Football

QB Andy Dalton has fun leading Panthers to 1st win, knows 'God is in control of everything'

By Kevin Mercer Sep 23, 2024
Carolina Panthers QB Andy Dalton celebrates, Sept. 22, 2024. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Thirty-six-year-old quarterback Andy Dalton was smiling all the way as he proved on Sunday that he still has what it takes to thrive in the NFL.

Dalton led the Carolina Panthers to their first win of the season, a commanding 36-22 road victory against the Las Vegas Raiders. For the game, the “Red Rifle” completed 26 of 37 passes for 319 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions. His performance was the first 300-yard, three-touchdown game of the NFL season.

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Dalton got the start — his first since Week 3 of 2023 — in favor of struggling second-year quarterback Bryce Young, and the three-time Pro Bowler’s veteran presence provided just the spark the Panthers’ offense needed.

After managing only 352 yards and 13 points combined through the season’s first two games, Carolina exploded for 437 yards and 36 points (21 in the first half alone) on Sunday. It all started when Dalton led the Panthers on an opening drive that ended in a 6-yard touchdown pass to running back Chuba Hubbard. It was the first time the team had scored a touchdown on its opening drive since Week 17 of the 2022-23 season.

Then in the second quarter, Dalton tossed two beautiful touchdowns to receivers Diontae Johnson and Adam Thielen. Johnson snagged his 5-yard touchdown over the outstretched arms of two Raiders defenders, while Thielen’s diving 31-yard grab in traffic came less than a minute before halftime.

First-year Panthers head coach Dave Canales described the victory against the Raiders as a joyous end to what had been a heavy week, and Dalton was the perfect guy at the perfect time to help lift the team’s spirits. In fact, “fun” was the theme of Dalton’s postgame press conference.

“I’m normally pretty calm; I’m normally relaxed,” he said. “You know, guys were having fun. I was trying to make sure the guys were having fun because you put in a ton of work for this thing, and for you to get out there, it’s like now you get time to just go and enjoy the work that you put in. And it makes it nice when the day goes like it did today.”

He continued later: “Talk about the team had fun, I probably had the most fun. And that’s the thing, I wasn’t gonna let anybody else have more fun than I was out there. So playing this game, it’s like I said, we put in the work, and when you get an opportunity to be out there on Sundays and get a chance to compete, yeah it’s a ton of fun.”

Dalton could have so much fun — even at the end of a heavy week — because he’s playing not to be accepted by fans or even coaches, but from a place of acceptance by his Father in Heaven.

“People are always watching you, looking to see what you’re doing,” he said as a guest on the Sports Spectrum Podcast in 2018. “Salvation is freely given; it’s by nothing that we’ve done but everything that Jesus has done for us. … I’m not perfect. Nobody’s perfect except Jesus.”

Dalton explained that, growing up in Katy, Texas, his parents both believed in Jesus and took him to church. In third grade after talking to his pastor, Dr. Wisdom, Dalton recognized his need for a Savior and became a follower of Christ.

“I feel very blessed to have the story that I have, that I didn’t have to have the big falling out or the big moment where I was like, ‘I need to turn my life around.’ I feel blessed that my parents raised me the right way and that I was able to make my faith my own early on,” Dalton said on the podcast.

Now throughout his 14 seasons in the NFL, Dalton has sought to use his platform to point to Jesus.

 

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A post shared by JJ Dalton (@jjdalton5)

Dalton and his wife, Jordan, founded the Andy & JJ Dalton Foundation in 2012, a year after Andy was drafted in the second round by the Bengals out of TCU. According to the foundation’s website, it exists to “show God’s love and grace while providing support, resources and experiences to seriously ill and physically challenged children and their families.”

Included in Dalton’s X bio is the Bible verse 1 Peter 5:6, and his profile photo is his initials and a cross.

“[Football] teaches you humility and patience in all different aspects,” Dalton said in a 2014 edition of Sports Spectrum Magazine. “There are times when you are praised and you are the hottest thing going — and then things turn, and people are trying to bring you down. You just have to know that God is in control of everything, and you are playing for Him. He has given you this talent, and so you have to tune some things out and keep the focus on Him.”

With his identity secure forever in Christ, Dalton can move forward as Carolina’s presumptive starter with complete peace. Next up on the Panthers’ schedule is a home game against the 0-2 Bengals (Sunday at 1 p.m. ET), the franchise which Dalton quarterbacked for his first nine NFL seasons and led to five consecutive playoff appearances.

>> Do you know Christ personally? Learn how you can commit your life to Him. <<

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