Analysis: Panthers changed the narrative at Chargers. A young defense finally got it
Defensive coordinator Phil Snow had a message for the Panthers on Saturday night as they prepared to play the Chargers in Los Angeles.
In the Panthers’ first two games, they were competitive. Despite a 21-0 deficit at halftime in Tampa, Fla., in Week 2, the young Carolina team was able to make things at least interesting before settling for an 0-2 start to the year.
Some of the narrative surrounding the team centered on the Panthers being in games: At least the young team with a rookie NFL head coach did some things right. But Snow said that mentality isn’t enough.
“(Snow was) like, ‘man, we just got to get rid of that ‘we’re this close’ BS and just go out there and do it.’ It’s easy to talk about, ‘aw man, we’re this just close.’ And all that does is make you feel content, feel complacent, like man, we’re right there,” quarterback Teddy Bridgewater said after the game.
And Sunday, at the brand new SoFi Stadium, they showed that the message resonated. This could have easily been a game that they fell short in on the road. But instead, the Panthers were finally able to do enough, clawing their way to a win despite the Chargers having an opportunity at the end to steal it away.
The defense had its best performance of the season and kicker Joey Slye made all five of his short field-goal attempts to lead the Panthers to Matt Rhule’s first win as an NFL head coach with a 21-16 win over the Chargers.
“To put it all together,” Bridgewater said, “it was a special moment.”
The victory ended Carolina’s 10-game losing streak and moved it out of the NFC South cellar, one game ahead of the 0-3 Falcons.
Carolina (1-2) had four turnovers, including cornerback Donte Jackson’s 66-yard interception return — his second pick in two games — and had two sacks. One was a strip-sack by linebacker Brian Burns (after failing to record a sack over the first two weeks of the season) and eight quarterback hits.
Those two turnovers led to a combined 10 points for the Panthers, including the team’s only touchdown of the day. That score only came after a Chargers’ illegal formation penalty on fourth down gave the Panthers a second opportunity in the red zone, which they took advantage of with a screen pass from Bridgewater to Mike Davis that resulted in a 13-yard touchdown.
After Slye’s extra-point attempt was blocked, Jackson’s interception of rookie quarterback Justin Herbert on the following Los Angeles drive gave the Panthers the ball at the Chargers’ 8-yard line and allowed Slye to put three more points on the board before halftime.
If not for that 10-point swing, the Panthers’ red-zone problems likely could have cost the team the game. Carolina went just one of six in the red zone and converted three of 12 third downs. The absence of running back Christian McCaffrey, who is dealing with a high-ankle sprain and missed his first game as a professional, was felt. The Panthers only had 14 first downs. The Chargers had 26.
But overall the Panthers showed improvement from the first two games of the season.
Last week in the Panthers’ loss to the Buccaneers, mistakes held them back. They had nine penalties at Tampa Bay, but just three in L.A. for 30 yards. After turning the ball over four times last week — including three by quarterback Teddy Bridgewater — the offense did not give the ball away once and scored on six of 10 possessions. Starting left tackle Russell Okung was only deemed unavailable hours before the game. But without Okung — Trent Scott and Greg Little rotated at the position — Bridgewater was sacked twice.
Part of the improvement was due to another meeting the players had in the week leading up to the game, during which Bridgewater spoke to the team.
“One of the biggest things was, do we really know each other,” Bridgewater said. “When you think about it, we didn’t have OTAs or anything like that. It was like, man, you get a text message or a phone call, ‘hey, report to Charlotte on this date.’ And you gotta go, it’s full throttle. This week, we really spent some time getting to know each one another and it transitioned to the football field.”
Despite being without defensive tackle Kawann Short for a second straight game due to a foot injury, the Panthers were finally able to get into a rhythm on defense and make the Chargers’ Herbert uncomfortable, although they did allow a season-high 436 total yards.
Burns played a huge role in that, along with two rookies for the Panthers — defensive tackle Derrick Brown and safety Jeremy Chinn.
Brown, coming off a penalty-ridden game last week, had five tackles against the Chargers, including three for loss. He helped make up for Short’s absence in a way he didn’t quite reach last week. Chinn finished the game second on the team in tackles with 12 (Shaq Thompson had 13) and was all over the field, making several big plays in the second half.
“It’s so much easier going out on the field and risking your body, everything, for guys that you actually know and guys that you have a relationship with,” Chinn said. “Taking that step this week, it was big for our team, knowing that you’re not out there playing for yourself, and the guys you’re playing with are not they’re playing for themselves. We’re in here as a team and as a brotherhood.”
The game came down to the final drive with the Panthers up five points and needing a stop. A stellar 39-yard punt by rookie punter Joe Charlton set the Panthers up well and long snapper J.J. Jansen made one of the plays of the day in coverage, getting both feet down just outside the end zone and grabbing the ball to set up the Chargers at the 1-yard line.
Although the Chargers made their way down the field — a Yetur Gross-Matos roughing-the-passer penalty didn’t help matters — the defense came away with a stop after a failed lateral from Chargers wide receiver Keenan Allen to running back Austin Ekeler.
Carolina’s production in the red zone allowed Los Angeles to stay in the game. But the players the Panthers needed to step up, did. And that was enough for a win.
“They fought, they scratched, they clawed and I thought it was a great team win. Not perfect,” Rhule said. “I could find all the things that we didn’t do well, but hey, that might be the good news, that we found a way to win on the road despite things not being perfect.”
This story was originally published September 27, 2020 at 7:10 PM.
