Grading the Carolina Panthers in their ugly loss to the Atlanta Falcons
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Falcons at Panthers
Expanded coverage of Carolina’s Week 11 loss to Atlanta
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Are the Atlanta Falcons suddenly good, or are the Carolina Panthers finally showing their true identity?
A week after shocking the NFC South-leading New Orleans Saints in the Superdome, the Falcons blew out the Panthers 29-3 on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium. Here is this week’s report card:
Passing offense
F: It’s fair to ask how much of what happened Sunday was Kyle Allen’s fault. The Panthers’ pass protection was atrocious (five sacks allowed) and the one good pass Allen threw all day was dropped by Reggie Bonnafon. Was everything wrong with the offense Allen’s doing? No. But most of it was.
Allen, making his eighth start this season, had by far the worst performance of his professional career and looked more like the quarterback who lost his job at Texas A&M and the University of Houston than the one who nearly led a game-tying drive in the snow at Green Bay. He threw three interceptions in the first half and nearly a fourth on his first attempt of the third quarter. It appeared he was starting to find a rhythm shortly before halftime by leading Carolina on a promising 10-play, 80-yard drive, but capped it with an interception in the end zone, receiving a chorus of boos from the crowd at Bank of America Stadium as Carolina walked to the locker room.
Allen’s day: 31 of 50, 325 yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions.
Rushing offense
B-minus: Christian McCaffrey continued to grind one chunk at a time. He has gone two weeks without a long touchdown run, but still rushed for 70 yards on 14 Sunday to cross the 1,000-yard mark for the season. It was by no means a great game for McCaffrey — who, like Allen, was working with at a deficit thanks to subpar offensive line — but he was easily the most effective offensive player.
Passing defense
D-plus: Luke Kuechley may be one of the NFL’s best linebackers, but he’s no cornerback. And in one-on-one coverage against Julio Jones — one of the NFL’s best wide receivers — he was no match. On the Falcons’ final drive of the first half, Matt Ryan was able to stand in the pocket while being roughed by Mario Addison to deliver a high-arching pass to Jones streaking up the middle of the field, hitting him in stride for a gain of 48 yards (47 of those through the air). That set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Qadree Ollison on the next play to make the score 20-0, and the rout was on.
Getting cornerback Donte Jackson back wasn’t much of a boon for a Carolina secondary that continues to get torched; he was beat on Ryan’s touchdown pass to Calvin Ridley, and again in the fourth quarter on the same matchup for 36 yards.
Ryan’s day: 21 of 31 for 311 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.
Rushing defense
A: Without Devonta Freeman, the Falcons were going to struggle to run the ball effectively against the Panthers — no matter how poor their rush defense is. Carolina limited Atlanta to 55 yards on 25 carries. Ollison had the lone rushing score.
Special teams
D: Giving up a punt return for a touchdown isn’t going to help the grade here. The Falcons got 3 points on their first drive, but that was about the only offense either team could muster in the opening quarter. The only highlight was Atlanta’s Kenjon Barner sidestepping an out-of-control DeAndrew White and weaving his way for a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown with 0:58 left in the first to make the score 10-0.
Kicker Joey Slye made a who-gives-a-hoot 31-yard field goal with 13:00 remaining in the fourth quarter to avoid a shutout and cut the deficit to 26-3.
Coaching
D: The Panthers were 3 of 5 on fourth down and were forced to go for it so often (thrice in the first half) because of the hole they dug themselves. It was the most fourth-down attempts for the Panthers since 2001, when they went for it seven times. Yes, they lost that game, too.
This story was originally published November 17, 2019 at 4:07 PM.
