Panthers beat Saints as time expires. Observations from thrilling victory.

Call it the Chuba Hubbard Drive.

Better yet: Call it the Chuba Hubbard Game.

But the drive is what the Carolina Panthers 20-17 win over the New Orleans Saints on Sunday in the Caesars Superdome will be remembered for.

With the Panthers down 14-10 with just over two minutes left, head coach Dave Canales and offensive play-caller Brad Idzik called the number of their captain on six straight plays, and he accounted for all 68 yards and led them to the promised land and subsequent win. Those six plays: a 29-yard catch, a 4-yard rush, a 34-yard catch to bring it to the 1-yard line — and then three more runs to punch it past the goal line.

The Panthers’ defense ultimately bent and allowed a 55-yard field goal on the ensuing drive to tie the game at 17. But then, with 34 seconds to work with, the Panthers moved the ball down the field — aided by a crucial defensive pass interference penalty — and got into field-goal range.

Kicker Ryan Fitzgerald then knocked in a 54-yard field goal as time expired to deliver the Panthers the much-needed victory.

Carolina now moves to 4-5 on the season and sit atop the NFC South standings. It snapped a three-game losing streak for Carolina. Sunday also marked the first win in the Superdome in quarterback Bryce Young’s career — he was previously 0-3, and 1-5 against the Saints all time. Young’s stats: 17 of 30 for 200 yards; no touchdown passes for the first time in 2026.

Hubbard finished Sunday’s contest with 27 carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns; he also added five catches for 80 yards.

Fitzgerald’s game-winner punctuated a day in which he went 2 for 3. He hit a 55-yarder in the second half, but he missed his first attempt of the game — a 48-yarder.

Here are three other takeaways from Sunday’s contest.

Panthers defense was great, then OK, then good enough

The Panthers’ defense was effective for a second straight week under interim defensive coordinator Todd Wash.

The unit turned the Saints over twice. They forced a key third-quarter turnover on downs, one that saw rookie nose tackle Lee Hunter slice through the offensive line and notch a tackle for a loss. Pat Jones got a sack. Jaelan Phillips got home, too — and had his best game as a Panthers uniform (four tackles, one sack, two QB hits, three TFLs).

The Saints’ final stats: 222 total yards, 49 rushing yards, 5 of 13 on third down (This comes after a week in which the Panthers only gave up 82 rushing yards to the Denver Broncos.)

In fact, the only time the Panthers were vulnerable on Sunday came at the conclusion of the Saints’ first scoring drive of the day — and with star linebacker Devin Lloyd out. After a successful trick play that yielded an 18-yard connection from quarterback Tyler Shough to Jordan Tyson, Lloyd landed on Tyson late. He was called for an unnecessary roughness call, and then while he was pleading his case to a referee, he was ushered to the blue medical tent and was evaluated for a concussion.

The Saints' next four plays: 4-yard Travis Etienne rush, 1-yard Tyson reception, 11-yard Chris Olave catch, 3-yard TD run by Alvin Kamara. It knotted the game at 7-7 with 6:37 left in the third quarter.

Lloyd was cleared by a concussion thereafter.

The Panthers’ defense recovered with Lloyd’s return. But only when they didn’t gift the Saints with penalty after penalty. On the Saints’ only other scoring drive — which by virtue of a Kamara receiving touchdown to put New Orleans up 14-10 with 3:49 left in the fourth quarter — the Panthers were flagged four times (including three times in a row) to set the Saints up first-and-goal on the 1-yard line.

On the Saints’ final drive of the game, down 17-14 late in the fourth quarter, the Carolina defense bent for a game-tying field goal. But ultimately didn’t break.

Legette gets very little playing time

Third-year receiver Xavier Legette was activated off the injured reserve ahead of Sunday’s contest. It was the first time the former first-round pick was available to play since Week 2, when he injured his knee on a 55-yard reception against the Atlanta Falcons.

A splashy return was imminent, right?

Not exactly. The wideout wasn’t targeted on Sunday. In fact, despite jogging out onto the field for one play, he didn’t notch a snap in the first half since that one play was negated by a dead-ball penalty, and thus it doesn’t technically “count.” He finished Sunday with two total snaps, according to Pro Football Focus.

Legette’s activation wasn’t made lightly. The Panthers, after all, can only designate eight players to return off IR during the regular season — and Legette, this week, was the sixth. The team is still hopeful for the return of cornerback Jaycee Horn off IR, and they also are awaiting the potential returns of OLB Thomas Incoom and CB Akayleb Evans. Suffice to say, roster decisions await.

More conflict with the Panthers and officials

There was a week-long uproar about the way officiating impacted Carolina’s loss to the Denver Broncos last week.

In some corners of the internet, there were specific qualms with the way Canales kept his cool — how he moved on to next plays and didn’t respond to perceived officiating blunders with anger.

On Sunday, that changed a bit.

Canales was irate a few times. The first came when the back-judge called center Luke Fortner on a holding, which negated a Chuba Hubbard touchdown run. The second came when, on a third down, receiver Jalen Coker was targeted on a slant route but the pass was broken up with a defensive back draped over him; Canales and offensive coordinator Brad Idzik pleaded for a pass interference.

There were other opportunities to get mad, too. There was a questionable offensive pass interference call on Darren Waller. There was also a facemask call.

The reality is, though, the Panthers’ reputation as one of the most penalized teams in the league precedes them. And many of the penalties they suffered Sunday were deserved. The total on Sunday was another franchise record (broken by a record broken earlier this year): 17 penalties for 152 yards.