He suffered one Sunday, but it wasn't serious.

After being held to 28 yards on his first 10 carries, Williams broke free for a 56-yard touchdown run with 12:49 left in the third quarter, the seventh straight game in which he's found the end zone. However, he left the game after that run and didn't return until nearly 10 minutes into the fourth quarter.

He carried one more time and also caught a pass. Prior to the injury he was well on his way to his seventh 100-yard rushing game of the season.

He finished with 88 yards on 12 carries.

Williams said he was "a little fuzzy" in the head, but didn't quite know when the injury occurred. He said he was fine after the game and will play next week.

"I have no idea what happened," Williams said. "They said I was dinged up, or something of that nature, but I was ready to go. The doctors are going to be cautious. But I did go back in there at the end."

Williams has now scored 12 touchdowns in the past seven games and ran his season total to 14.

--Owner Jerry Richardson, who is awaiting a heart transplant, took in the game from his suite at Bank of America Stadium along with his wife Rosalind. She fretted over him most of the game, making sure he was covered with a blanket.

Richardson didn't address coach John Fox or the players before or after the game, but players said seeing him left them inspired.

"That was great to see him up there," said offensive tackle Jordan Gross. "We didn't know that he was going to be here. The crowd really erupted when they showed him. I think he's doing well. We're trying to do everything on our end to brighten his spirit."

Said Fox: "He's been in our prayers, our football team's and mine too. We are just hoping for a speedy recovery and I did not get a chance to visit with him. I think he probably got in and out pretty fast."

--Defensive tackle Maake Kemoeatu injured his ankle in the second half of Sunday's game and did not return. The extent of the injury is not known, but that can't be good news for the Panthers heading into what's expected to be a physical game against the New York Giants.

Also, early in the fourth quarter right guard Keydrick Vincent went down with a groin injury and did not return. He was replaced by Jeremy Bridges. Vincent had been the only linemen to take every snap this season.

--The Panthers went with a no-huddle offense on their first possession of the game and marched 74 yards in six plays to tie the score at 7-7 and prevent the Broncos from seizing momentum.

Wide receiver Steve Smith was big on the drive, catching three passes for 66 yards, including a 15-yard touchdown. It was Smith's sixth touchdown of the season.

The Panthers went no huddle to counter Denver's four-linebacker look on defense. Although the Panthers hadn't seen that look on tape, Jake Delhomme said the team knew how to combat it.

"We see it against our defense a lot in training camp too," Delhomme said. "I think that's a big plus. We see exotic looks from our defense. You have to go back to basics with some of those things, and I think we did that."

--With 17 seconds left in the first half, the Broncos inexplicably called timeout while facing a second-and-12 at their own 27-yard line.

On the next play safety Charles Godfrey forced the ball out of Tatum Bell's hands and Tyler Brayton recovered. The Panthers ran one play with Jake Delhomme kneeling in the middle of the field to set up John Kasay's 44-yard field goal giving Carolina a 20-10 lead to close out the half.

When asked why he called the timeout, Denver coach Mike Shanahan replied, "Because we've done it before. All of a sudden you get 40 or 50 yards. You've got a couple of timeouts left. You call a timeout and get a couple of slant routes, and you go for the field goal. We thought we'd get outside, and we did. Unfortunately, we didn't hold onto the ball."

--The Panthers' goal on defense was to take Brandon Marshall out of the game and for the most part they succeeded.

He was limited to 48 yards on six catches. His longest reception went for 19 yards.

"We did a good job taking away what they wanted to do," said defensive end Julius Peppers. "The secondary cut down on mistakes and played tighter coverage. When you take Marshall out of the game it's hard for them to get rolling."

--It's amazing how the Panthers come up with the tough interceptions but seem to struggle with the easy ones.

Chris Gamble made an interception off a ball that tipped off six hands before coming to rest in his arms. But Gamble, Charles Godfrey and Charles Johnson all had easy opportunities to pick Jay Cutler but failed to come up with the ball.

"I should have had that one, no excuses," Gamble said.