With one game left for the Carolina Panthers, what’s left to play for?
It’s Week 17 of the 2020 NFL season.
The Carolina Panthers aren’t playing for the postseason when they host the NFC South-winning New Orleans Saints at 4:25 p.m. Sunday on FOX. There are no major records to be broken like an 1,000-1,000 season for an All-Pro running back.
Backups like quarterbacks P.J. Walker or Will Grier aren’t expected to be on the field unless something were to happen to Teddy Bridgewater — and the same for every other position. Carolina coach Matt Rhule has made it clear that winning games with the best players on the roster remains the priority.
But that does not mean there is nothing to gain for the Panthers this week. Quite the opposite. With a 5-10 record, Carolina is in the middle of a log jam for the first 15 picks in the draft. A variety of offseason decisions await.
Here’s what to watch for as the Panthers close out the 2020 season.
Watching the defense continue to improve
The Panthers largely won against Washington on the back of the defense and an impressive performance by Curtis Samuel.
In the first seven games of the season, the defense averaged 0.86 sacks per game. In the eight games since, the Panthers have averaged 2.6.
A similar improvement has been seen on third down. Carolina was headed toward a historic breakdown, allowing opponents to convert on 56.3% of third downs through the first seven games. While still 31st in the league on allowing teams to convert on third down (49.7%), there has been considerable improvement. In the last eight games, they have allowed conversions on 43.9% of third downs.
“I think Phil (Snow) just does a great job and his group does a great job of adapting and so we’ve changed some of the things that we’re doing. At the same time, I think our guys, they’re learning the game, they’re learning what we do,” Rhule said after the win over Washington. “The vets, they were coming into training camp based on what they had done in Cleveland, or what they had done here last year. So, they had to learn a whole new scheme from scratch and that’s not easy. But I think we want to be a team that improves every year and hopefully we’ll come out of this season and we’ll have an offseason to really go back and drill down and teach things.”
The Panthers also lead the league in fumble recoveries with 15 on 20 opponent fumbles. No other team has more than 12 recoveries.
This week against a good Saints offense playing for something, continued improvement should be the goal. This defense is showing much promise for 2021 when additions at needed positions will only help.
Where will that 2021 NFL draft first-round pick land?
Depending on the outcome of the Buffalo Bills-New England Patriots game on Monday night, there could be as many as 13 teams with either a 4-11, 4-10-1, 5-10 or 6-9 record going into the final week of the season. The Patriots are 6-8.
If the season ended this very moment, the Panthers would have the ninth overall pick, but that could easily change in either direction.
The Saints still have something to play for. With the Green Bay Packers’ win this past weekend, New Orleans needs a win, a Seattle Seahawks win over the San Francisco 49ers and a Packers loss to the Chicago Bears to clinch the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC and a first-round bye.
There are plenty of scenarios to go over how and where the Panthers will end up. So much of it has and will continue to be out of their hands. Losing would give them a chance at them a chance at the third overall pick, which is where they would have been with a loss to Washington. Winning could take them out of the top 10. The worst they could do is 13th.
Will Christian McCaffrey play?
Probably not, but you just never know. McCaffrey has missed 12 games this year with three different injuries. He wants to play and the Panthers have said that they want him to as well, but he did not participate in one practice last week with the quad injury. Some of the caution comes from not wanting to injure it further.
Rhule has said that he won’t sit him if he’s healthy. Will we see him out there? The head coach was not optimistic Monday.
“I don’t know, I would say I’m probably leaning towards no, based off of everything I saw. We’ll see if all of a sudden he feels great. But I don’t know, that would be my answer as of right now,” Rhule said of McCaffrey. “I’ll probably know more Wednesday.”
With the way Mike Davis, Curtis Samuel and Rodney Smith have been playing in his absence, more than ever there is little to gain by having play in Week 17. Davis and Samuel are both free agents this offseason, giving them the playing time in the final week of the season would be logical.
Teddy Bridgewater watch
Bridgewater’s performance this season has been average. Sometimes he shines and other times he has fallen flat. Each game he puts together impressive drives, but he will also turn the ball over.
In the game against Washington, he had a couple of good drives, but then also threw an interception and fumbled the ball. He didn’t lose the game, but he didn’t win it with his arm or his feet, either.
That’s been the tale of his season. Good some weeks and then mistake-prone and bad decision-making come to the forefront.
How much of it is to blame on a rotating door at left tackle? The fifth player this year could be starting at the position Sunday. How about not having McCaffrey?
Owner David Tepper strayed from confirming anything concerning the future of Bridgewater in Carolina during his Zoom call with media after general manager Marty Hurney was fired last week. He pointed to needing to evaluate the position continuously if you do not have a quarterback that will take you to playoffs and Super Bowls.
Which takes us to Week 17. Every game has been vital for Bridgewater to put what he can do on tape as the Panthers head into the offseason. Against the division champs and the team in which he had one of his best performances of the season earlier this year —23-of-28 passing, 254 yards, 2 touchdowns — this will be an opportunity for him to put one last solid performance for Carolina to chew on during the offseason, even if adding a new face alongside Bridgewater is inevitable no matter where the Panthers are slotted in the draft.
Last impressions
This season was a rebuilding year for the Panthers and it was hard to watch for fans. There are fixes to be made. The fight and effort this team continues to show is important. It was not there at the end of last season.
“We talked about it all week, basically playing for Coach Rhule,” Bridgewater said after the game against Washington. “I said we play for our families and for different reasons, but I think it was time to put a complete game together for Coach Rhule and I think we did just that.”
When asked what he wants to see in the final game of the year, Rhule said, ”our best game” in what will be a playoff-like atmosphere with the No. 1 seed in the NFC on the line for the Saints.
Enjoy this last week of football. No matter how the game goes, it will be almost nine months before the Panthers take the field again. Don’t worry so much about the draft for a week. Look for the improvements. It will be many players final game with the team — more than 20 players will become free agents.
There is plenty of offseason to come. Enjoy this last week even if the implications are limited to draft position.
This story was originally published December 28, 2020 at 9:57 AM.
