How did the Carolina Panthers’ final report card look? Here is how we graded them
The expectations for the Carolina Panthers heading into the 2020 season were clear.
They were not going to be good. At times, they exceeded some of those expectations, especially on defense. They were young but had great moments.
But they still finished 5-11, and were 0-7 in fourth-quarter comeback attempts.
Here were the final grades for the season:
Passing offense
The passing offense started out pretty well. Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater had good games against Las Vegas in Week 1, Arizona in Week 4, great games against the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints in Weeks 5 and 7, and another good game against the Chiefs in Week 9.
For the first half of the season, Bridgewater was top 10 in passing stats and top 2 in completion percentage.
But he took a nosedive during the second half of the season after a poor performance against the Buccaneers in Week 10. He was 0-for-7 on game-winning drives, though he could have been 1-for-7, if Joey Slye had made the 54-yard field goal at the end of the Minnesota Vikings game.
“I think, really, the last month of the season, both offensively, I don’t know that we’ve played real well, and I don’t think Teddy has played his best football,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said Monday. “I personally feel like ever since he got hurt in the second half of the second Tampa Bay game, Teddy hasn’t played his best ball.”
All three of the Panthers receivers had good years. Robby Anderson and DJ Moore both had 1,000-yard receiving seasons, and Curtis Samuel had 851 yards receiving.
The offensive line, which was bothered by injuries, was average. The offensive line allowed 2.2 sacks per game, which was 17th out of 32 teams. The unit was also called for 12 offensive holding penalties and 11 false starts. Both are slightly below the league average.
The fact that running back Christian McCaffrey missed 13 of 16 games this season has to be taken into account. He was their best player and figured to be a huge part of their game plan heading into the season. In two of the three games he played — against the Raiders and Chiefs — the Panthers were given a B-minus grade or better in passing offense.
But the Panthers’ performance this season was far from impressive and didn’t meet expectations. Next season, things must change.
Final grade: C
Rushing offense
Perhaps one of the most confusing things about the offense this season was why the Panthers did not run the ball more.
While Mike Davis isn’t McCaffrey, he’s certainly capable of getting the job done. He had the fifth-most broken tackles in the league with 21, and was first in rushing attempts per broken tackle (7.9).
That’s better than Derrick Henry (11.1), Nick Chubb (9), Alvin Kamara (9.8) and Dalvin Cook (9.5).
But the Panthers often failed to establish the running game, which put more pressure on the passing game to produce. And in the second half of the season, that didn’t happen.
The Panthers averaged 25.4 rushing attempts per game in 2020, which was ranked 21st in the NFL. Davis, the Panthers’ leading rusher, rushed for 642 yards in 12 starts, and McCaffrey had 225 yards in three starts.
Samuel added 200 yards rushing and Bridgewater had 279 yards rushing.
“We need to get Christian back,” Rhule said. “We need to have a consistent running game that we can rely on.”
The grades for the rushing offense often fluctuated throughout the season. One of the Panthers’ best games on the ground was in Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals. The Panthers rushed for 168 yards on 35 carries and two touchdowns.
Final grade: C
Passing defense
There were times when the Panthers were really good against the pass, like against the Green Bay Packers, when they held Aaron Rodgers to a season-low 143 yards passing and sacked him five times, and against the Washington Football Team when they forced Dwayne Haskins to turn it over three times in the first half. There was also the 20-0 shutout win over the Detroit Lions.
But there were also times when the Panthers were terrible against the pass, like in their 33-31 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 9. Patrick Mahomes threw for 372 yards and four touchdowns.
Or in their 32-27 loss to the Broncos in Week 14, when they allowed the often turnover-prone Drew Lock to pass for four touchdowns against them.
For much of the season, cornerback Donte Jackson dealt with a turf toe injury. But when he returned healthy, the Panthers were a lot better.
Getting to the quarterback was one of the Panthers’ biggest issues this season. The Panthers were the only team in the NFL without a sack through the first two games.
Brian Burns eventually came up big for the Panthers. In 15 games, he had nine sacks and three forced fumbles. Efe Obada (5.5 sacks) had a strong finish to the year as a backup, and so did Marquis Haynes (4 sacks).
But the Panthers struggled to get a consistent pass rush from their other starters like Stephen Weatherly and rookie Yetur Gross-Matos.
Final grade: C
Rushing defense
The Panthers allowed eight touchdowns rushing through the first three games of the season, and were on a historic pace set by the 2019 Panthers team, which allowed 31 rushing touchdowns.
But the Panthers were much improved after that. They allowed nine rushing touchdowns through the final 13 games.
Still, there were some embarrassing moments, like giving up a 98-yard touchdown run to Bucs running back Ronald Jones II. He finished with 192 yards rushing on 23 carries in Week 10. Or allowing the Saints in Week 17 to run all over them. The Saints were without their entire running back room after Alvin Kamara was placed on the NFL’s COVID/reserve list prior to the game.
Running back Latavius Murray was considered a high-risk close contact.
The Saints had to bring up players from their practice squad and still rushed for 156 yards.
Some of their better games included limiting Minnesota Vikings star Dalvin Cook to 61 yards on 18 carries, and limiting Detroit Lions running back Adrian Peterson to 18 yards on seven carries in their shutout win.
Final grade: C-
Special teams
It was an up-and-down season for kicker Joey Slye, who made 29-of-36 field-goal attempts (80.5%). Among kickers with at least 20 attempts, Slye ranked 20th in the league in field-goal percentage.
Slye was 0 for 3 in game-winning situations. He missed a game-winning 54-yard kick against the Vikings in Week 12, a 67-yard attempt against the Saints in Week 7, and a 65-yard attempt in Week 9 against the Chiefs.
His 67-yard miss and 65-yard misses should be excused. No other kicker has made an attempt longer than 64 yards. The 54-yard kick should have been made.
But he did make 13 of his final 14 field-goal attempts to end the season.
Panthers undrafted rookie punter Joe Charlton was solid for most of the year. He averaged 46.3 yards per punt and had 21 punts inside the 20.
The Panthers returners had good moments. The highlight was Trenton Cannon’s 98-yard kick return against the Bucs in Week 10. He was stopped just short of the goal line.
Final grade: B-
Coaching
Considering the expectations of this Panthers team — that they would be terrible on defense and good on offense — there were some things to be happy about.
Defensive coordinator Phil Snow did a great job of getting a young defense to play at the level it played at. The Panthers returned only four starters from the 2019 team.
The Panthers’ defense was young. Five of their seven defensive draft picks started at least one game. Yet, they had impressive performances against Green Bay and Washington, both playoff teams.
The offense started strong but regressed. And it was the unit with the highest expectations. Again, McCaffrey did not play much this season, so that should be taken into account. But it was disappointing that the Panthers could not produce many points.
Against the Vikings, on the Panthers’ second-to-last drive, the decision to throw on third-and-goal from the 3-yard line, instead of running the football, played a part in them losing.
There were a lot of miscommunication issues between Bridgewater, offensive coordinator Joe Brady and Rhule. That contributed to the bad late game-situations.
But Samuel and Anderson had the best seasons of their careers and that should be noted as well.
Final grade: C
The grades for each game
Passing offense: B-
Rushing offense: B
Passing defense: D+
Rushing defense: D-
Special teams: D-
Coaching: D+
Passing offense: D+
Rushing offense: B-
Passing defense: C+
Rushing defense: C-
Special teams: C+
Coaching: C
Passing offense: C
Rushing offense: C-
Passing defense: B-
Rushing defense: C-
Special teams: A
Coaching: B
Passing offense: B
Rushing offense: A-
Passing defense: B-
Rushing defense: B-
Special teams: C
Coaching: B
Passing offense: A-
Rushing offense: B
Passing defense: A-
Rushing defense: D
Special teams: A
Coaching: A
Passing offense: D
Rushing offense: D+
Passing defense: B-
Rushing defense: B
Special teams: C
Coaching C-
Passing offense: A-
Rushing offense: D-
Passing defense: F+
Rushing defense: D+
Special teams: B
Coaching: C
Passing offense: D+
Rushing offense: B
Passing defense: C
Rushing defense: C+
Special teams: A
Coaching: D
Passing offense: B
Rushing offense: C+
Passing defense: F
Rushing defense: A-
Special teams: C
Coaching: B
Passing offense: D
Rushing offense: D
Passing defense: F
Rushing defense: F
Special teams: A
Coaching: F
Passing offense: C
Rushing offense: C+
Passing defense: A
Rushing defense: A
Special teams: A
Coaching: A
Passing offense: C
Rushing offense: C+
Passing defense: C
Rushing defense: B
Special teams: D
Coaching: F
Passing offense: D
Rushing offense: C
Passing defense: F
Rushing defense: D+
Special teams: F+
Coaching: D
Passing offense: C-
Rushing offense: C
Passing defense: A-
Rushing defense: F+
Special teams: B
Coaching: C
Passing offense: C
Rushing offense: B-
Passing defense: A-
Rushing defense: C
Special teams: B
Coaching: B
Passing offense: F-
Rushing offense: D
Passing defense: D
Rushing defense: F
Special teams: C
Coaching: F
