At last.

To borrow a phrase from one of Andy Griffith’s most memorable comedy routines, “what it was was football.”

And the Carolina Panthers, after starting the 2024-25 season with two of the worst losses the team has ever had, showed what they could do and walloped the Las Vegas Raiders 36-22 in their first win in nearly a year.

The fact that the game was on the road added a little oomph to it all as they silenced the crowd quickly and often in the gigantic two-billion-dollar Allegiant Stadium after a first-quarter opening touchdown, a six-yard Andy Dalton toss to Chuba Hubbard that marked the first time Carolina had led in a game since last December.

Last week rookie Coach Dave Canales announced he was benching starter Bryce Young and giving the reins to the 36-year-old Dalton after the team’s miserable two-loss start to the new football year.

And Dalton, nicknamed “the red rifle” (because of his flaming red hair, obviously) as a Texas Christian University Horned Frog and a Cincinnati Bengals play-caller his first 11 years in the NFL, proved quickly that it was a wise decision to put him behind the center.

The Panthers, incidentally, will be playing the Bengals this coming Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.

But back to the Raiders game.

The Panthers never looked back after that opening touchdown. Dalton ended up throwing for 319 yards, completing three touchdown passes and going in the books as the only quarterback in the NFL this past weekend to combine those statistics in a single game.

In fact, the Panthers were the only NFC South team to win on Sunday.

It will be hard to predict what happens from here on out, but the Carolina squad’s day in the limelight showed that, when they really give it their best effort, the Panthers are a pretty good team.

The defense was hitting on all cylinders, holding the 1-2 Raiders to only 55 yards rushing, sacked their quarterback three times and picked off a Gardner Minshew pass.

“Everybody had a ton of fun,” Dalton told reporters after the game.

As did the handful of Panther fans in the Vegas stadium (including Dalton’s parents and wife) and a whole bunch of hometown stalwarts watching the game on CBS, after most of the pregame show announcers had picked the Raiders to win.

But Sunday’s winners were decked out in their blue, black and white uniforms, including receiver Diontae Johnson, who racked up 122 yards and a touchdown and running back Chuba Hubbard, who tallied 114 yards on 21 carries, caught a touchdown pass and became the Panthers’ seventh all-time rusher.

Adam Thielen, one of the team’s best-ever receivers, crossed the goal line once Sunday but had to be taken off the field with a hamstring injury.

Another touchdown came from running back Miles Sanders.

“This game shows the potential of what we can be,” Dalton said after the game, his fourth win against the Raiders in his football career.

“The whole group in general showed up ready,” Canales said after the game.

And all Panther fans are ready to see what comes next.