Eight thoughts on the Panthers’ 0-3 start: Early messaging comes back to haunt Carolina
When the Panthers hired head coach Frank Reich and his lauded staff of veteran and up-and-coming coaches in the spring, Carolina’s leadership preached the desire to compete in a new era. But, through three games, the squad has done little to make its mark in the NFC South, or in the overall standings.
Injuries are piling up at an astonishing rate. Penalties are mounting at a league-high variety. And Reich, the team’s primary offensive play-caller, has yet to put together a game plan that has led to any sort of optimism about his unit.
And then there’s Bryce Young. The rookie quarterback missed Week 3’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks with an ankle injury after critics voiced their concerns about his durability and size throughout the draft process. It’s early in Young’s career — far too early to panic. But he’s carrying the weight of the first overall pick — and the mega-trade to get that selection — on his shoulders.
On paper, this team should be considered a rebuilding squad, but the Panthers’ public hopes of an NFC South title can’t be forgotten. Alas, goodwill and patience can be hard to come by when a team is pushed as a contender when it is not ready to compete.
Here are eight thoughts on the Panthers’ 0-3 start:
The here and now
1. Messaging means something
The Panthers turned over nearly their entire coaching staff and more than half of their roster this offseason. They also switched up their defensive scheme under new coordinator Ejiro Evero, drafted a rookie quarterback and immediately placed him in the starting lineup.
Logically, the Panthers could have claimed a rebuild under a touted coaching staff with the first overall pick. Instead, the brain trust sold the fan base on immediate contention with several floating variables in place.
Seeing the Minnesota Vikings and New York Giants rush to immediate success under new coaches last season must have been exhilarating for owner David Tepper. But the reality is that most teams need to slowly ascend to compete long-term, which has been proven with the way the Vikings (0-3) and Giants (1-2) have quickly fallen off in Year 2 of their respective head-coaching tenures.
Pushing the Panthers to be division contenders got the fan base’s hopes up, and that gamble, so far, has come at the cost of a lot of goodwill.
2. Hold off on the rush to judgment on Bryce Young
Sure, Young’s first two outings were subpar. Yes, he’s already missed a game due to injury. And of course, he has a lot to live up to as the first overall pick.
But take a beat and consider what is around him.
Young is dealing with a turnstile at both guard spots, an underwhelming output from the tight end position and a clear lack of a consistent running game. His receivers failed to separate against the Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints — who have similar schemes, by the way — and the group only started to make plays when they faced off against a heavy zone team in Seattle. And by the way, that wasn’t enough, either, despite the numbers.
Young is in a tough spot. His critics have harped on his lack of size, and the durability debate has already reared its ugly head. The Panthers also traded a whole bunch — including wideout DJ Moore and their 2024 first-round pick — to get the first overall pick to select the former Alabama quarterback. It also doesn’t help that Houston Texans rookie quarterback CJ Stroud — the second overall pick — has shined despite his team’s up-and-down start to the season.
Young has rarely dealt with on-field adversity during his football life, so how he bounces back from this rough start will tell us a lot about the rookie. His maturity and calmness need to follow through here.
It’s way too early to deem Young as anything but a 22-year-old rookie quarterback.
The operation
3. What has happened to the tight end position?
Throughout the summer, tight end Hayden Hurst was making plays. Reich said routinely that he wanted to get his tight ends involved and make them regular playmakers in the offense.
Through three games, Hurst’s production has dropped off. He wasn’t targeted in the first half of the past two matchups, and he had just one catch for 11 yards in a game where Andy Dalton threw the ball 58 times.
Hurst isn’t alone in his disappearing act at the position. Tommy Tremble, who effusively praised the staff this summer, has one catch for 15 yards through three games. Ian Thomas has one catch for eight yards.
In total, the unit has 11 catches for 95 yards and a touchdown through three games. If you want to add fullback Giovanni Ricci’s 2-yard catch from Week 1 to that group, feel free (12 catches for 97 yards and touchdown).
To put that into perspective, wideout Adam Thielen had 11 catches for 145 yards against the Seahawks on Sunday.
The Panthers need tight ends to make plays, especially with a rookie quarterback, and thus far, the returns have been underwhelming.
4. Injuries will cripple this defense
The Panthers came into training camp with a top-heavy depth chart on defense. The first-team defense was impressive, but the second and third units left a lot to be desired.
With injuries piling up on the first-team defense, Carolina doesn’t have a lot of hope in the backup department due to a few years of drafting poorly in the late rounds. Former draft picks like cornerbacks Keith Taylor and Stantley Thomas-Oliver and defensive tackle Bravvion Roy didn’t make it through their rookie contracts, while linebacker Brandon Smith was cut after his second tour in Spartanburg.
Linebacker Shaq Thompson (fibula) is out for the season, while cornerback Jaycee Horn (hamstring) will be out for a prolonged period. Cornerback CJ Henderson (ankle), linebacker Frankie Luvu (hip pointer) and safety Xavier Woods (hamstring) all left Sunday’s loss with ailments, as well.
And while the defense overcame most of those injuries in the first half against the Seahawks, the offense’s inconsistency and the lack of starting-caliber personnel on defense eventually caused major leaks in the unit. Depth was always going to be an issue for the defense, but with the injuries piling up in the first month of the season, it’s hard to see a solution in sight.
Yes, it’s too late to come out and say, “Just kidding, be patient.”
5. The offensive line needs to figure this thing out
The Panthers’ offensive line has gone from a strength to a weakness over the past month. While the group was largely praised for its performance in a run-heavy offense during the second half of last season, the unit has faltered with a heavy drop-back menu in 2023.
The group hasn’t performed nearly as well on the ground when given the opportunity. It’s also had some really rough moments in pass protection. And then there are the penalties. The group had seven false starts — left tackle Ickey Ekwonu contributing four of his own — against the Seahawks.
Listen, not having starting right guard Austin Corbett — arguably the best player on the offense last season — is tough. But the Panthers had an entire offseason to figure out the right guard position, and through three weeks, they’ve tried three different starters there. The loss of left guard Brady Christensen (biceps) doesn’t loom as large, but it has caused a ripple effect with rookie Chandler Zavala moving from right to left after a strong debut against Atlanta.
Offensive line coach James Campen is one of the best assistant coaches in the league. It’s easy to trust him as a developer, but so far, the results of his unit have underwhelmed.
6. The run game needs to show up in a hurry
The Panthers haven’t had run game success over the past two weeks — a development Reich said was “surprising” to him.
In Week 2, they simply moved on from the ground game when they didn’t need to. In Week 3, they threw the ball 58 times after struggling with the run in the first half.
Running back Miles Sanders hasn’t gotten off to a great start through three weeks. But the Panthers haven’t used Chuba Hubbard consistently enough when he has averaged 6.5 yards per carry this season with limited touches.
Assistant head coach/running backs coach Duce Staley probably needs to do a better job of mixing up the rotation in the backfield — even with the occasional use of wideout Laviska Shenault. But it’s on Reich and offensive coordinator Thomas Brown to tee up smart run calls for Sanders, Hubbard, Shenault and whomever else to find success.
The answer isn’t evident, but this offensive coaching staff has enough collective experience and creativity to figure it out (hopefully). If not, this offense is going to become completely one-dimensional and opposing defensive coordinators will act accordingly to stop it.
The Panthers have carried the ball 65 times for 298 yards and a touchdown. Quarterbacks have accounted for 62 yards and seven carries in that total.
Big-picture outlook
7. Reich is known for slow starts
This isn’t a defense of Reich, but the head coach is known for his slow starts. He went 1-5 to start his tenure in Indianapolis, and he ended up finishing that first campaign with a 10-6 record, a playoff berth and postseason win on his resume. He went 1-4 in 2021 and finished 9-8 on the doorstep of the playoffs. He’s used to rallying the troops.
Reich’s ability to control the attention and urgency of the locker room through the worst of times is a proven career skill. There is confusion and frustration in the Panthers’ locker room, but my sense is there is little panic — for better or worse — among the players and coaches. That is a credit to Reich’s resolve as a leader.
But what matters is the payoff. Will the Panthers rally to avoid seeing the Chicago Bears select two premium players in the top five of next year’s draft? That fate will be decided by Reich.
The Panthers pushed division hopes on their fans, but Reich — despite his highs in Indianapolis — never won a division title with the Colts. However, he has rallied to make the playoffs before and led epic turnarounds, which is what the Panthers are hoping he can do over the next four months.
8. Where is the Panthers’ first win?
The Panthers have gotten off to their worst start since 2010 (started 0-5 before finishing 2-14). But they host the similarly winless Minnesota Vikings (0-3) on Sunday at Bank of America Stadium.
If the Panthers can win that game, maybe it creates some sunshine in Charlotte.
But road matchups against the Detroit Lions (2-1) and Miami Dolphins (3-0) linger before the bye week. If the Panthers can’t top the Vikings, it’s fair to wonder if they’ll be sitting at 0-6 entering an early bye with 11 games remaining on a then-hopeless journey.
This season always felt like a second-half surge campaign, but the early returns have been awful compared to even the most tepid assumptions. That said, the Houston Texans (1-2), Indianapolis Colts (2-1) and Chicago Bears (0-3) await the Panthers after the bye week, and none of those teams looks particularly compelling, even as the first two have better records than Carolina.
The Panthers need to grit this out. Once the playoffs fall out of the picture — if they haven’t already for fans — the rest of the campaign will be about preventing the Bears — who own the Panthers’ 2024 first-round pick — from receiving a top-eight selection from Carolina.
This story was originally published September 26, 2023 at 6:30 AM.
