Panthers mailbag: Biggest concern after Week 1? Can rookie snag long-term starting job?
The Panthers are looking to bounce back in Week 2 following a letdown loss to the Atlanta Falcons this past Sunday.
But before they can hit the field against the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football, they’ll need to move past the lukewarm feelings from an NFC South showdown gone wrong. Unfortunately for fans, they can’t be distracted by the week of practice and preparation, so they still have lingering questions about their favorite team weighing heavily on their minds.
So, that’s why The Observer has its weekly Panthers mailbag to answer those questions.
Here are three standout questions from our social media mailbag:
Jared asks: What did you think of the offensive scheme Sunday? Is it still “vanilla” or were there things that did or didn’t work because of the personnel and the defensive coverages?
Mike Kaye: I thought the pistol formation was an interesting wrinkle for the offense. While we didn’t see much of that look this summer at Wofford College, the logic of giving rookie quarterback Bryce Young a happy medium between under-center and shotgun looks was smart thinking.
Pistol gives Young direct vision of the defense — similar to being under center — but also helps him avoid any potential hindrances in dropping back to pass.
Young, listed as 5-foot-10 and 204 pounds, is relatively short for a quarterback (you might have heard that before), so giving him an advantageous viewpoint, while allowing him to keep his eyes up — without worrying about his placement in the pocket — is ideal. The Panthers still ran a handful of plays under center and used shotgun formation, but pistol was a smart way of marrying the two looks and allowing Young (and really, his running backs) to work from a simplified operation.
Formations aside, I thought the use of personnel was fluid and fascinating. The Panthers used pretty much every personnel grouping you could think of. Panthers head coach Frank Reich lived up to his billing as a creative play designer, and his desire to spread the ball around was felt.
I thought the run game was well-designed, even if it might have been simplified at times (seemingly on purpose) due to the pistol formation.
The Falcons did a really nice job defensively, forcing pressure and holding up in coverage, especially late in the game. It’s also hard to evaluate the scheme off one game, especially after three turnovers curbed the play-calling momentum and opportunities for red-zone dynamics. I don’t think there were any jarringly bad play calls, though I thought the fourth-and-1 choice on the opening drive was curious (a north-south run with Chuba Hubbard against a formidable defensive front probably wasn’t the best call there).
For the record, going for it on fourth-and-1 from the Atlanta 11-yard line on the opening drive was absolutely the right decision. Settling for a chip-shot field goal after moving the ball well would have been nearly as big of a letdown as the fourth-down stop itself.
If you’re within the opponent’s 15-yard line early in a game, and you’re given a fourth-and-1 opportunity against an evenly matched opponent in a scoreless first half, you should go for it. That’s not just about analytics — it’s also about game flow and trust in your players.
Sure, there’s a risk in being aggressive, and the Panthers paid for it. But if they ended up scoring a touchdown on that drive, the dynamics of the game would have changed immensely. A 3-0 lead doesn’t mean anything in the first half, especially with the possibility for turnovers (wink wink) looming.
I thought Reich, offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, pass game coordinator Parks Frazier and offensive line coach James Campen did a nice job for their initial showing.
The one area that probably needs to be worked out is the manufacturing of open deep looks in the passing game. However, with speedy wideout DJ Chark (hamstring) set to eventually return, and more experience with live-action reps being felt, that issue could eventually work itself out.
Etinosa asks: With Chandler (Zavala) playing amazing in his first game, does Austin (Corbett) slide back into the starting role and Chandler go to the left side? Both players are too strong to bench …
MK: Zavala did play very well in his debut against Atlanta. But I would curb that enthusiasm a bit, for now.
In reality, the Week 1 performance is just one game. There is now tape out there on Zavala, and defensive coordinators can game plan for his strengths and weaknesses.
But with all that said, Zavala is a guy that the staff likes a lot, and they clearly believe in his upside. If he continues to play at the level he did against the Falcons, it’ll be hard to bench him.
We also don’t know when Corbett will return. He is set to miss at least three more games, and the Panthers could decide to slowly work him back into the lineup. He hasn’t faced contact reps yet, so there could be a gradual process. Zavala playing well also affords the Panthers time in bringing Corbett back.
Regarding the left side, the Panthers staff brought up Zavala’s relationship with left tackle Ickey Ekwonu frequently during the offseason. And while they did play next to each other at N.C. State, the sample size was limited and more than a year ago. Brady Christensen had a strong summer and his work in Week 1 was worthwhile. Forcing Christensen out of the lineup in the middle of the season, just to appease Zavala’s talent, comes with substantial risks in the chemistry department.
The only logical short-term reason to force that move is if Zavala thrives in the first month, Christensen falls off significantly, and Corbett returns to prominence immediately. That’s quite the parlay bet, if you ask me.
UPDATE (Wednesday, 11:58 a.m.): There’s also another logical reason: Christensen was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday. He will be on the injury list for at least four games, so there’s a strong chance that Zavala’s starting stint will expand beyond Corbett’s stint on IR.
Still, the performances of Zavala and Christensen should be heavily monitored during the next few weeks. Answers could be coming in the near future.
Zack asks: Biggest positive and largest concern from Week 1?
MK: The pass rush — and really, the passing defense — was terrific the other day. The Falcons essentially gave up on their passing game for the majority of the matchup because of how dominant the defense was in the pressure department.
Falcons quarterback Desmond Ridder completed 6-of-9 passes to non-running backs — and one of those completions was to himself — during the game.
Atlanta was forced to the feed the backfield and use its running backs as primary pass catchers near the line of scrimmage. While the Falcons have a great stable of running backs, the strategy seemed to be more about adjusting to the Panthers’ defense than spotlighting the players in the backfield. The Carolina front seven was so successful in the first half that running the ball became a necessity for Atlanta. Brian Burns and Derrick Brown were particularly dominant.
Another major positive was the work of the offensive line. While the group eventually let pressure get to Young in the fourth quarter, I thought the unit held up incredibly well in pass protection during the first three quarters. The group was also very consistently good in opening up holes in the run game. Ekwonu and center Bradley Bozeman, in particular, caught my eye with their performances on Sunday.
In regards to the biggest concern, I thought the tackling was pretty poor against Atlanta. I was heavily critical of the run defense in my report card this week, and I think the root of the unit’s woes stem from poor tackling. While I agree with Reich that the running backs in Atlanta are phenomenal, the Panthers just couldn’t take guys down throughout the game and it bit them.
Ridder targeted his running backs nine times for 46 yards and a touchdown. If you consider the quick-game strikes to running backs to be an extension of the running game, the Panthers gave up 176 total yards and three touchdowns on 35 touches on the ground. A lot of that yardage was the result of broken tackles and bad attacking angles.
Listen, it was just the first game, and a good portion of the defense hadn’t played all that much against live contact. I thought the scheming was fine, and this was more of an execution issue. Perhaps, with additional tape and live reps, this won’t be as big of a problem moving forward.
For now though, tackling — and by extension, the run defense — is a general concern with Jamaal Williams (Saints), Kenneth Walker (Seahawks), David Montgomery (Lions) and Dameon Pierce (Texans) on the upcoming schedule.
This story was originally published September 13, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
