Analysis: Panthers missed a 65-yard field goal, but can blame 1 stat for loss to Saints
On third-and-11 from the New Orleans Saints’ 39-yard line, the unacceptable happened.
With 2:25 remaining in the game, the Carolina Panthers had a chance to drive and win the game or at least give Joey Slye a reasonable field goal to try and tie things up at 27.
Instead, the Saints ran an all-out blitz, leaving running back Mike Davis with the responsibility of blocking defensive end Marcus Davenport. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was sacked — with almost no time to throw the ball away — for a loss of 8 yards.
“We had the perfect play call (on third down) — probably would’ve scored a touchdown if we had got it off — but they schemed up that protection that we had called well and I really had nowhere to throw the ball,” Bridgewater said. “As I tried to step up, I was going to throw it away, but there were no outlets for me to just dirt it.”
An already long 57-yard field-goal attempt turned into a 65-yard try on fourth-and-19. As a recording of Slye’s 24-yard miss with two minutes remaining from last year’s Panthers-Saints game in New Orleans flickered on the video board, Syle’s kick came up just short.
“We can’t take a sack there no matter who it is,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said. “Whether it’s the offensive line, the receivers, whatever, we just can’t take a sack. That’s the only thing that we couldn’t have happen there was that. Regardless of what happens, Teddy can’t take that sack, the offensive line can’t allow that sack, it just can’t happen.”
Bridgewater had one of his best games this season in his return to New Orleans, but the defense’s inability to get off the field, combined with the “fatal-blow” sack, cost the Panthers an opportunity to come away with a close win, losing 27-24, and dropping their record to 3-4.
The Panthers’ defensive woes started early. On the first two Saints touchdown drives, the defense could do nothing to stop New Orleans, allowing drives of 75 and 78 yards. In the first half, the Saints converted all five of their third-down attempts and Carolina gave up an average of 7 yards per play.
Getting off the field on third down was an issue throughout the game.. The Saints converted 12 of 14 third-down tries (86%). The Panthers came into the game allowing opponents to convert on 50.7% of third downs (third-highest in the NFL) and had previously never allowed an opponent to convert more than 80% of third downs in a game in franchise history. Since 1991, only one other NFL team has had a higher third-down conversion percentage in a single game (2008 Saints, 91.7% vs. Lions).
“We have to win first and second down early in the ball game,” Carolina linebacker Shaq Thompson said. “Most of the third downs came on third-and-short, third-and-2. Then on the ones on the third-and-long, we have to convert those.”
The Saints did not have a single punt — the second time a Panthers opponent had zero punts in franchise history — and ended each of their seven drives in Panthers’ territory. The only times they didn’t score were on a Brian Burns strip-sack and taking a knee at the end of the game.
The Panthers had a chance to limit the damage in the second quarter and give the ball back to the offense with good field possession after limiting New Orleans on third down, but a hold from cornerback Donte Jackson — the Panthers’ only penalty of the game — away from the play gave New Orleans a first down.
On the following play, running back Alvin Kamara exploded for 32 yards.
Just five plays later, edge rusher Brian Burns made the Panthers’ best defensive play of the day by far, sacking Brees, who fumbled the football at the Panthers’ 25-yard line. Defensive end Marquis Haynes recovered it. The sack was Burns’ third forced fumble this year.
Missed tackles were frequent for the defense with Kamara proving difficult to take down throughout the day. The running back rushed for 83 yards on 14 carries in addition to 65 receiving yards.
The Saints put up 415 total yards of offense without Panthers starting safety Juston Burris (injured reserve with a rib injury) and starting cornerback Rasul Douglas (reserve/COVID-19 list).
Undrafted free agent Sam Franklin filled in with no major mistakes for Burris, but an injured cornerback rotation of Jackson (toe), Eli Apple (hamstring) and rookie Troy Pride Jr. combined could not replicate Douglas’ role in the defense. The linebackers also had a difficult day in coverage.
“It just falls back really on myself. I am taking a lot of credit in some of those zones that I messed up and they hit big plays right there,” Thompson said. “I already told my team, ‘That’s on me.’ ”
The defense showed improvement overall in the red zone in the second half, limiting the Saints to two field goals, but it was the Panthers’ offense with a strong day, including three third-down catches from wide receiver Curtis Samuel, that kept the game competitive until the end.
Bridgewater finished with 254 passing yards, completing 23-of-28 passes, including two touchdowns. He finished with a slightly better completion percentage (82.1%) — his second-best in a career start — than Saints quarterback Drew Brees (80.6%), who completed 29-of-36 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns.
Despite Bridgewater’s success, the Panthers could not get the running game going against the Saints in the team’s fifth game without Christian McCaffrey. The Panthers had 14 rushing plays with Mike Davis running for 12 yards on seven attempts, and Bridgewater had just 10 yards on two scrambles.
It took the Panthers’ offense and Bridgewater a little time to get going after settling for a 43-yard Joey Slye field goal on the first possession of the game. But a 74-yard touchdown pass to DJ Moore on their second possession proved to be a spark for the offense.
Bridgewater then took advantage of the Burns’ strip-sack with a nine-play, 65-yard drive that ended with Moore’s second touchdown of the day on a short 7-yard pass. Sunday was Moore’s second career game with two touchdowns, the other being the Panthers-Saints game in New Orleans last year.
It appeared the Panthers might go into halftime with the advantage (17-14) after the second Moore touchdown, but with just 1:35 remaining, the defense allowed the Saints to drive down the field on eight plays for 75 yards to retake the lead with a 4-yard touchdown pass from Brees to Deonte Harris before the break.
While the Panthers kept the game close in the second half and outscored the Saints 7-6, the game’s only punt on Carolina’s first possession of three in the second half proved to be a major missed opportunity. New Orleans controlled the time of possession (34:41-25:19) throughout and Carolina couldn’t afford to walk away with zero points on any drive with the way the defense was playing.
The sack and missed field goal was just a final opportunity that the Panthers didn’t take advantage of.
“You have to make one more play in the fourth quarter,” Rhule said. “We were not able to make that play at the very end.”
This story was originally published October 25, 2020 at 4:06 PM.
