Team Stats
CAROLINA
- Sunday marked the first home win for the Panthers over the Cowboys in the regular season. Carolina is now 5-9 all-time against Dallas. The Panthers have won six games in a row at home dating back to 2017.
- Carolina recorded six sacks, tied for the most in a game in for the Panthers since a 2016 contest against Arizona (10/30/16, 8 sacks).
- Carolina's defense held the Cowboys to 2-of-11 (18 percent) on third down. Last season, Carolina held San Francisco to the exact same number (2-of-11) on third down in a season-opening win.
- In the first half, the Panthers had 23 plays in opposing territory, while Dallas had none.
- Carolina rushed for 147 yards, the 91st 100-yard rushing game under head coach Ron Rivera. Carolina is 39-13 when rushing over 100 yards and holding an opponent under 100 yards in the Rivera era.
- The Panthers committed nine penalties for 80 yards. Last year, Carolina only had more than six penalties in a game two times.
DALLAS
- The Cowboys scored just eight points on one fourth quarter touchdown. It marked the fewest points for Dallas in an opener since 2010.
- Sunday marked just the fifth loss for Dallas in Week 1 since the 2006 season. The Cowboys entered the game tied for the best winning percentage (.666) on Kickoff Weekend in the NFL.
Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez
Individual Stats
CAROLINA
- Cam Newton scored a rushing touchdown in the second quarter, his 55th career rushing touchdown. Newton has more rushing touchdowns than any quarterback in NFL history, and is tied for the second-most rushing touchdowns of any player, regardless of position, in the NFL since 2011.
- Defensive tackle Kawann Short notched two sacks, his ninth multi-sack game of his career. Short now has 31.5 career sacks, the most of any defensive tackle in franchise history.
- Mario Addison recorded a strip sack in the final minutes of the game. Addison now has 37.5 career sacks, the third-most among active NFL players that went undrafted. Addison's 20.0 sacks since Week 9 of the 2016 season rank third in the NFL.
- Christian McCaffrey lost a fumble inside the five-yard line on Carolina's first drive. It marked his first lost fumble since Week 1 of 2017 at San Francisco. McCaffrey finished with 16 touches (10 rushes 6 receptions) for 95 yards from scrimmage.
- Newton's longest completion went for 19 yards to Greg Olsen. The last time that Newton didn't complete at least one 20-yard pass was the 2016 season opener at Denver.
DALLAS
- The Panthers held Ezekiel Elliott to 69 yards rushing on 15 attempts. The game marked the third-lowest rushing output for Elliott in his career, which includes 26 games over the last three seasons.
Andrew Dye
Extra Point
- Carolina improved to 193-192-1 all-time including the playoffs. It marks the first time that Carolina is over .500 all-time since the 1998 season. The win was also the first under new Panthers owner David Tepper.
