A problem against the Lions, Panthers’ missed tackles can’t continue against Seahawks

“We lost the football game yesterday, but in no way, shape or form are we defeated.”

Carolina Panthers coach Eric Washington’s first words to the media Monday hinted at a sliver of optimism dwelling within the first-year defensive coordinator. As if he took something from Sunday’s disappointing 20-19 loss to the Detroit Lions that affected a bit of confidence.

Washington admitted there were a few things his defense needed to clean up before hosting Seattle (5-5) this weekend. But sure enough, he highlighted Carolina’s ability to stop plays at or before the line of scrimmage as a positive moving forward.

“When you produce 11 negative plays, primarily against the run, there’s a lot to be excited about. Eleven plays,” he said. “And just a side note, we had 11 third down and 7-plus yards situations, which speaks for the quality of what we’re doing on first down. A lot of that was pertaining to the run. We had three explosive runs, a couple on the first drive where we had gap-control issues, some things with our overlap redundancies in terms of our backside pursuit. A good back is going to find those things and get out.

“I think we’re real close to exactly what we need to do in the run game to support what we want to do in terms of winning the football game. We just got to make sure those three explosive plays, we take those things out.”

Washington has a point. The Panthers were excellent on third down Sunday, allowing four conversions in 12 tries. They also kept the ball at or behind the line of scrimmage on 17 percent of the Lions’ offensive plays.

Carolina forced Detroit into a third-and-long (defined here as 7 or more yards to gain) in all 10 of its offensive drives, excluding the final drive of the game. However, this production wasn’t enough to mask the common theme amongst Detroit’s four scoring drives — missed tackles.

It began on Detroit’s opening drive. Thomas Davis and Mario Addison couldn’t bring down Kerryon Johnson for what could’ve been a 4-yard loss, Kawaan Short missed him 2 yards later and Julius Peppers slowed him down at the line of scrimmage, although Johnson still rumbled 2 more yards for the first down.

Johnson spun away from Shaq Thompson at the line of scrimmage on the next play, gaining 3 more yards after contact.

Carolina missed nine total tackles on the drive, which ended in an 8-yard Johnson touchdown run. Five of those misses happened at or before the line of scrimmage; three of them led to a Detroit first down.

The Panthers missed 14 tackle opportunities on Detroit’s four scoring drives, resulting in eight first downs. Four of their missed tackles would have forced the Lions into a third-and-long scenario.

These issue can’t exist in a critical game this weekend against the Seahawks — the NFL’s best rushing offense and a contender for one of the NFC’s two Wild Card slots. According to Pro Football Focus, Seattle running back Chris Carson was fourth in the league from Week 1 to Week 11 in average yards after contact at 3.51 yards.

Washington called Seattle a “determined rush offense that sets the tone for what they want to do,” and controlling that tone is a crucial goal for Carolina this week.

Seattle averaged 158 rushing yards in its five wins. That number drops to 82 rushing yards per game in four of its five losses, excluding a 273-yard effort against the Los Angeles Rams. The Seahawks have controlled the ball for an average of 33 minutes in their five wins and 27 minutes in their five losses.

Carolina (6-4) can capture a much-needed win at home if it eliminates the “soft tackles,” as head coach Ron Rivera calls them, but that’s easier said than done for a reeling team on a two-game losing streak.

“You don’t want to lose, it’s hard but it takes a good team to battle back and stay together, motivate each other,” Short said after Sunday’s game. “We’ve got to come out this week and do what we need to do - capitalize on the mistakes, do whatever the coaches ask us to and being positive about it.”

This story was originally published November 20, 2018 at 5:55 PM.