Panthers Report Card: How’d the defense do against Arizona Cardinals in Week 4?
The Carolina Panthers failed to string together a second consecutive win Sunday, as the squad was blown out in front of its home crowd at Bank of America Stadium in a 26-16 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
Head coach Matt Rhule and the Panthers had defeated the Arizona Cardinals and Kliff Kingsbury in their two previous meetings. And after a second-quarter pick-six by linebacker Frankie Luvu, it looked like history would repeat itself.
However, despite taking a 10-3 lead to halftime, the Panthers were outscored 23-6 in the second half.
The Panthers are 1-3, and searching for answers.
Here are our grades for each unit following the loss:
Rushing offense
D: Panthers star running back Christian McCaffrey entered the week with a quad injury. He missed the first two practices of the week before stating that he was “feeling great” (a dozen times) on Friday. He was active for the game and didn’t look particularly hindered by the injury. That said, the Cardinals did a nice job of swarming to the ball against the run.
McCaffrey, who shined as a pass-catcher (more on that later), only picked up 27 yards on eight carries. Rhule admitted after the game that the Cardinals did a nice job of mitigating the run, which led to a pass-happy showing with a limited play count on offense.
The Panthers best run of the game actually came on a trick play by wideout D.J. Moore, who ran for 11 yards. Backup running back D’Onta Foreman and gadget wideout Laviska Shenault both got one carry apiece and combined two total yards.
Perhaps the most glaring failure in the running game was a thwarted QB sneak by Mayfield on third-and-1 in the first quarter. That failure was compounded by a similarly failed handoff to McCaffrey on fourth-and-1.
Passing offense
F: The Panthers’ offense was nearly outscored by the Carolina defense on Sunday. However, Mayfield was able to avoid that embarrassment with a meaningless touchdown in the fourth quarter with the game out of hand. Mayfield connected with McCaffrey on a well-placed jump-ball touchdown over the middle in the fourth quarter. The follow-up two-point conversion failed and the Panthers simply cut the deficit to 10 points, instead of mounting a comeback and stealing moment.
Mayfield was abysmal against Arizona. While he was credited with three turnovers, his “fumble” was more a product of wideout Rashard Higgins double-bobbling a handoff on his first touch of the season. That said, Mayfield threw two brutal interceptions in key moments.
First, Mayfield targeted a wide open Moore on a corner route, but the ball sailed to the wideout’s inside shoulder and the playmaker was forced to contort his body and reach out for the ball. Unfortunately for the Panthers, the ball bounced off Moore’s hand into the mitts of Cardinals safety Jalen Thompson for an interception in the second quarter.
Later, Mayfield threw his second pick on his third of five tipped passes on the afternoon. Mayfield had the ball batted at the line and linebacker Dennis Gardeck picked it off. The Cardinals would score a touchdown two plays later.
Along with the two picks and five batted passes, Mayfield had a handful of off-the-mark tosses that led to incompletions or minimal gains.
Passing defense
C: The Panthers’ defense lost star safety Jeremy Chinn to a hamstring injury early in the game. The defense was forced to rotate young safeties Sean Chandler and Myles Hartsfield opposite Xavier Woods as a result.
That rotating duo did a respectable job in coverage, which allowed the Panthers to hold Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray to just 207 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. That said, Murray completed 71% of his passes, as the Cardinals dominated the time of possession battle.
The Panthers scored on defense with Luvu’s pick-six, which came while the unit was playing in zone coverage. Luvu jumped a route on a targeted pass for wideout Marquise Brown and took it to the house. Panthers defensive end Brian Burns also produced a sack on Murray.
It wasn’t a great outing, but it’s hard to cover wideouts with a mobile quarterback when the unit is on the field 17 more minutes than its offense.
Rushing defense
C-: The Panthers did a nice job of containing Murray and the Cardinals’ running backs early in the first half. Burns, Luvu, Matt Ioannidis, C.J. Henderson and Henry Anderson all had impressive stops against the run in the first half.
However, once the Cardinals took the lead in the second half, they started bleeding the clock and bullying the Panthers’ tired defense.
Again, the Panthers’ defense was on the field for 17 more minutes than the Carolina offense. That time of possession differential definitely played a factor in the floodgates opening for the Cardinals’ rushing attack.
John Conner and Eno Benjamin combined for 91 rushing yards on 20 total carries. Murray, one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the league, ran 12 times for 26 yards and a touchdown.
Overall, the Cardinals produced 132 rushing yards and a touchdown on the ground against the Panthers.
Special teams
B-: Let’s start with the good: Kicker Eddy Pineiro has been a sensational fill-in for Zane Gonzalez, who was lost to injured reserve in the preseason. So far, Pineiro has made all six of his field goal attempts through four games. Against the Cardinals, Pineiro made a 54-yard field goal to extend the Panthers’ lead before halftime.
Punter Johnny Hekker continues to show why he was the one of the biggest — if not the biggest — signings of the offseason. He averaged 52.3 yards per punt against the Cardinals, and routinely flipped the field.
Now, for the bad stuff. Wideout Shi Smith fumbled the opening punt of the game, but was luckily bailed out as cornerback Keith Taylor Jr. scooped up the ball. Hekker completed a fake punt pass on a fourth-down play, but the special teams unit was whistled for an illegal man downfield penalty that negated the successful trickery.
Speaking of penalties, three of the Panthers’ six flags came on special teams. Following the game, Rhule specifically said the team had too many special teams penalties in the game.
