The Carolina Panthers’ three-game winning streak crashed on Sunday as the Buffalo Bills posted a 40-9 victory in Charlotte, North Carolina.
After yielding 131 rushing yards during the winning streak, the Panthers defense was gashed for 245 yards on the ground by the Bills, with running back James Cook going for 216 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries.
After a long day of meeting in the trenches, Carolina defensive end A’Shawn Robinson and Buffalo offensive tackle Dion Dawkins met on the field during the postgame handshakes. But they weren’t shaking hands. The linemen went nose-to-nose until shoves seemed to be heading toward a fight.
Then Derrick Brown pulled his Carolina teammate away from the skirmish, despite Robinson’s protests.
Robinson is listed on the Panthers’ roster as standing 6-foot-3 and weighing 320 pounds. But Brown, Carolina’s other defensive end, is just as big at 6-foot-5 and 320 pounds.
“No man’s going to sit there and just take getting an ass-whipping good,” Brown said. “It is what it is on that end, right? Just got to be able to limit that. To avert that, play good ball.”
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Robinson was a consensus All-American at Alabama in 2015. Brown was a unanimous All-American at Auburn in 2019.
On Sunday, the Panthers played without another former Alabama All-American, quarterback Bryce Young. During Carolina’s 13-6 victory over the New York Jets on Oct. 26, Young sustained an ankle injury that prevented him from playing against Buffalo.
Playing in Young’s place, Andy Dalton completed 16-of-24 passes for 175 yards with no touchdowns and one interception in the 169th regular-season start of his career.
At 4-4, the Panthers play the Green Bay Packers at noon CST Sunday at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
“You go back to work,” Brown said. “That’s all you can do. If you’re a man, you’ll show up and you’ll make it better. If not, then you’ll fall and succumb to this. …
“Coach breaks the season into four quarters, and we just finished our second four games, so now, I mean, back to the drawing board. We know what we do well. We know what we do good. Now we just got to go out and execute it at a high level once again.”
Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins (73) and Carolina Panthers defensive end A’Shawn Robinson exchange words after an NFL game on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
Buffalo Bills offensive tackle Dion Dawkins (73) and Carolina Panthers defensive end A’Shawn Robinson exchange words after an NFL game on Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025, at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.(AP Photo/Erik Verduzco)
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