Reeder's Take

   According to the officials, there is nothing illegal about blocking your man into the punt returner, therefore the Panthers should have been — and were — awarded the football when the ball hit Byron Westbrook in the leg and Dante Wesley recovered.

   That turned out to be a huge play in the game as the Panthers scored the winning touchdown two plays later on an 8-yard touchdown run by Jonathan Stewart.

   Here is what referee Walt Coleman said of the play: “What happened was the two guys were blocking each other. The Washington guy got blocked into his own man so there was no interference. All we had to do was figure out who touched it first. If the Washington player is stationary and standing there and not trying to block, then he can’t do that. If they are both trying to block then he can knock him into him. Because they were both engaged then that’s why there wasn’t a foul or anything wrong with the play. If the Washington player is stationary and just standing there and the Carolina player had come down there and had knocked him, then it would have been totally different.”

   Wesley said the Panthers are taught to do that.

   ”Quinton Teal made a great play pushing his man into the ball,” Wesley said. “It’s what we’re taught to do. I was fortunate enough to come up with the ball and that was a big play for us.”

   After recovering the fumble, the Panthers scored the game-winning touchdown two plays later.

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