RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesIt takes something special to turn what is usually the most boring NFL game of the year—preseason or not—into an instant classic. Well, that's just what the Carolina Panthers and the Arizona Cardinals did on Thursday night.
Instead of being subjected to the usual vanilla scheming and runs consisting of three yards and a cloud of dust, fans were treated to an old-fashioned shootout between rookie quarterbacks Haynes King and Carson Beck. The back-and-forth affair would end in a last-second dive for a touchdown by King to secure a 33-30 win for Carolina.
In doing so, the Panthers and Cards made Hall of Fame Game history—as the second-highest scoring Hall of Fame Game ever. This was also the only time both teams scored 30 or more points.
Cool stat: The #Panthers - #Cardinals final score (33-30) marked the second-highest combined score (63 points) in Hall of Fame Game history. The highest? 1964, when the Baltimore Colts defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 48-17 (65). https://t.co/j7TRsrPIzG
— Alex Zietlow (@alexzietlow05) August 7, 2026 While Beck was clearly the best player on the field, the Panthers have to be giddy about what they saw from King —a rookie out of Georgia Tech who received no hype in the run-up to the 2026 NFL Draft. Projected to be a seventh-round pick, King actually wound up going undrafted—often a death sentence for the careers of any quarterback hoping to last a long time at this level.
King finished having completed 21 of his 34 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for 39 yards, and that game-winning score, on three attempts.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers, Cardinals make history in an all-time Hall of Fame Game
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