Challenges accepted: Panthers perfecting the art of taking away opponents’ strengths
A week earlier, the Carolina Panthers hung 386 yards on the NFL’s No. 1 defense. Sunday, they held the league’s top-ranked offense 166 yards below its season average.
With their 42-28 victory on Sunday over Tampa Bay (3-5), the Panthers (6-2) sent a message to the rest of the league — “We know what you do well, and you’re going to have to find another way.”
“It’s a challenge. It really is,” coach Ron Rivera said. “When you look back to last week, you talk about the No. 1 defense and their ability to get after the passer, and the way our guys anchored down and held up. Then today, coming up against a very dynamic and explosive offense and being able to keep them in front of us, it speaks well to the fact that our guys accepted the challenge.”
The Buccaneers came into Sunday’s game averaging a league-leading 371 passing yards, most coming by way of the deep ball. Quarterbacks Ryan Fitzpatrick and Jameis Winston rank first and second in the NFL, respectively, in average intended air yards and average completed air yards — NFL Next Gen stats.
For the football traditionalists out there, this essentially means Tampa Bay wants to put some air under the ball before it reaches a receiver — and with deep ball threats like Mike Evans, Desean Jackson and Chris Godwin running routes, it’s not a bad game plan.
Except when it doesn’t work.
Panthers cornerbacks James Bradberry and Donte Jackson matched up with Evans and Jackson, holding them to 1 catch for 16 yards on 10 targets, and 2 catches for 32 yards on 4 targets, respectively. Jackson and Godwin each had a reception for 20 or more yards, but the Bucs’ longest passing plays — and 31-yard catch by O.J. Howard and a 30-yard touchdown by Adam Humphries — featured a combined 31 yards gained after the catch.
All according to Carolina’s plan.
“Oh, we accepted the challenge. We can’t cancel the game — we welcome that challenge,” Panthers safety Mike Adams said. “We were happy that they were No. 1, because as as secondary, that’s what we want. We took care of the deep ball. … We controlled that. I don’t want to take anything away from what they did because they played a heck of a game, but we minimized that and we got the dub.”
One reason the deep ball wasn’t there for Tampa Bay? Fitzpatrick didn’t have time to throw.
Defensive end Mario Addison collected a career-high three sacks and counterpart Julius Peppers deflected three passes. When Fitzpatrick did have time to throw, the Panthers’ pressured him into two interceptions — although they were sandwiched around a glimpse of the “FitzMagic” he’s become famous for.
“I feel like at times, we did a tremendous job at going out and competing and really getting the job done,” linebacker Thomas Davis said, “but we had a big lapse in that third quarter that we can’t allow to happen.”
His team trailing 35-7 in the second quarter, Fitzpatrick led the Bucs to 21 unanswered points, finishing 24-of-40 for 243 yards and four touchdowns. The 14-year veteran abandoned the deep ball, opting for quick passes to Humphries, who caught all eight of his targets for 82 yards and two scores. You could say the Panthers struggled against the intermediate passing game or point to the fact that they allowed a tight end to score for the fourth straight week.
But success isn’t that black and white.
Earlier in the week, several members of the secondary revealed how they defined success. Bradberry and Reid said turnovers — Carolina forced two interceptions. Adams said winning — Carolina finished the game with more points than Tampa Bay, for those keeping score at home — and he’s not apologetic for anything the team does that results in a victory.
“One thing I’m not going to do, I’m not going to feel sorry for winning. I’m not going to feel sorry because they put up 21 (unanswered) points late,” Adams said. “We won. There’s not going to be an asterisk by this saying, ‘oh, they scored 21 points unanswered.’ No, it’s going to be a W and I’m going into Thursday looking for another win. So I’m going to just move on.
“That was the No. 1 offense, I don’t want to take nothing away from them, but I don’t want to take anything away from us either. At the end of the day, we won.”