Analysis: It’s easy to play ‘what-if?’ with Panthers, but loss confirms who they are
This was the game.
If the feisty Carolina Panthers team that has been in every contest it has played was going to make a fight to exceed preseason expectations that pushed them to bottom of the NFL totem pole, this was the game that had to be won.
Against a 1-6 Atlanta Falcons team at home in Bank of America Stadium. The only game the Panthers will likely play this year that will be witnessed by a national audience. It was a short week with a banged-up roster, but facing a division foe with an interim coach ... this was the game.
Instead, the Panthers played perhaps their worst game of the season. There were moments, sure. But there have been moments in every Panthers game this year when they looked like they were turning the corner. Thursday night, they met those low preseason expectations as a team with a lot of growing to do and a long road ahead.
An inability to get off the field on defense despite Atlanta being without Calvin Ridley for most of the game — and the offense’s inability to get in a rhythm — cost Carolina a 25-17 defeat that dropped them to 3-5 halfway through the season.
“I thought we played hard. I thought there were a lot guys who were thrust into action that stepped up. There were guys that were playing on the punt team that were out there all of a sudden covering. I give them a lot of credit,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said. “But with all that being said, it wasn’t good enough to win.”
An injury to quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and corner Donte Jackson’s nagging toe ailment didn’t help matters, and defensive tackle Zach Kerr (toe) missing the game was a bigger loss to the defense than the attention his absence received.
The issues that could have been predicted in the preseason popped up once again. A young secondary that missed Jackson and cornerback Rasul Douglas couldn’t get off the field. Five rookies started for the Panthers on defense and it showed, as was expected this season.
The only Atlanta drives that didn’t end in points were a Jackson interception and a punt with 3:05 left in the fourth quarter — the Panthers’ first forced punt since their Week 6 loss against the Bears.
The Falcons had five drives of 10-plus plays, all ending in points for Atlanta. But the youth of the defense showed up in other ways. After just one first-half penalty, the Panthers had five in the second half. Three of the six penalties were on third down and extended Atlanta drives, and all of which were the fault of rookies — safeties Sam Franklin and Myles Hartsfield and cornerback Troy Pride Jr.
“We just had too many defensive holding penalties tonight. Too many opportunities where maybe we could have gotten off the field,” Rhule said. “I think we had one penalty in the first half and ended up with six. Five penalties in the second half. We have to get off the field better.”
It’s the offensive stumbles against the Falcons that should have been avoidable. The Panthers ended the game with their lowest time of possession of the season (23:30) but that wasn’t all to blame on the defense.
Carolina was unable to take advantage of opportunities against the NFL’s worst yards-per-play defense (6.6), and its only touchdown-scoring drives came off of Falcons mistakes. For the third time this season, Carolina did not score a second-half touchdown and put up just 3 points.
The Falcons’ offense out-gained the Panthers 401 yards to 304 yards and had 28 first downs to the Panthers’ 18. The Panthers only had one drive last at least four minutes.
On a closer look, the issues came from an inability to convert on third and fourth downs — the Panthers went just 2 for 10 on third down, their fewest converted third downs of the season, and 1 of 3 on fourth down — and putting together just two drives that went more than seven plays.
But one of those seven-plus play drives ended the game (an interception) and the other resulted in a field goal after Bridgewater had to exit briefly with an injury.
The Panthers scored on two Curtis Samuel touchdowns in the first half, including a 12-yard rushing score and a perfectly placed football on a 29-yard pass by Bridgewater. Samuel recorded his third career game with a rushing and receiving touchdown, the second-most such games by a WR in NFL history, trailing only Jerry Rice (five), according to Pro Football Reference. But both scoring drives were assisted by Falcons miscues.
Back-to-back penalties on the Falcons pushed the Panthers downfield on their first offensive possession and led to the Samuel rushing touchdown. The interception by Jackson gave Carolina the ball at the Atlanta 40 and four plays later Bridgewater connected with Samuel.
Bridgewater was often uncomfortable in the pocket, being sacked three times and hit six.
“You just can’t really win when you can’t control the line of scrimmage,” Rhule said.
The quarterback was knocked out of the game for six plays by a hit to the head/neck area — which led to defensive end Charles Harris being ejected — in the third quarter on the Panthers’ longest drive of the game. Backup P.J. Walker came in at quarterback and the offense could only pick up three yards with the ball just outside of the Falcons’ 20-yard line. Carolina settled for a 39-yard Joey Slye field goal to cut their deficit to 19-14, and it proved costly.
Bridgewater came back after missing only six plays, but the offense didn’t fare much better, ending its final two drives with a punt and an interception.
“Those guys had a good game plan,” Bridgewater said. “They knew some of the things that we wanted to do. And they had answers for it.”
One of the Panthers’ top receivers over the last couple of weeks, DJ Moore, did not catch a pass until the final drive of the game. Despite that, Moore ended up walking away as the Panthers’ leading receiver with 55 yards on two receptions. Top receiver Robby Anderson had a season-low 48 receiving yards.
And in a pattern that has become all too familiar, the game fell apart on the final drive as the Panthers lost on an offensive miscue with Bridgewater throwing his second game-ending interception in the last three weeks.
“The guy made a play on the ball. He fell off of Curtis [Samuel] and he just ended up right there in the right place at the right time,” Bridgewater said of the interception. “I wish I could’ve just thrown the ball to Curtis or something but in live action, the guy just made a play.”
The Panthers had opportunities to string together drives, to get off the field more than once a half, to make smart calls and plays on fourth down.
But it didn’t come together.
“The biggest thing is when we hurt ourselves, it’s the only time people are moving the ball on us,” safety Tre Boston said. “That is what we’re noticing in film: It’s a guy out of his gap, it’s a guy with a penalty, it’s a guy out of zone. We’re not getting hurt because the guys are so much more special than us, we just have to do a better job at our job.”
This story was originally published October 30, 2020 at 12:42 AM.
