CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Stephen Davis got the last laugh against Steve Spurrier and the Washington Redskins.
Davis, who was released by the Redskins in February, scored the go-ahead touchdown against his former team on a three-yard run with 1:09 remaining as the Carolina Panthers continued their uncanny success in close games with a 20-17 victory.
"It was emotional, but I had to keep things in perspective," said Davis, who went over 1,000 yards for the season. "I knew it was an important game for us. I couldn't go out there and do anything foolish."
Carolina (8-2) improved to 7-0 in games decided by six points or less and beat the Redskins for the first time in seven tries. Five of the Panthers' wins have been by three points or less.
"We wanted to win for Stephen," Carolina defensive back Terry Cousin said. "We wanted to stay on track. If you want to be a playoff team, you've got to put wins together."
Patrick Ramsey sparked Washington (4-6) with two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, including a 10-yard strike to Patrick Johnson that gave the Redskins a 17-13 lead with 4:13 left.
But on the ensuing possession, Davis went 25 yards with a swing pass from Jake Delhomme on 4th-and-1 before Steve Smith made a leaping grab between two defenders for a 30-yard gain on the next play. Davis completed the 71-yard drive with runs of four and three yards.
"We find a way to make it interesting," Carolina coach Jon Fox said. "These guys hang tough and we fight and overcome a lot of things. The team has a lot of guts and we were able to pull out another one."
Delhomme completed 20-of-30 passes for 317 yards with no interceptions, his second career 300-yard game. Davis carried 28 times for 92 yards and also caught two passes for 40 yards.
"Stephen is having a wonderful year," Spurrier said. "We all know that. He's an excellent back, we all know that. He's a big factor in Carolina being 8-2."
Ramsey, who led the Redskins to a win over Seattle last week, completed just 16-of-35 passes for 150 yards with an interceptions.
Washington failed to take advantage of two turnovers deep in Carolina territory in the first quarter as Rock Cartwright fumbled at the 1 and John Hall missed a 46-yard field goal. But Carolina's John Kasay missed field goals of 47 and 54 yards, ending his streak of 22 in a row and keeping the Redskins in the game.
After the teams traded field goals in a sluggish first half, Delhomme's one-yard TD run gave the Panthers a 10-3 lead just under five minutes into the third quarter.
The offenses came alive in the fourth quarter as the Redskins tied it on Ramsey's four-yard TD pass to Darnerien McCants 3:03 into the final period. The Panthers took a 13-10 lead on Kasay's 26-yard field with 5:24 remaining.
