the goods late in the fourth quarter by stopping the Packers twice at the 1 on second-and-goal and third-and-goal. Then Green Bay decided to kick the field goal -- a decision now roundly being second-guessed -- to go up 31-28 with 1:57 to go. (Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said: "To go up three points with two minutes left at home, I was confident in that position, that's why I kicked it.") That led to...

4. Steve Smith. What an amazing catch. He actually seemed to catch the back end of the ball on that 54-yard grab, yet held on to set up the Panthers' go-ahead TD.

5. Mark Jones. The Panthers' kick returner was extremely efficient, giving Carolina the equivalent of a couple of free first downs on several of his runbacks.

Panthers win 35-31; Beason clinches it

The Panthers just won an amazing game in Green Bay, as Jon Beason's interception clinched a 35-31 victory. They improve to 9-3 with the victory, keeping pace with Tampa Bay, also 9-3.

Down 31-28 late in the fourth quarter, the Panthers took the lead after Steve Smith hauled in a 54-yard pass from Jake Delhomme to set up DeAngelo Williams' fourth TD of the game. That made it 35-31, Carolina.

Still, Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers was so hot it seemed like he might navigate the Packers to one more TD. Instead, his second throw on the ensuing drive was picked off by Panther LB Jon Beason.

Carolina took over, needing one first down to cinch the game. The Panthers ran Williams three times, making Green Bay burn all of its timeouts, and then punted back to the Packers with 13 seconds to go.

Jason Baker's punt then rolled all the way to the Green Bay 5 with 2 seconds remaining. Green Bay threw one incomplete pass, and it was over -- Carolina had secured one of the most entertaining wins in its history.

Smith makes an UNBELIEVABLE catch

Steve Smith just added another one to his highlight film. Carolina had the ball, trailing 31-28, with first-and-10 on its own 45. On first down, Jake Delhomme heaved one deep down the middle toward Smith, who was double-covered.

Somehow, Smith came up with it. He cut in front of a Packer defender, secured the ball, fell down, then got up and rolled to the 1. This all happened in the snow, which has started to fall hard.

The play was reviewed but upheld. With 1:33 left, Carolina had first down at the Packers' 1. DeAngelo Williams scored again -- his fourth 1-yard TD of the day. Those four TDs set a team rercord.

Still, did Carolina score too fast? Green Bay, now down 35-31 with 1:30 left, will get the ball back with a very hot QB in Aaron Rodgers, with two timeouts remaining.

Green Bay takes 31-28 lead

The Packers have scored again, on a 19-yard Mason Crosby field goal, to take a 31-28 lead with 1:57 left.

The Panthers did, for the first time in awhile, stop Green Bay from getting into the end zone. They stopped two consecutive running plays when Green Bay had second-and-goal from the 1, which helped a little.

Mark Jones, having a wonderful game as a kick returner, took the kickoff back to the Carolina 45. The Panthers have one timeout and 1:48 left. A light snow, mixed with sleet, has started to fall.

Panthers tie game at 28-all

Carolina finally broke out of its second-half offensive funk, as DeAngelo Williams just scored his third TD of the game to tie it at 28-all with 11:10 to go in the fourth quarter.

Carolina had been awful offensively until then, getting outscored 18-0 in the second half. But Mark Jones provided a spark with a 51-yard kickoff return. Then Muhsin Muhammad drew a 14-yard pass interference penalty, and somehow didn't get a penalty himself when he got angry and took a swing at a Green Bay player on the Packers' interception return (negated by the interference penalty).

The big play, though, came on 3rd-and-11 from the Green Bay 37, when Steve Smith did something big. In tight coverage, he went up and got a 36-yard pass to the Packers' 1. It was a good throw by Delhomme, a better catch by Smith. Williams finished it off from there with his third TD.

Now, though, Carolina's defense is going to have to try to stop the Pack. The Panthers have looked horrible on pass defense in their past two drives.

Green Bay takes 28-21 lead

Green Bay has made the Panthers look silly during the second half so far, outscoring them 18-0 to take a 28-21 lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Packers' latest score: a 21-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings. As has been usual in the second half, Jennings had a separation of at least 3 yards from the closest Panther defender, Ken Lucas.

Lambeau Field is rocking as it's been all Green Bay in the second half so far. Mark Jones did just return the kickoff to midfield, though, so you can't say Carolina is out of it.

If its defense keeps allowing Packer TD drives on every possession, though -- the past 2 have gone for a thoroughly embarrassing 95 and 76 yards -- they soon will be.

Game tied, 21-all, after 95-yard Packer drive

Green Bay just finished off a 95-yard drive against the Panthers' defense, which has to be embarrassed about allowing the Packers to go the length of the field like that. The TD came on a five-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers to Donald Lee, and that made it 21-19.

With 5:17 to go in the third quarter, the Packers decided to go for two points and tie the game at 21. That worked like a charm, too, as Rodgers threw a pass to a wide-open Greg Jennings, and just like that, the Panthers' 11-point halftime lead had evaporated.

The drive was keyed when Donald Driver, 1-on-1 against newly rich Carolina CB Chris Gamble, burned him for a 46-yard reception. That got Green Bay out of a hole on its own 5.