CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina was down, but not out.
Jake Delhomme threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns, including a go-ahead 65-yard score to Steve Smith as the Panthers (6-2) rallied from a 17-3 deficit to take over the top spot in the NFC South with a 27-23 victory over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday.
The Panthers (6-2) won despite Kurt Warner’s 381 yards passing — by far the most given up by Carolina this season — and two touchdowns to Anquan Boldin.
The Cardinals (4-3) continued their road woes in part because of a botched fake field goal, a missed extra point, key turnovers and sloppy tackling.
“We did a lot of good things,” Warner said. “It’s a good football team, but bottom line, we made too many mistakes.”
Smith caught five passes for 117 yards and DeAngelo Williams rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown. The Panthers improved to 5-0 at home in a game that featured a second-half shootout led by two gunslinging quarterbacks.
“It was just an offensive explosion on both sides,” Williams said.
Carolina got back in it by scoring two touchdowns in 44 seconds in the third quarter, aided by Edgerrin James’ lost fumble.
On the next possession, Warner fired a bullet to Boldin — in his first game following surgery to repair facial fractures — for a 2-yard score. But Dirk Johnson botched the hold on the extra point, leaving Arizona with a 23-17 lead late in the third quarter.
Then Delhomme upstaged Warner. He found Smith, who broke two tackles, tiptoed the sideline and raced 65 yards for a touchdown that withstood Arizona’s challenge that Smith stepped out of bounds.
“That is a typical Steve play,” Delhomme said. “Instead of his heel touching, it stayed up.”
Warner’s lone interception, a tipped pass that Jon Beason grabbed near the goal line early in the fourth quarter, led to John Kasay’s 50-yard field goal for the final margin.
It was payoff in a day of frustration for Beason and the Panthers, who entered as the NFL’s second-rated pass defense.
Warner not only completed 35-of-49 passes, he made Carolina’s early blitzing moot, thanks to his quick release. Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald caught seven passes for 115 yards.
Williams’ 15-yard run on third-and-13 with under two minutes left iced it for Carolina, which overcame Delhomme’s lost fumble and Warner spreading the ball to eight receivers.
“It’s hard for me to watch our defense play because we’re going over stuff, looking at pictures, but I caught myself watching him today,” Delhomme said of Warner. “I’m proud of him.”
