Analysis: Still plenty of reasons to watch the Panthers with hope — just not for 2019
The NFC South is done. For the fourth consecutive year the Panthers find themselves looking up at a different team atop the division, and this time with another month of football still to play.
Although there is an outside shot at a playoff appearance, it looks increasingly likely that Carolina’s season will have the same ending as last year’s.
A chance is a chance, and it’s important to remember that, but in a competitive NFC, the 5-6 Panthers are three games back of the last wild-card team (8-3 Minnesota Vikings).
This season for Carolina was not supposed to feature so many growing pains, and certainly not enough losses that the Saints could clinch the division in November.
Cam Newton said earlier this week at his Thanksgiving Jam charity event that this year was frustrating for him and others because the team was “equipped with everything” except having its starting quarterback healthy.
Although that statement may be to the extreme, there are elements of this team that were built to win this year, including running back Christian McCaffrey in his prime putting together a historic season despite an offensive line that continues to be reshuffled, and the signing of veteran defensive players to short-term deals, like Gerald McCoy and Bruce Irvin.
With five games left, there could be a lot of focus on what could or should have been. But instead, there’s plenty that can be taken from these remaining games, including the performances of the many young Panthers who have improved as the season has gone on. Their progression is a glimpse of what’s to come for this franchise.
With that in mind, here are a few things to keep an eye over the last month of the season that could provide hope for a better 2020:
Will DJ Moore continue to be on the rise?
After entering Week 9 with just one 100-yard receiving game in his career, Moore has put together an impressive stretch over the past four weeks. He has gone over 100 receiving yards in three of those games, finishing with 95 in the other against Atlanta, and scored two touchdowns in New Orleans after entering the game with three career scores.
From Weeks 9-12, Moore had five catches of 25-plus yards (behind only 49ers receiver Chris Godwin for the most over that stretch). His yardage is adding up, and the second-year player is now 95 yards away from becoming the first Panther with 1,000 receiving yards in a season since Greg Olsen in 2016. He also has 31 first-down receptions since Week 5 of 2019 — tied for fifth most among NFL wide receivers. And this was all while playing through getting banged up last week.
What’s Moore doing so well this season?
“He’s really learned how to run the routes the way we run them, he’s learned how to get out of breaks, he’s learned how to run hard through every route,” offensive coordinator Norv Turner said. “He’s obviously a very strong player, he’s got great hands, he can catch some balls that I think other guys would struggle to catch. He’s becoming a complete receiver.”
Seeing Moore continue to improve and progress will be important to watch. Living up to being selected 24th overall in the draft isn’t easy, but if he can continue this production through the end of the season, it will only raise expectations for 2020.
Calm, cool and collected Kyle Allen
No, this is not calling for Allen to be the Panthers’ starter of the future. Not to any extent. Newton is still this team’s unofficial starting quarterback, and we won’t know what future direction that may go in for a bit. But there’s no denying that Allen is coming off his best game. After throwing four interceptions the week prior, he threw none against a good Saints defense, despite being pressured often, and stayed calm despite two 10-point deficits.
Some of his improvements have come down to working on the fundamentals.
“His technique was not good early in the year,” Turner said. He’s worked really hard to improve that technique, understand when he can take his hands off the ball, take one hand off the ball to throw it, when he has to run separate it from the defense and then he’s getting himself some space. He’s worked really hard at that, and it’s shown up in the way he’s playing.”
Allen’s roller-coaster season has been interesting to watch, but his performance in New Orleans showed some growth. Whatever his future may be with the Panthers, the best thing for the Panthers is that they know as well as they possibly can what to expect for him and what his potential may be. Coach Ron Rivera said this week that one of Allen’s strengths is that he doesn’t repeat the same mistake twice. Allen putting that on display through the next five weeks will go a long way in showing what can be expected from him long-term.
Brian Burns’ rookie season comeback
After a strong start to the reason, Burns has cooled down after he injured his wrist punching the ground in frustration following a punt deflection that he was unable to fully block.
Burns had a minor procedure on the hand but has had all of the pins taken out of his wrist this week. Before the procedure, the 16th overall pick in the 2019 draft exploded for 4.5 sacks, 15 tackles and 11 quarterback hits in the first six games of the season, in addition to a fumble return for a touchdown. He had looked like a strong candidate for Defensive Rookie of the Year.
Since then he has had a much more quiet stretch, partly due to the wrist and partly due to Bruce Irvin being healthy after missing the first three games of the year.
The wrist should no longer be a concern for Burns, and he will the opportunity to flash some of his early season dominance. He already took a step in the right direction during the game against the Saints, including recording his first sack since Week 6.
“He really wasn’t focusing on his hand,” Rivera said of Burns against New Orleans. “He was productive, he was active, made a couple mistakes, but again, he did the things that you know he’s capable of, and the nice thing is, I think he’s past the hand.”
The edge rusher has plenty of potential and should be exciting to watch as the Panthers defense tries to take back the NFL sack title before the end of the season.
Will Grier potential sightings?
Will the Panthers play Grier this season? Should the Panthers play Grier this season? The rookie third-round pick has been Allen’s backup since he took over the starting job, and Carolina will likely have a hard time pulling Allen as he’s still learning with every game.
The Panthers have indicated that they want Allen to get as many snaps as possible and have seen Grier improve some in practice, but isn’t there value in seeing what Grier can do in a game now with months of practice under his belt? Grier is the only player the Panthers drafted in 2019 that is still on the roster and hasn’t played a regular-season snap or missed playing time due to injury.
Grier may not make an appearance this year, but after an underwhelming preseason performance, it would be valuable to see if he has grown. It’s definitely worth keeping an eye on down the home stretch.
