2. Ealy Finally Emerges

 

 

 

 

The most notable name missing from the sack party was defensive end Kony Ealy, who remains sackless in 2016.

Because of his slow start and a late-week missed practice due to an “illness,” it wasn’t all that surprising to see Ealy replaced in the starting lineup by Wes Horton. But it wasn’t necessarily a benching.

“One of the things we saw from the evaluation that we did a week ago was he is better from the left,” Rivera said. “We have Charles Johnson who is playing great on the left as well, so we rotated those guys a little bit more than we do in place of each other.”

Ealy went through three quarters without showing up on the stat sheet, but he finally broke through in the fourth.

Early in the quarter, the third-year pro drew an illegal hands to the face flag that helped turn a 2nd-and-19 into a 2nd-and-44. Then, with the Cardinals within 10 and in Carolina territory, Ealy tipped and picked a Palmer pass that sealed the win.

“If they need me to go out there and punt — whatever I need to do to help the team,” Ealy said. “It don’t matter all about sacks. Sacks are great, pressures are great, me playing on the left side is great. But whatever we need to win, that’s the most important thing and everything else will take care of itself.”