Panthers’ D’Onta Foreman criticizes himself for major letdown performance vs. Ravens
A few minutes after Sunday’s 13-3 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Carolina Panthers running back D’Onta Foreman sat on a stool — with a blank stare on his face — in the visiting locker room at M&T Bank Stadium.
Foreman was frustrated and angry. And he didn’t mince words about his performance, either.
“Credit to those guys, they’ve got a good defense,” Foreman said. “I feel like I played like [expletive].”
After averaging 97.3 rushing yards per game over the past four weeks, Foreman picked up just 24 yards on 11 carries against the Ravens on the road. And despite the tight score throughout most of the game, Foreman only received four carries in the second half.
The Ravens didn’t take a 10-point lead until there was 7:20 left in the game, and yet Foreman went from workhorse to afterthought on offense. Following the game, Foreman said he wasn’t pulled out of the game due to injury.
“I think it was just the way the game was going,” Foreman said about his lack of second-half usage.
Veteran right guard Austin Corbett thinks the offensive line could have made Foreman’s job a bit easier against the Ravens, who came into the game with the NFL’s third-ranked run defense. The Panthers’ offense picked up just 36 total rushing yards in the loss.
“We didn’t do a good enough job of just giving those creases,” Corbett said. “And really, it’s just straining and finding a way to just block that little bit longer and just replace your hands — just real quick — one more time, and do those little things to sustain and really strain through the down.”
Interim head coach Steve Wilks seemingly agreed with Corbett’s statement after the game. However, he also praised the Ravens’ suffocating run defense.
“Again, credit to them. I thought they did a great job up front,” Wilks said. “We knew coming into the game they were going to have a great front seven. Offensively, our whole thing starts up front, and we didn’t do a great job really creating that extra yardage we needed coming off the ball. Again, credit to them”
Foreman is the type of ground-and-pound running back who needs to build up momentum in the backfield with carries early and often. Against the Ravens, his momentum was squashed pretty early on in the game.
With a revolving door at quarterback, the Panthers need Foreman to become their bell-cow back again — and soon.
“I feel like I’ve got to find a way to be better in the run game — to be able to sustain drives,” Foreman said. “I kind of put that on me. I feel like when we run the ball well, we’re able to stay on the field. When we don’t run the ball well, then we get off the field a little bit earlier than we want to.
“So I’ve got to find out how I can do better and make those plays.”
