Grading the Carolina Panthers in their Week 8 loss vs. the Atlanta Falcons
The Carolina Panthers are heading in the wrong direction.
On prime time, “Thursday Night Football,” the Panthers lost 25-17 to the Atlanta Falcons at home, dropping their third consecutive game of the season. The Falcons had won only one game entering the matchup in Week 8.
To make matters worse, starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater suffered a neck injury in the third quarter. He later returned.
Here are the grades for this week’s game:
Passing offense
D-plus: The Panthers offense started out playing well in the first half, behind Bridgewater’s passing. He had a 29-yard touchdown pass to Curtis Samuel off a flea-flicker play. The pass was thrown perfectly to Samuel away from the Falcons defender.
But after that play, the Panthers struggled. The offensive line struggled to keep the pressure away from Bridgewater, and Bridgewater struggled to find open receivers in the second and third quarters.
Then, Bridgewater got hurt in the third. He was replaced by backup P.J. Walker on two series, who also struggled to connect with receivers.
Bridgewater was hurt as he tried to scramble for a first down. He was pressured by the Falcons pass rush and tried o step up and run. He was tripped by defensive end Dante Fowler, and was hit late by defensive end Charles Harris, who was ejected from the game.
Bridgewater finished 15 of 22 for 176 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Walker was 1 of 4 for 3 yards.
Rushing offense
B: The Panthers did a better job establishing the run Thursday than they did last Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. Running back Mike Davis finished with 66 yards on 13 carries.
Wide receiver Curtis Samuel had 23 yards on three carries and a 12-yard rushing touchdown in the first quarter. Samuel was barely touched on the touchdown run as he found an open hole to the end zone. It was the Panthers’ sixth game without Christian McCaffrey, who has not yet come off the injured reserve list, though he is expected to soon.
The only issue with the Panthers’ running game Thursday was that they did not run it enough. Part of it was because the Panthers did not run many plays. The Falcons played keep away.
Passing defense
C: The Panthers secondary struggled again without Rasul Douglas. And Donte Jackson re-injured his toe, often missing time in the second half. The Panthers were thin at the position entering Thursday’s game with Douglas on the COVID-19 list and the release of veteran Eli Apple, who was often injured.
Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan passed for 197 yards in the first quarter, but did not have a touchdown. He found Julio Jones early and often. But the Panthers got better pressure on him in the second half, and limited him some.
The one interception occurred in the second quarter. Defensive end Brian Burns got pressure on Ryan, forcing him to make an errant throw. Jackson caught the overthrown pass before stepping out of bounds.
Ryan completed 21-of-30 passes for 287 yards and an interception.
Rushing defense
C-plus: Falcons running back Todd Gurley dominated the Panthers run defense in the two team’s first game in Atlanta. He did not have as much success Thursday night.
He rushed for 46 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown. Running back Brian Hill had 55 yards on 11 carries.
But the Panthers continue to allow rushing touchdowns. They allowed two, including a 13-yard scramble by Ryan. It was Ryan’s longest run of his career. The run defense has been the Panthers’ weakest unit this season.
Special teams
A: Panthers kicker Joey Slye was 1 for 1 on field-goal attempts and made both extra-point attempts. Punter Joe Charlton had two nice punts downed inside the 20. One of those punts was downed inside the 4-yard line and gave the Panthers defense a chance to make a stop and put the ball back in Bridgewater’s hands to tie the score.
Coaching
D: It was not a good game for the Panthers’ coaching staff. They were outcoached. The Falcons ran more plays than the Panthers, despite making critical penalties.
On fourth-and-1, the Panthers chose to run a bootleg with Bridgewater instead of running it up the middle with Mike Davis.
When they had another chance to run it on fourth down with Davis, they came up short again. The Falcons are one of the worst teams in the league and made plenty of mistakes to lose this game. For instance, the six penalties for 63 yards, including multiple personal foul calls.
But the Panthers did not take advantage.
This story was originally published October 29, 2020 at 11:41 PM.
