CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers outside linebacker Thomas Davis often is referred to by his initials -- TD.

But until Sunday’s 30-20 win against Arizona, the 33-year-old Davis never had an NFL touchdown.

And if there hadn’t been a gaffe in the FOX network feed, Davis still wouldn’t have one.

"I don’t feel guilty at all," Davis said on Thursday, his first public comment since the NFL admitted his 46-yard fumble return for a touchdown shouldn’t have stood. "I’m excited to be able to say I scored a touchdown, and it actually counted and they didn’t take it back.

"I had three other ones that they did take back, and some were questionable just like this was a questionable play. At the end of the day, we put points on the board."

The touchdown came on the game’s first series when officials ruled Carolina defensive tackle Star Lotulelei had a strip-sack on quarterback Carson Palmer. Replays showed Palmer clearly attempted a pass, which would have nullified the sack and the touchdown.

But because the FOX feed had been shut down to fix a technical issue, at that moment there was no replay for the replay official upstairs or the control room in New York to review.

So the play stood.

Davis was so convinced it would be overturned that he didn’t even celebrate.

"I didn’t think it was a touchdown, but they viewed it as a touchdown and we put seven points on the board," he said with a smile.

Davis, as he mentioned, is no stranger to having touchdowns called back. In a December 2014 victory against Atlanta, he had a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown nullified by an illegal contact penalty.

The penalty was on Davis.

Carolina middle linebacker Luke Kuechly joked about how tired Davis was after what initially appeared to be a pick-six.

"I was definitely tired," Davis said. "You would hope if they know they’re going to call it back they would stop it and not make you run all the way to the end zone. But that’s the nature of this thing. You don’t know whether it’s going to be good or not, so you’ve got to take it to the end zone.

"Unfortunately, the other three didn’t count, but they counted this one and the rest is history."