the 2:00 warning. >> cris: when drew brees gets it going, it is tough to stop. and thomas davis barely missed that one. you play that kind of the tampa two to where you are going to drop the middle linebacker, and earlier in game, it is craig robertson who had to chase ted ted ginn all of the way to the end zone. and the saints in the same sort of thing, and when you are at the goal line, you don't want to back up too far, because drew brees gets it right in front of you. >> al: and ron rivera talking about having to finish games and here they are again putting themselves in the precarious position, and you are almost leaving it to the offense right now to get the first downs to take the all of the time off of the clock. >> cris: i think that you are going to see the saints bringing all kinds of pressure. they have a pressure point with chris scott being the center, and you the pressure point of the fact that this game now is

you go after them here. >> al: lutz to kick. that is joe webb back, and fozzy whittaker back there as well. from the goal line. webb. he slips. taken down at the 15 yard line. >> cris: big hit by shiloh keo. that is back on the 15 yard line, so we are talkab field position, and you know, going back to beginning of the game, and carolina had a couple of nice plays right off of the bat with some motion and going wide, and all of the different things, but some of those plays are really tough to run though when you are getting the feeling that you will be seeing at lot of pressure off of the edge. and the only reason that the saints don't bring that pressure is because they are hurting a little bit at the cornerback

>> al: panthers have had three straight three and outs. he throws, and that is errant. and a flag comes in though, and stupar is tangled up with jonathan stewart. carl johnson comes in to make >> referee: no faoul on the pla. >> al: and so he was the head of officiating a few years ago and now he is the head linesman, and the flag is waived off. >> cris: it is a great job here by nathan stupar and you cannot have pass interference behind the line of scrimmage and that

to understand that. >> al: rivera are is pleading his case to no avail. second down and ten now. and it is nervous time in this ball park. newton is going to go nowhere. now you have third down. the saints are going to take a time-out. so they are now down to one plus the 2:00 warning, and then of course, in drew brees world that might as well be a month on the calendar. all right. a little bit of the pulse here. newton and taking a look at the numbers. not very good. brees meanwhile, 32 of 41 and 242 and less than what he normally averages, but still, he has had it when he needs it, and 17 unanswered. there is the most depressing sight of the night for the carolina panthers of kuechly back in the locker room. and we will get a report as soon

your shot here right now. i mean, i know that there are some things working gaagainst y, but you cannot turn around and kick the ball back to drew brees at this point. and he is not thinking field goal at this one, but he is thinking, let's go get a touchdown and get out of here with the win. a big time play here s, and the have ted ginn and kelvin benjamin, and devin funchess is down to cam newton's left. >> al: they had the linebackers backed off and newton in traffic and that is caught by kelvin ben ja min. that is a big time catch. boy, did they need that. j>> cris: not much of a route,

pressure there is very interesting one. you could have almost told what was going to happen there. and kelvin benjamin is a bigger than life wide receiver. they play above the rim in these key situations. if you are sitting back in the zone, he does not care about getting hit. you throw it up high, and he will outrebound everybody. that is a core element of this offense. gutsy catch to go up to hang on to that one. but, no pressure and gave it a chance. >> al: that is a gigantic first down. new orleans now takes the last time-out. so the only time that the clock will stop now is at the 2:00 warning. after most likely this play. >> cris: here comes the pressure again. >> al: stewart is the running back. they want to get the clock down the 2:00, and they will on the two-yard gain to the 35. so it is go ing to be second don

side of the 2:00 warning. can brees get the ball back? >> cris: what a big time throw and catch that was when they needed it most. >> al: we have come down to the 2:00 warning in a tight one in charlotte. carolina over new orleans, 23-20 on this thursday night. wait! hurry up! come on! ? whoa! l reality world. can i see? oh yai yai yai yai yai yai. ? will we be able to see the whole park? yeah, it's 360. look, it goes all the way around. go! let's go, let's go, let's go.

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>> al: right after the game, it is the volkswagen post game to interview the stars of the game. and he will not return in this game. >> cris: and a heather, those are the only three games that he

in there for almost every snap. we thought that maybe it was the leg. but it turned out to be something else. hope for the best here. >> al: newton is taking the clock all of the way down to third and eight. keeping it on the ground. not much to do here, and fozzy whittaker just stays inbounds to take you down to half a minute. so brees will have oh, you know, probablyes with the time we get down there to try to get them into field goal range. >> cris: you know, i have to go back for one moment to the decision to play the zone out of that play. most defensive coordinators and not all, but most defensive coordinators in that situation will bring the blitz believing even if they throw hot, you can come up to make the tackle at about seven yards and force the

now i am not saying it is a wrong decision, but i am saying that typically in this league that is what you will see. >> al: surprising. time-out here. for carolina. go back to the benjamin catch. >> cris: and they rush out and rush four here, and they get close to getting to cam newton and there is definite pressure up the gut, but there is -- if you can understand what i am saying that typically you bring on you have to throw hot on the outside, and usually a slant or some kind of the stop route to come up to make the play. and you know, there is no right answer, but it is just that it is the typical one that i see. >> al: i am with you, brother. always. thick or thin. >> cris: until sunday. [ laughter ] >> al: mike palardy is in to punt. i will with be back, don't

13 yard line. marcus murphy and he will get taken down at the 25 and then a flag at the end of the play, and another flag that comes in, and for the moment, you have 14 sec seconds on the clock. >> referee: during the return, holding, 54 of the receiving team, 10-yard penalty, first down. >> al: that is the last thing they needed. are forced to air it out. 14 seconds and hope to get out of boundsle because you don't have a long pass and if you are carolina, you know, you have to guard the sidelines, but then again, you have to be careful over the middle, too. >> cris: yes, and now you can catch one over the middle, but you better fly to get out of bounds. i think that this is one of

at the sideline and hope nfor te best. >> al: yep. try to get lutz in field goal ra range. >> cris: you have to throw it 50-yards plus to have a chance at a field goal on the other side. lutz' career long is 57. >> al: he won the game with 11 seconds left when these two teams met in louisiana last mo month. so brees now just dumps it off here here, and it is hightower who tries to get o o six seconds. >> cris: well, you have big tight ends, but not so big wide receivers. we have seen brandon coleman go up to get one, and michael thomas is a big body. i am not sure now that you can throw a hail mary and get out of bound, and maybe it is one of the stanford plays now. >> al: and the thing is that you need a stanford play or the

which would extend the game by one play. so brees, and he is going to throw to the sideline, and they have one more play? they do. michael thomas makes the catch. now, you it up to the 36 yard line which is fine and dandy, and now what do you do? >> cris: i mean, it may be fine, but not dandy, because you have to throw this thing 65 yards into the end zone. with who knows, maybe drew brees can still do it. >> al: a hook and trailer. you have all kinds of gimmicks. >> cris: but you have the buy the time to get the receivers down there anyway. >> al: just a three-man rush, and they will throw the short pass here. give it to thomas. he will go as far as he can, but

well, they made this crowd sweat it out, didn't they? >> cris: huge win. >> al: 23-3, and winds up 23-20, and each of the teams is now 4-6. they are each two games behind the division leading atlanta falcons. and the volkswagen post game show is coming up on the other

welcome to the volkswagen golf alltrack post game report. the cam newton to kelvin benjamin was the only first down of the fourth quarter, but en football to kick off week 11. moments ago, heather cox met up with thomas davis of the p panthers' defense. >> heather: thank you, rich. thomas, after giving up the lead last week in a tough loss, what was the key to this panther team finishing tonight? >> well, it is just that. staying focused and finishing a as football team. we put ourselves in a bad situation once we got the big lead and allowed them to get back into the game, but tonight, we did a great job as a football

and you were emotional and what did you say to him? >> i said that we would go out to finish the game for him and we loved him and get healthy. >> heather: indeed, you did. congrats. al, back up sstairs to you. >> al: all right. thank you, heather. let's hope for the best for luke kuechly. they go to the west coast to oakland and seattle and still alive at 4-6. and the saints are 4-6, and tampa bay is 4-5 and don't forget aboutm. atlanta with the bye, and somebody has to win it. >> cris: obviously, they have wins over both of these team, and they have a hot quarterback and hot wide receiver doing some damage around the league, so they are the ones to beat here. >> al: yeah. it is another close game, and you talked about the panthers and they did it again, but this time, they come up on the other side. four losses of three or fewer, and huge catch by ginn, and

"when the ship comes in" by the hollies ? oh the fishes will laugh as they swim out of the path ? ? and the seagulls they'll be smilin ? ? and the rocks on the sand ? it's so peaceful out here. yeah. introducing the new turbocharged volkswagen alltrack with 4motion? all-wheel drive. soon to be everywhere. >> thank you for watching "volkswagen golf all-track post game report." >> al: sunday night, it is on to the nation's capital. aaron rodgers and the green ba py pack ers and kirk cousins and the washington redskins as football night in america starts

pittsburgh steelers against the indianapolis colts. you are watching nbc, and stay tuned for your late local news except for on the west coast. for those watching on the nfl net network, the mazda post game show is next. 23-20 is the final. al michaels, cris collinsworth and heather cox saying good night from charlotte. ? ? what? is he gone?? finally, i thought he'd never leave... tv character: why are you texting my man at 2 a.m.? no... if you want someone to leave you alone, you pretend like you're sleeping. it's what you do.

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we'll look at what they find in the coming years. we want to pause now for just a moment and we want to welcome in all the folks who have been watching nbc football coverage on 9news. you ar of 9news at 9:00 and our friends on channel 27. this is 9news! >> welcome in, everybody, watching football on channel 9 and those along for 9news at 9:00 this evening! snow across the streets in the metro area.

shut down due to icy conditions. it's back back open now. people have been rescued from the area tonight.

[ audio di >> along cherry creek bike pass. ground covered by leaves yesterday have become white with a dusting of snow. temperatures will slide into well into tomorrow morning. factor in the wind chill. it feels nearly 70 degrees cooler than yesterday's record high which tied for the warmest november day on record in denver. kathy is tracking temperatures and how much snow we had today. she will join us in a moment.

pileup would be nonstop news. 15 cars got tangled up near evergreen this afternoon on i- 70 east bound. there was a car carrier in the group and it's unclear whether the 15 car total included the vehicles hauled by that >> i. two people went to the hospital. i70 was -- by that semi. two people went to the hospital. i-70 was closed several hours. the worst spot seemed to be on the south side of town, east pound c-470 470 at i-25 was shut down due to ice. with the cold on the way we could see more icy roads in the morning. kathy is along now with more on what to expect. >> drier air working in from the northwest, but temperatures have just begun to fall out there. hard to take after a record high of 80 yesterday, our high today 39. we should be in the low 50s, powerful storm system moving across north eastern colorado