RB Rico Dowdle had 183 rushing yards, 56 receiving yards and a rushing touchdown as Carolina defeated Dallas on Sunday. By Scott Fowler
Three home games. Three wins.
And on Sunday afternoon for the Carolina Panthers? Two other bits of franchise history.
The Panthers notched a thrilling win, 30-27, over the Dallas Cowboys in Bank of America Stadium. The victory came thanks to some newly furnished explosiveness on offense, a timely stop by the defense and the unshakeable resolve of their kicking unit — one that was put in the spotlight on that final, game-winning field goal from Ryan Fitzgerald.
The win makes the Panthers undefeated at home through three games.
And onto the history:
The win raises their record to 3-3 — the first time the Panthers have been at .500 since Week 10 of the 2021 season, the same game Cam Newton returned to the Panthers and scored a touchdown his first play from scrimmage, which was memorialized with some signature phrasing: “I’m backkkkk!”
It also featured a franchise-best performance by one of the team’s emerging stars. Running back Rico Dowdle notched 239 scrimmage yards, the most ever of any Panther, supplanting Christian McCaffrey. He finished with 183 rushing yards on 30 attempts, and added four receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown through the air.
Head coach Dave Canales reacted to all such history — and more — in the statement-of-a-win. Here’s a recap of his postgame press conference:
Carolina Panthers head coach Dave Canales, center, questions a call during action against the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, October 12, 2025 at Bank of America Stadium. The Panthers defeated the Cowboys 30-27. JEFF SINER jsiner@charlotteobserver.com
Opening statement
“At the end of the day, it’s what do you do with the last possession? The defense, you know, gave up some yards. And Dak Prescott, George Pickens, had a great day. I give the Cowboys a lot of credit for the offense that they produced today.
“But the defense came through for us when we needed it. And to give us the ball back, give us another chance to get down there, get into field goal range right there, and for Ryan to hit that his first career game winner was amazing. It just ties the whole group, and everybody had to do their part right here at the end to win this game. So I’m so proud the way the team keeps coming together to find good football when we need it.”
Rico Dowdle had another monster game. Any extra motivation playing Cowboys?
“Just looked like the same guy last week, ran with violence, had a plan, a man on a mission. He wants to make yards, and really just take our schemes and make them come alive. He’d be up here, first thing he would say is give credit to the offensive lineman tight ends for blocking the wide receivers involved in all that to create another successful day on the on the ground. But he’s human. I’m sure there are emotions coming from the former team and all that. So I will acknowledge that part of it, but I didn’t see a difference from what he did last week. I just saw great execution and great attitude.”
On Bryce Young’s day
“I thought he was great, you know, better and better, just in terms of the the communication with the guys, it’s a lot of hard work. These guys have been working together, working on things in practice, you know, as we continue to challenge the group and they took to that, you know.
“We had to take a couple of timeouts there at the end. There were some substitution things. I had to make a really critical decision to use those timeouts to make sure that we were settled so we could have our best group out there for the concepts that we had practiced. And I don’t want to use those timeouts in that situation. But for me, it felt like I needed to settle to settle the group in. Let’s get our best call. And then we ended up executing them.”
On the resilence of Tetairoa McMilan, who was in on an INT but also two TDs
“He’s a really focused player, and he just goes to the next play. High-confidence player who knows he’s going to make that play. And the catch was a little bit away from him, I’ve seen him make that. He’ll be the first one to tell you, I can make that play, you know. And the Cowboys turned that around and, you know, got a big gain off of the interception. But get the guy down and just give us one more chance, you know, see if we can affect them and keep them and keep them out of the end zone.
“But the way that he just responded, the way he bounced back: This is time on task. This is conversation between him and Bryce all throughout this season of just fine tuning the different routes and the landmark were expected to be at how we adjust on things. And that really showed up on two plays that we’ve been working on, that those guys have been talking about: ‘If they play this I want you to respond this way. If they play this one, find space here.’ And that’s the type of chemistry that we have to continue to grow.”
On Panthers being .500 for first time since November 2021
“It’s a group commitment to the process. And the way that we practice, the way that we study, the way that we talk to each other, the type of effort that we ask for — it leads to good results. And there’s gotta be a trust in this process. A belief that it will lead to good things if you just show up and give us everything you have when you walk into these doors. That’s what we’re looking for: progress. ... Being able to come away with a full team win right there was amazing, and it allows me to just double-down on the fact that this process works.”
Carolina Panthers coach Dave Canales gives Carolina Panthers kicker Ryan Fitzgerald a hug after his game winning kick at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., on Sunday, October 12, 2025. KHADEJEH NIKOUYEH Knikouyeh@charlotteobserver.com
Checking in with Ryan Fitzgerald before his game-winner
“Honestly, just the normal course of action for me is I don’t really typically go and check with the kickers as they‘re going out onto the field. I’m kind of just collecting my thoughts about what happened. What’s the scenario? You know, there are a lot of conversations happening. Just want to give him his space to be locked in. And he came through for us in a big way today.”
On the possession right before halftime
“Going into the locker room. We tried to mess that up. We talked to Xavier about the lateral right there, in that situation, it’s just something that’s outside of what we need to do. I think actually, Rico was calling for the ball. So Rico kind of came up to me and was like, ‘Coach, that was on me.’ So I just, like, ‘Guys, don’t make stuff up. Let’s just play our football. Let’s just advance the ball. Get us into a better field goal situation so we can take advantage of the plays that led into it.’
“It was a good way for me to just remind the group: just do your job. It’ll be enough. And if they beat us, they make great plays. George Pickens makes an amazing play. Today, we got to give them credit where credit is due. The defense made it hard on us at the end. And we had a three and out right there right before the touchdown drive, you know. And Dallas’s defense made some adjustments and made it hard for us right there. But we just have to continue to execute the little things over and over.”
Who told Trevor Etienne to get down on that final play?
“Bryce was all over it. We had a timeout somewhere in there. Dallas called timeout. Came over. He was like, you know, ‘OK, I’m telling these guys, first down, get down. This is something we practice. Coach George Lee presents us with different scenarios in our walkthroughs, where we get to hit our two-minute situations and a half in the game, and also four minute situation just like that. We practiced that two weeks ago, getting into a four minute situation where this is a first down, get down type of deal.
“And Trevor came off the field and said, ‘The next time that happens, you guys are gonna have to run off the field and tackle me, because I really would like to score my first touchdown.’ But it was well executed. It was well blocked. He got down. Gave us a chance to run the clock out and then win the game, lock out.”