Analysis: Panthers weren’t supposed to look this good. Then came Teddy Bridgewater ...
When running back Christian McCaffrey went out with a high ankle sprain three weeks ago, there were plenty of questions about how the Panthers’ offense would perform without him. Surely it would be less exciting, but who would step up and what would it look like?
Against the Falcons, the Panthers notched the first NFC South victory of Matt Rhule’s coaching career. But, more specifically, the offense continued to prove that without McCaffrey, this group can set records and be exciting, even if it was against a struggling Atlanta defense.
Panthers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had one of his best games yet, going 27 of 37 (73% completion rate) for 313 yards and 2 touchdowns. He has completed at least 70% of his passes in four of five games this season. No Panthers quarterback has ever had more than five such games in a season (Cam Newton, 2018).
Despite a less successful second half, the Panthers were able to put together a 14-play, 7:39 drive — ending with a 22-yard Joey Slye field goal — after a game-changing interception by safety Juston Burris in the end zone, to put away the Falcons. Carolina won, 23-16, beating the Falcons in Atlanta for the first time since 2014.
While sustaining injuries to three of Carolina’s defensive starters — defensive end Brian Burns, cornerback Donte Jackson and defensive tackle Kawann Short — the Panthers improved to 3-2 and moved into a tie with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for first place in the NFC South. (The 2-2 Saints play the Chargers on Monday night.)
“Coach (Matt Rhule) mentioned that (Falcons head coach) Dan Quinn said something to him in the pregame about ‘let’s battle’ and coach came in and told us, ‘Hey, we know what kind of game it was going to be.’ We knew their mindset that they were coming out to battle and we knew that it was gonna be a battle,” Bridgewater said. “(Kawann Short) talked to the guys before we went out, told us, ‘man, don’t even look at the scoreboard. Just play each play one play at a time and when we look up in the clock says zero, and at the end, hopefully we’ve given ourselves and put ourselves in position to win.’ ”
A significant portion of Bridgewater’s production came in the second quarter. Prior to that, Carolina went three-and-out to start the game and then settled for a 38-yard Slye field goal at the end of an almost eight-minute long drive.
Wide receiver Curtis Samuel got involved in the offense early, including three third-down catches. Samuel has 11 catches on third down this season and helped the Panthers up that Slye field goal.
Bridgewater also struggled to connect with his favorite target, Robby Anderson, in the first quarter, as the wide receiver caught one of four targets for 12 yards.
But in the second quarter, the offense going. Bridgewater threw for 182 yards and two touchdowns in the 8:27 that Carolina had the ball. In the first half, he put up 261 total yards — the most by any NFL quarterback in a first half this season and the second-most passing yards in a first half by any Panthers QB in history (Steve Beuerlein, 293).
Anderson and Bridgewater started getting in a rhythm, connecting on 5 of 6 targets for 74 yards, including an impressive one-handed catch along the left sideline as his right arm was pinned down by a defender. Anderson’s 36 catches this season are the most ever by a Panther through the first five weeks of a season.
It was DJ Moore’s explosive 57-yard touchdown, his first of the season and the longest of his career, that gave Carolina their first lead of the game, 13-7, and then a Mike Davis 3-yard touchdown catch put the team up by two scores, 20-7, at the half.
“We came to this game saying that we wanted to be aggressive,” Bridgewater said after the game. “It’s always the guys around me who make my job much easier. You have Mike Davis coming out of the backfield catching on nine passes, rushing the ball for over 80 yards. Curtis Samuel coming in, giving us a change up, catching the ball out of the backfield, catching the ball at wide receiver... for me it’s just man, all I have to do is get the ball to those guys.”
Davis put together a strong second quarter of his own with three carries for 23 yards and 28 yards on three receptions. He finished the day with 16 rushes for 89 yards and nine catches for 60 yards and the touchdown.
The offensive line had another good performance with Bridgewater not getting sacked once and often having time to throw, helped by the return of left tackle Russell Okung. It was the first game that the Panthers have not given up a sack to the Falcons since 2009 and the first time the team has not given up a sack in back-to-back overall games since 2011.
“We take extreme pride of being able to protect Teddy, and just because he’s a great person. I mean, who would want to get that guy, honestly?” Okung said. “As an offensive line, we just want to put our hard hats on and grind every single day.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Panthers were down a player starting with the first series.
Jackson’s lingering toe injury sidelining him on the first defensive series. Rookie Troy Pride Jr. filled in for Jackson and played well overall.
The Panthers’ defense almost put up a touchdown of its own prior to the offense getting into the end zone in the second quarter. Burns strip-sacked Ryan — Burns’ second such play of the season — but Burris failed to pick up the fumble for a scoop-and-score despite and the Falcons recovered. Burns went out with his concussion injury on the next play.
The Falcons came back in the second half with the Panthers’ offense struggling to get anything going, but were unable to finish drives. Despite Atlanta taking three straight drives past Carolina’s 30-yard line, the Falcons settled for just 6 points on two Younghoe Koo kicks and the key end zone interception by Burris, which Bridgewater referred to as the “play of the game.”
“I figured (Ryan’s throw) would happen. It was a safety on a slot receiver. They thought they had a mismatch. I figured it was gonna come to me, but I couldn’t panic. And I was just trying to make a play,” Burris said of the interception. “The coaches made that call because they have faith in me to cover the slot receiver. I just wanted to prove them right.”
Carolina’s rushing defense is still a concern — the Panthers have given up eight rushing touchdowns this season, among the most in the league, and Todd Gurley ran for 121 yards. And Atlanta wide receiver Calvin Ridley had a huge day (eight receptions for 136 yards) despite Julio Jones not playing.
But the defense did enough to put the ball back in the offense’s hands and remedy some of its red zone issues (Falcons went 0-2 inside the 20). Carolina now has to hope that most of those injuries are not long-term, although both sides of the ball stepped up when it was needed most, especially Bridgewater.
“I thought we did a great job in the fourth quarter of — really in the second half — of holding them to field goals on defense and running the ball on offense, making some explosive plays,” Rhule said. “Really proud of our guys, the amount of guys that stepped up in this game. I thought it was a total team win. That’s what we’re looking for.”
This story was originally published October 11, 2020 at 4:08 PM.
