Panthers have won 3 in a row, but need to fix these key areas to contend in NFC South
The Panthers are tied for first in the NFC South after five weeks of football. That’s something that wasn’t expected before the season began.
During the Panthers’ three-game winning streak, there have been plenty of good moments on all sides of the ball. The team even avoided much of the injury bug that has been going around the NFL — outside of Christian McCaffrey — before the team’s defense saw four key players go down during the win over Atlanta.
But in each of Carolina’s wins this season, there have been issues that need to be corrected. Against the Chargers, it was the offense’s struggles in the red zone and on third down. During the win over the Cardinals, a season-high 10 penalties became a problem.
In the 23-16 win over the Falcons on Sunday, the Panthers struggled to defend against the run and third down again became an issue.
With a new coach comes in and doesn’t get OTAs or any preseason games to work with, it’s understandable why these errors are prevalent. Not to kill the Panthers bandwagon, but here are some things that have stood out from the three-game winning streak.
Panthers run defense
Last year’s Panthers defense was notorious for issues against the run, setting historic marks for all of the wrong reasons and giving up 31 rushing touchdowns.
With Todd Gurley’s 35-yard touchdown run in the first quarter Sunday, the Panthers have allowed eight rushing touchdowns this season, tied for third-most in the NFL. The eight touchdowns allowed are the most in franchise history through the first five games of a season. At this point last year, the Panthers had given up five.
Gurley rushed for a total of 121 yards on only 14 carries, his first 100-yard game of the season and the first Falcon to do so since Tevin Coleman in 2018.
“We knew that (the Falcons) were going to come in and run the football. That’s who they are and they do it really well. I thought the biggest issue was just in our movements, our defensive line not getting in the gap and really making an unclear picture for our linebackers, and then obviously the one explosive run,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said Monday. “We have to negate the long touchdown run. And then, to me, you just have to keep fighting to make five yard runs, three yard runs. I think it really starts up front with us being more disciplined about being in our gap. It’s not optional, not playing optional one-gap football. And that’s something that we know we have to address this week.”
In each game this year, the Panthers have allowed more 100 rushing yards, and gave up a season-high 166 to the Falcons on Sunday. On the season, the team is allowing 5.4 yards per carry, second-most in the NFL behind the Titans and the most in franchise history through five games.
Against teams that have more complete offenses, that’s not going to work. Luckily for the Panthers, the Bears have only managed one rushing touchdown this year. But if defensive tackle Kawann Short misses any time with the shoulder injury he suffered at the end of the game at Atlanta, other players will need to step even more in this area.
“Red zone” offense
Against the Chargers two weeks ago, the Panthers settled for five field goals of 30 yards or less. Against the Cardinals, the Panthers seemed to fix some of those issues, but in Atlanta the Panthers didn’t exactly thrive in the red zone. The team went 1 for 2, and Joey Slye’s 22-yard field goal at the end of game wasn’t the worst of outcomes.
But just outside (or at the beginning) of the red zone, the offense stalled twice on consecutive possessions resulting in 39- and 38-yard field goals. To have those 14- and eight-play drives come to a halt around the 20-yard line could have given Atlanta an opportunity to capitalize on an early lead off the Gurley touchdown.
Slye’s accuracy to start the season is a positive, but he has had plenty of short kicks. McCaffrey was the Panthers’ red zone favorite to start the season. Throughout the three games without him, however, they have shown the ability to get other players involved in the offense all over the field, so why can’t they find the end zone inside the 20 consistently?
Anyone who has watched the Panthers play knows that they can move the ball up and down the field with the weapons at Bridgewater’s disposal. Capitalizing on those opportunities remains something Carolina needs to address.
Panthers not yet featuring tight ends in passing game
A variety of players have gotten involved in the receiving game, including running back Mike Davis, who led the Panthers with nine receptions Sunday, but the tight ends haven’t been a consistent part of the offense as receivers to this point.
Against a Falcons defense that was allowing 84 yards and 1.75 touchdowns per game to tight ends, Bridgewater targeted Ian Thomas once. Rhule said Monday that there were plays called that had a tight end early in Bridgewater’s progressions, but often they were covered.
“There were a lot of plays that were called that would have tight end early in the progression. If they cover (a certain player), then we go to the next guy,” Rhule said. “Our whole passing game is really progression based, hey, throw it to him, if he’s not open throw it to him, if he’s not open throw it to him. I think there were a lot of plays that were called where the tight end could have gotten the ball and just the nature of how they covered it where it wasn’t open.”
Coming into the season, it was expected that the tight end role would be key based on the previous offenses Brady had with the Saints and LSU. However, the Panthers have some of the lowest numbers from tight ends in the entire NFL.
Thomas has five receptions for 30 yards and a touchdown despite running receiving routes on 138 of 323 plays the offense has run this season, per Pro Football Focus. He has been targeted on nine of those plays, including Sunday’s dropped pass.
Chris Manhertz, who primarily has remained a blocking tight end, has three receptions (on three targets) for 29 yards with 55 snaps running a receiving route .
This isn’t as much something that needs to be fixed, because the other weapons in the offense have been clicking. But it’s still interesting to see them not overly involved as receivers.
Missed tackles
The Panthers continue to have an issue with missed tackles. Safety Tre Boston had a couple Sunday. Other players did as well, especially when trying to take down Gurley.
Tackling has been an issue throughout the Panthers season and still needs some work. Rhule noted the improvements in tackling in the Cardinals game, but against the Falcons, misses were once again apparent. It’s gotten better, but still something to be improved.
Far too many times opposing team’s offensive players are able to slip by a Panthers defender. Per Pro Football Reference, the Panthers have 37 missed tackles this season, tied for fifth-most in the NFL. The defense has also allowed 552 yards after catch, seventh-most.
Rookie safety Jeremy Chinn has been one of the team’s highlights and has a team-leading 44 tackles this season, the most by a rookie through the first five games of a season in franchise history. He also has seven missed tackles.
For the league as a whole, tackling has been one of the areas that has seen the impact of the reduced work before the start of the season. But if the Panthers want to keep winning games with the toughest part of the schedule still ahead, there’s still work to be done.
This story was originally published October 12, 2020 at 6:30 AM.
