Preseason football usually asks fans to squint. This one didn’t. Haynes King blasted through the goal line for a five-yard touchdown with two seconds left, lifting Carolina to a 33-30 win over Arizona in Thursday night’s Hall of Fame Game at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton. )
Arizona had taken the lead on its previous possession, but King got Carolina moving on the final drive and finished it himself with a quarterback run. The Panthers and Cardinals were tied 17-17 at halftime, then traded scores through the second half before Canton got the finish every football-starved fan wanted: a game-winning snap, not a ceremonial kneel-down. )
King’s night was bigger than one highlight. He led the final possession, kept the deciding snap, and turned a preseason opener into an immediate conversation about Carolina’s quarterback room. The result does not settle the depth chart—that is not how one exhibition game works—but it gives the Panthers an unmistakable early camp talking point. )
The setting made it even louder. The game opened the 2026 preseason and paired the teams of soon-to-be Hall of Famers Luke Kuechly and Larry Fitzgerald. Both are scheduled to be enshrined Saturday, August 8, two days after the game. In a stadium built for football history, King supplied a new clip for the Canton highlight reel. )
That is why this one will stick. Fans can dismiss preseason records, vanilla game plans and fourth-quarter backups. They cannot dismiss the picture: two seconds, five yards, a quarterback pulling the ball and Carolina winning the first real NFL game of the new season. The 2026 campaign got its first jolt in Canton. )