CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On the day the NFL played in Europe, two former Amsterdam Admirals teammates put on a quarterbacking clinic stateside.

Kurt Warner put up the better numbers, but Jake Delhomme engineered the comeback that kept the Carolina Panthers unbeaten at home and atop the NFC South. Delhomme threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns, including a go-ahead 65-yard strike to Steve Smith, and the Panthers held off the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 today.

The Panthers (6-2) rallied from a 17-3 third-quarter deficit despite Warner's big day. He threw for 381 yards — by far the most given up by Carolina this season — and two touchdowns to Anquan Boldin. But the Cardinals (4-3) continued their road woes in part thanks to a botched fake field goal and a missed extra point.

Smith caught five passes for 117 yards for Carolina and DeAngelo Williams rushed for 108 yards and a TD as the Panthers improved to 5-0 at home in a game that featured a second-half shootout led by two gunslinging quarterbacks.

Warner and Delhomme faced each other for the first time since their humbling beginnings in now-defunct NFL Europe. Warner earned the starting job in Amsterdam ahead of Delhomme in 1998, a year before he became a rags-to-riches sensation in winning NFL and Super Bowl MVP honors and leading St. Louis to the Super Bowl title.

Delhomme's story took longer to develop. But after years mired on the bench in New Orleans, he signed with Carolina and led the Panthers to a Super Bowl loss in the 2003 season.

Since then, they've combined for four Pro Bowl appearances and two comebacks from injuries to become the leaders of division leaders looking to end playoff droughts.

Warner and the Cardinals appeared in control early before Carolina got back in it by scoring two touchdowns in 44 seconds, aided by Edgerrin James' lost fumble.

Then Warner led the Cardinals on another touchdown drive, firing a bullet to Boldin — in his first game following surgery to repair facial fractures — for a 2-yard score. But Dirk Johnson botched the hold on the extra point, leaving Arizona with a 23-17 lead late in the third quarter.

Then it was Delhomme's turn. He found Smith, who broke two tackles, tiptoed the sideline and raced 65 yards for a touchdown that withstood Arizona's challenge that Smith stepped out of bounds.

Warner's lone interception, a tipped pass that Jon Beason grabbed near the goal line early in the fourth quarter, led to John Kasay's 50-yard field goal that put Carolina ahead 27-23.

Williams' 15-yard run on third-and-13 with under 2 minutes left iced it for Carolina, which enters its bye week alone atop the NFC South.

Early on, it looked like Carolina was doomed, with the team's stout secondary struggling to contain Larry Fitzgerald, who had seven catches for 115 yards.

The defense aided Arizona when linebacker Karlos Dansby hit Delhomme, forced a fumble and recovered the ball at the Carolina 5. On the next play, Warner found Boldin for a 10-0 lead early in the second quarter.

But later Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt decided to fake a 39-yard field goal on fourth-and-14. Johnson found Jerame Tuman, but he was stopped by Charles Godfrey four yards shy of the first down.

Rookie Tim Hightower's 2-yard run on Arizona's first possession of the second half made it 17-3.