Christian McCaffrey’s injury is being felt by Panthers. They needed Rasul Douglas, too
Seven games into the season, the Carolina Panthers sit at 3-4 and 1-2 in the NFC South. They have been in every game this season and now have a short week to prepare to host the Atlanta Falcons on “Thursday Night Football.”
Against the New Orleans Saints, the Panthers defense did not give Teddy Bridgewater and the offense enough opportunities. The Panthers had three drives in the second half and ran just 43 total offense plays — second-fewest total in franchise history — largely due to the defense’s inability to get off of the field.
With nine more games to go and multiple players dealing with injuries, the Panthers are still learning a lot about this team and what’s to come.
Here’s some additional takeaways from the Panthers’ 27-24 loss in New Orleans:
Christian McCaffrey was missed most in this game
McCaffrey missed his fifth game in a row with a high ankle sprain. Running back Mike Davis had one of his least productive games filling in for the All-Pro, finishing with seven carries for 12 yards and five receptions for 24 yards.
The Panthers had just 37 rushing yards in the game — tied for the 13th-fewest in franchise history. But they also rushed the ball just 14 times, including two scrambles by Bridgewater. Carolina hasn’t had that few rushing attempts in a game since 2014 (10).
The Saints came into the game allowing 100.2 rushing yards per game, sixth-fewest in the league. It would certainly have been difficult to get a rushing attack going, especially without McCaffrey and the Panthers didn’t really commit to putting much into the running game once the Saints took a lead.
“It just felt like one of those games based upon the way they were playing, based upon the way our guys were playing, it was going to be plays through the air,” head coach Matt Rhule said. “(I) thought Mike (Davis) played well. We hit him on a couple passes. He made guys miss. Just felt like one of those, ‘Hey, let’s throw the ball.’ Obviously, we had the big play to DJ [Moore], which was a quick drive.
“Nothing particular about the run game other than we are kind of one of those, ‘Hey, get the lead and then run the football type teams.’ More pass first. Obviously, couldn’t quite get the lead, we were always kind of chasing from behind.”
If McCaffrey is playing, do the Panthers not try to get him going on the ground early against the Saints? Probably, but it wouldn’t have neccessarily been much more effective. The Panthers stayed in the game because Bridgewater and his receivers were able to connect and make plays, but Davis has proven that he can be difficult to tackle and a more than adequate replacement. In his limited carries Sunday, Davis was slow to get in a groove and didn’t get much of a chance to try and do so, but Carolina also leaned heavily on Bridgewater’s arm, which worked for a large part.
Getting Davis involved on the ground has proved to be useful and wasn’t the Panthers game plan going into Sunday’s matchup. But instead of giving the ball to Davis on first-and-10 from the 50-yard line on the Panthers’ final drive, undrafted rookie defensive back Myles Hartsfield got his second carry of his NFL career,
The threat of what McCaffrey brings was obviously missing Sunday in locations other than the red zone, more so than in other games, but taking advantage of what Davis has shown should be a priority as well as a part of this offense. It just didn’t work against the Saints for a number of reasons.
Cornerback rotation amid Rasul Douglas’ absence
The Saints were without their top two wide receivers in Michael Thomas (ankle/hamstring) and Emmanuel Sanders (COVID-19 list), but Drew Brees didn’t appear to miss a beat. The Panthers were without starting corner Rasul Douglas (COVID-19 list) and instead used a rotation of Donte Jackson, Troy Pride Jr. and Eli Apple. Jackson (toe) and Apple (hamstring) were both questionable coming into the game.
Jackson played 97% of snaps despite the injury, Pride played 53% and Apple played 40%.
Apple played his first defensive snaps for the Panthers against his former team. He chatted with the Saints sideline some during the game and the cornerbacks as a whole played “fine” as Rhule described it. The Panthers allowed 277 passing yards and 12-of-14 third downs.
But Douglas, one of the Panthers’ best pickups of the offseason, was missed Sunday as the Saints went up and down the field.
“You can still get in a little rhythm and all that,” Apple said of the cornerback rotation. “We just try to support each other and help each other the best we can. Whoever is in there, we just want to make sure we are playing the brand of football that we are capable of.”
While Apple said he wasn’t 100% healthy, he did say he felt better than he had all year. But Rhule said he had to be subbed out of the game.
“We tried to play Eli (Apple) and at one point he went down and then came back up,” Rhule said. “Nothing beyond just rotating them and feeling like he was going to play well and getting him into the game.”
A variety of injuries have plagued Apple since training camp. The Panthers will likely be without Douglas, who expressed some frustrations while watching the game from home, for Thursday’s game and Apple and Jackson’s inconsistent health will be worth watching on a short week.
Competitive in the NFC South?
There’s an understanding around the Panthers this year (fans included) that this is a development year. Rhule is making his mark and the outcome of the season shouldn’t be the priority. It’s true that growth of young players this year is important. The Panthers also have a football team that is actively trying to win games and have been competitive in the fourth quarter of every game.
Are the Panthers in the same place as the Buccaneers and Saints? No, but that doesn’t mean they are trying to lose and the record can’t be important. Both development and wanting to win can be true. Not everything is about tanking.
Other notes
- Hartsfield had his first two NFL carries at running back. The rookie defensive back was a tailback in high school and took snaps at running back during training camp. With McCaffrey and Reggie Bonnafon out with high ankle sprains, the Panthers are going deep down the offensive depth chart.
- Rhule likes to talk about the importance of the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. Well, against the Saints, the Panthers scored a touchdown at the end of the first half, but also allowed Brees to drive down the field in about 1:30 to negate Carolina’s score. At the start of the second half, the Panthers’ first drive ended in the only punt of the day and then the Saints went on a field-goal drive. That’s not a strong “middle eight.”
Kicker Joey Slye’s missed 65-yard field-goal attempt at the end of the game caught plenty of attention, but a moment that wasn’t caught on TV was when the Superdome entertainment crew trolled Syle by showing his 24-yard miss from the end of last season’s game in New Orleans on the Jumbotron. But Slye said he didn’t see or hear the video. “To be honest with you, on the sideline and when I’m on the field trying to get warmed up, I’m just looking at the ground, making sure that I’m not getting anything out of my attention, just trying to really stay locked in and ready to go,” Slye said.
This story was originally published October 26, 2020 at 7:00 AM.
