Reeder's Take

   Just spoke to OT Jordan Gross who said he actually broke his fibula and tibia in his right leg, not his ankle as coach John Fox has previously told the media. Gross said he should be ready to begin working in about three months and will be ready for minicamp next season.

   Gross had surgery just hours after Carolina’s win over the Atlanta Falcons and doctors inserted rods, screws and plates in his leg to hold the bone together.

   Gross said it was the “perfect break” because there was no ligament or cartilage damage.

   “Once I heal up they said I will be stronger than before because I will have titanium in there,” Gross joked.

   “It was a run play to the inside and I was blocking (Falcons defensive end John) Abraham and he did an inside rip move and I was (blocking) him down and somebody hit my leg coming the other way and something had to give,” Gross said.

   Gross said he knew right away the injury was bad.

   “Everyone hears it pop and I said, ‘Oh, don’t panic,’ Then I rolled out and below my calf down was pointing to the right,” Gross said. “I’m not a doctor but I figure that wasn’t good.”

   DE Charles Johnson will miss at least another week with a strained pectoral muscle.

   Johnson said Monday he will not play Sunday against the New York Jets, but hopes to be back for the following week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was injured in Caorlina’s Nov. 15 win over the Atlanta Falcons.

   “I’m going to try to make into next week’s game (against Tampa Bay) and sit out the Jets game,” Johnson said.

   He said it’s frustrating, but “you don’t want to jump out there and hurt yourself even worse.”

   He said he injured it while trying to make a tackle.

   There was a key moment in the second half of the game where, on a third-and-3 at the Miami 24, the Panthers were trying to run the hurry-up offense and the officials wouldn’t let Jake Delhomme snap the ball until the Dolphins finished substituting.

   If the Panthers had been allowed to snap the ball Delhomme could have simply spiked – or, better yet, ran a free play – and got an automatic first down for the Dolphins having too many players on the field since at least three guys were running off late.

   “That would have been an option, but it wasn’t because we couldn’t snap the ball,” Fox said.

   Fox admitted that was a mistake on the official’s part.

   “Technically we didn’t substitute, we just no-huddled. They got out of there once somebody yelled at them on our team. But technically they’re not supposed to do that,” Fox said. “You’re supposed to give the defense an opportunity to sub if you sub.”

   As it was, Delhomme fired down the field a few seconds later and was intercepted.

   The Carolina Panthers reported two injuries from Thursday night’s game.

   Coach John Fox said LB Landon Johnson injured his knee, but will not need surgery. Also, LB Na’il Diggs injured his ribs. Diggs missed a game earlier this year against Dallas with a rib injury, but Fox said while this rib injury is similar it’s in a different area.

   Fox also said FB Brad Hoover, FS Charles Godfrey and DE Charles Johnson might have a chance to play against the New York Jets on Nov. 29. All three sat out vs. Miami.

   Can you imagine hitting someone with your car and then getting out and realizing the guy you hit is Carolina Panthers receiver Steve Smith – while he was on the way to a nationally televised football game?
   Not a scenario I’d want to be in.
   But that’s what happened Thursday night when Smith was driving along Colony Drive in Charlotte listening to Christian rap music in a new Maserati he’d bought just six weeks ago. Another car allegedly sideswiped Smith, causing damage up and down the driver’s side.
   “I was pulling out of the hotel coming down the road and just kind of cruising,” Smith said. “I’m not lying, I wasn’t speeding. I was just kind of cruising. I had an hour to be (to the stadium) so I was just kind of cruising. Then a guy comes over and decides to become one with me in the lane and sideswipes me and basically (there was damage) from the front end to back on the driver’s side.”
   Smith said he had to forcefully push the door open to get out.
   “I said, ‘Man, you’ve got to be freaking kidding me,’” Smith said. “He kind of looked at me and was like, ‘You want to call the cops.’ And I was like, ‘Yeah.’ So we exchanged information and the cops came. We were in a predominantly good area so they were there in three minutes. Back home (in Los Angeles) they never came that quick in my neighborhood. So we exchanged information and he said, ‘I was in a hurry to get to the game.’”
   At that point, Smith gave the guy a look like, “Uh, no kidding.”
   “I was thankful nothing bad happened,” Smith said. “But I feel bad for his insurance (company). It was an accident. Things happen.”

   Videos from the post-game locker room are up. We have Steve Smith, DeAngelo Williams and Jake Delhomme tuned up and ready to go.

   They’re at the bottom of this page.

   CHARLOTTE – Moving the ball doesn’t seem to be a problem for the Carolina Panthers.

   Scoring, well, that’s another issue.

   Not unlike the Buffalo game four weeks ago, the Panthers put up big yardage numbers (385) and had plenty of first downs (22) but couldn’t find the end zone and lost a crucial game to the Miami Dolphins 24-17 in their first appearance ever on Thursday night.

   Although the Panthers managed a fourth quarter touchdown by Steve Smith, it was missed opportunities in the red zone that proved fateful in this battle of 2008 division winners.

   Jake Delhomme was intercepted once in Miami territory and sacked twice in the red zone forcing the Panthers to settle for field goals.

   Dolphins running back Ricky Williams, however, had no problem finding paydirt, scoring three touchdowns, including a 46-yard scoring burst to seal the game with 3:55 left. Williams finished 138 total yards from scrimmage and proved more than capable of handling the full-time starting role he inherited earlier this week when Ronnie Brown was lost for the season.

   At 4-6, the Panthers aren’t mathematically eliminated from the playoffs, but with a brutal closing stretch that includes games against New England (6-3), Minnesota (8-1), New York Giants (5-4) and New Orleans (9-0), their chances of reaching the playoffs in back-to-back seasons for the first time ever don’t look good.

   The Panthers moved the ball on their first drive of the game, but stalled at the Miami 7 and settled 29-yard field goal by John Kasay.

   The Dolphins struggled on their first three possessions, but Williams began to exert himself in the second quarter.

   With Carolina struggling to get off the field on third down, Williams caught a pass over the middle on third-and-9 and maneuvered his way into the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown reception.

   After Carolina’s next drive ended with Miami’s third first-half sack of Delhomme, the Dolphins took advantage of a great field position and made it 14-3 as Williams scored a 1-yard touchdown run from the Wildcat formation, diving and stretching the ball over the goal line with 3:57 left in the first half.

   The Panthers repeatedly tried to go deep to Smith, but Delhomme couldn’t hook up with him. He finished the first half 7 of 17 for 64 yards.

   Carolina looked like they were going to score on their first drive of the second half, but on a third-and-4, Delhomme mysteriously didn’t snap the ball while several Dolphins were running off the field, a move that would have given the team an automatic first down. There seemed to be some confusion on the play and he wound up throwing an interception over middle, ending the scoring threat. It was his first pick in the last four games.

   Carolina threatened again in the fourth quarter, but once again Delhomme was sacked in the red zone and the Panthers were forced to settle for another field goal, cutting the lead to 14-6.

   But the Dolphins put together a nice drive to answer with a field goal of their own with 7:39 left, making it a two-possession game again.

   Trailing by 11 with 7:33 left, the Panthers used the hurry-up to move quickly down the field and Delhomme connected on a 27-yard touchdown pass to Steve Smith, who beat rookie cornerback Vontae Davis, making a terrific leaping catch in the end zone. Delhomme audibled to a run on the two-point conversion and DeAngelo Williams found the end zone to cut the lead to 17-14.

   But an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Keydrick Vincent on the touchdown pass cost the Panthers 15 yards on the ensuing kickoff, allowing the Dolphins to start at their own 40.

   From there, Chad Henne completed a huge 15-yard completion on third-and-11 to Davone Bess and on the next play Williams put the game away by scampering 46 yards for a touchdown to make it 24-14 with 3:55 left in the game.

   The Panthers added a late field goal by Kasay, but their final desperation drive ended when Delhomme’s heave into the end zone was batted down.

   Panthers RB DeAngelo Williams has 119 yards but the Panthers have only three points to show for their effort.

   The Dolphins finally have their offense up and running and have taken a 7-3 lead on a 14-yard touchdown reception by Ricky Williams. Williams later added a 1-yard touchdown run, diving and extending the ball over the goal line to make it 14-3.

   Miami has sacked Jake Delhomme three times.

   Delhomme has tried to throw to Steve Smith deep twice, but hasn’t hooked up. Delhomme is just 7 of 17 for 64 yards in the first half and has been sacked three times.

   The Panthers are dominating the game on the ground and lead 3-0 on a 29-yard field goal by John Kasay. The Panthers have 55 yards rushing on 10 carries, while the Dolphins have just 7 yards rushing on three carries. Carolina has six first downs to Miami’s 2.

   The Dolphins haven’t used their Wildcat offense tonight.