Mailbag: Should the Panthers tank with Christian McCaffrey and Teddy Bridgewater hurt?

The Panthers have lost seven games this season. But of those seven losses, Sunday’s 46-23 loss to the Buccaneers was, by far, the worst.

Panthers coach Matt Rhule and his players called their performance “unacceptable.”

Naturally, you have questions about this, and we’re here to answer them.

What’s the story with Greg Little? He seems to have disappeared.

— Allan Goldberg

He’s still on the team, I promise.

All jokes aside, as starting left tackle Russell Okung has missed the last three games with a calf injury, Greg Little’s playing time has slowly decreased. He started the game against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 8, playing 43% of the offensive snaps, but was removed due to performance and replaced with lineman Trent Scott.

In Week 9 against the Kansas City Chiefs, Little came in for fellow second-year player Dennis Daley due to injury, but after playing 15 snaps, was replaced by Scott for the final drive. In Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he did not play a single offensive snap. Scott was in on the first drive of the game, but switched with Daley (42% of snaps) during the game. Little played three special teams snaps.

This is largely performance-based. Little is still developing. The Panthers are excited about what Daley, a 2019 sixth-round pick, will develop into, and how he has been performing after starting the season out with a high-ankle sprain.

Right now, the Panthers feel that Daley and Scott are their best options at left tackle, although Okung could return shortly and take back the starting role. That doesn’t mean Little won’t be the answer in the long-term, which would be a concern for a player who the Panthers traded up to draft in the second round last year. Developing multiple young linemen is important for the Panthers to do. Little has had some good moments this year as well and needs to continue to grow.

“(Against the Falcons, Little) struggled in pass protection one-on-one at times. In other games, he hasn’t,” Rhule said earlier this month. “Greg (needs to get) out there trusting his technique and getting the job done when he’s one-on-one, and getting it done by trusting himself, trusting his technique, and that’s true and the same for a lot of the guys.”

— Alaina

Do you feel like the team should tank with Teddy and CMC hurt?

— @jalonhill on IG

Personally, I’m not a fan of tanking. I think it’s a bad look, it can hurt the chemistry of the team, and for Matt Rhule in particular, I think it goes against his philosophy and the culture he is trying to build in Carolina.

Rhule has preached giving maximum effort, everyone doing their job and paying attention to details. Losing on purpose would do more damage than helping the Panthers.

In the long run, it’s best for the Panthers to try to win.

The New York Jets seem to be the worst team in the league, and my outlook on the future of the Panthers is far greater than what I’ve seen from the Jets.

Aside from this past game against the Buccaneers, the Panthers have been in every game and have had a chance to win. And even though a loss is a loss and hurts the same, I’d rather be a team that loses by seven, than a team that loses by three touchdowns on a regular basis.

The culture of the Panthers is starting to show. Players like Rasul Douglas, Tre Boston and Shaq Thompson each called their performance unacceptable and took responsibility for it.

But while Christian McCaffrey’s status is unclear for Sunday, there’s a good chance Teddy Bridgewater will likely play. Rhule said Bridgewater’s injury is “not significant.”

— Jonathan

Why no quick snap on the catch/no catch play against the Bucs?

— @Conr1zzle

Ah yes, the DJ Moore play at the end of the first half against the Buccaneers that ended up being ruled an incomplete pass.

The short answer to this is that the Panthers didn’t realize that Moore did not catch the football, thus a lack of urgency in snapping the ball on the following play, which allowed the Bucs to get a review.

“Just from where I was on the field, it looked like it was clean and no one that I can remember said, ‘oh, hey, he might have dropped that,’ ” Matt Rhule said Monday.

Center Matt Paradis also said that it had looked like a clean catch on the field. There’s a lot of talk about how the Panthers’ assistant coaches in the box can’t see the jumbotron based on the design at Bank of America Stadium , but at the end of the day, the Moore reception being a drop was missed by the coaching staff, giving the Bucs a chance to get a better view of the play and force a review. Something to learn from.

— Alaina

Will the Panthers look to draft a QB in the 2021 draft?

— @neel.hippalgaonkar on IG

I think the Panthers will likely consider it, especially if the right quarterback is there. But I think a large part of that is where the Panthers will end up drafting. If the Panthers draft one, two or three and have a chance at Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields, then they’ll absolutely draft a quarterback.

But if they fall later in the draft, and they are currently projected to draft ninth, I think they could choose the best available option to address their many needs. I don’t think they’d reach to draft a quarterback

Among the Panthers’ top priorities should be an offensive tackle, a linebacker, a cornerback and a defensive tackle, in no particular order.

With Bridgewater being under contract through the 2022 season, the Panthers have time to find and develop their perfect quarterback, if Bridgewater is not the long-term answer.

— Jonathan

I know the team has faced opponents these last few weeks that are hard to beat with deep passes. But how else can the Panthers get DJ Moore involved a little more? Robby Anderson seems to get some scripted passes and Curtis Samuel seems to be the security blanket for third-down throws. But there’s got to be a way the coaching staff can get the ball in DJ’s hands too, right?

— @BrightonMcC1 on Twitter

I agree. When I watched film on DJ Moore last season, he was often best in the open field, breaking tackles and avoiding defenders. Many of his targets this year have been on deep passes, which have worked at times. The coaching staff believes Moore has the advantage on the deep ball.

But it has not always been there, and it has resulted in him being fourth on the team in catches.

Against the Chiefs and Falcons (back-to-back games), Moore had two catches each. He was targeted only three times in the Chiefs game.

That can’t happen, especially when Moore is one of your best playmakers. When I asked Rhule about it, he said he had hoped to get him more involved.

Against the Bucs, they did.

I mentioned in my article last week that the Panthers ought to throw more screens and slants to Moore to allow him to get out in space. The Panthers ran a screen late in the first quarter Sunday. They faked a hand off to Curtis Samuel, who was running right. The fake made the defense bite, then Bridgewater threw a screen pass to Moore on the left side. Moore got a good block from Scott, and found his way to the end zone for a 24-yard score.

That’s indicative of what Moore can do. And if McCaffrey is out, I think there will continue to be those opportunities.

— Jonathan

This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 7:30 AM.