Panthers have an embarrassing defense, and nothing will get better until that’s fixed
Just as the Carolina Panthers’ offense has started to look more lively, their defense has turned a corner, too — and quickly fallen into a gaping hole.
There was more evidence of that tumble Sunday, as the Panthers lost again at home, this time by a score of 38-20 to the Atlanta Falcons.
No, the offense wasn’t perfect and Panthers quarterback Andy Dalton threw a key fourth-quarter interception when it was still a one-score game.
But the defense?! The Panthers (1-5) weren’t going to win this game regardless. Atlanta (4-2) rushed for 198 yards, threw for 225 and moved the ball however it wanted all afternoon against a Carolina defense in freefall.
For much of the post-Cam Newton era, the Panthers have played variations on the basic theme of “Defense good, offense bad.” This was in large part why they hired offensive whiz kid Dave Canales as their new head coach, to fix the scoring.
And the defense? Canales kept that staff largely in place under defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, because it was that defense that had kept the Panthers in numerous games in 2023, only to see the Bryce Young-led offense falter time and again.
Now the script has been flipped. Panthers cornerback Jaycee Horn said after Sunday’s game that what was going on right now was “demoralizing.”
Said Horn: “Every year (it’s), ‘Oh, if we had an offense, we’ll be straight, we’ll be good.’ And now I feel like the offense is playing good. And the defense? We ain’t putting it together.”
There’s no doubt about that. Carolina started the year by allowing the New Orleans Saints to score on their first nine possessions of the season opener — a shocking statistic that occurred while the Carolina defense was still largely healthy. The Panthers lost that game, 47-10, and it hasn’t gotten much better. In its past three games, Carolina has given up 34, 36 and 38 points, and for the year is averaging an NFL-worst 33.8 points allowed per contest.
Yes, the defense has been beset by injuries — Derrick Brown, Shaq Thompson and Jadeveon Clowney among them. But that’s not all of it. The team also traded away edge rusher Brian Burns instead of paying him what he thought he was worth (the New York Giants did instead) and let Frankie Luvu go in free agency. Those were two of Carolina’s most dynamic defenders in 2023, and now they’re elsewhere in the NFC. According to the Associated Press, the 203 points Carolina has allowed through the first six games in 2024 is the ninth-worst ever in that time period in the Super Bowl era.
Again, let’s listen to Jaycee Horn, who like his father, Joe (a former star receiver for New Orleans), is known for telling it like it is.
“We owe it to them guys,” Horn said of the offense. “Chuba (Hubbard, who had 92 rushing yards Sunday) has been running the ball great. Andy (Dalton) has been dealing. Diontae (Johnson, the wide receiver who had 78 yards and a TD Sunday) has been balling. As a defense, we haven’t put it together yet. And I think that’s the most frustrating part, because it’s been every year that the defense has been good and the offense has been struggling. Now it’s, like, flipped on its head.”
It’s true that under Canales and general manager Dan Morgan the offense is no longer an embarrassment. The offensive line is clearly better, as it should be, given the massive amount of money spent on it. Underperforming quarterback Bryce Young was benched after two games — the correct move under the circumstances.
Hubbard is playing like a top-15 NFL running back. The acquisition of Johnson has paid immediate dividends. And the offense has survived the temporary loss of wide receiver Adam Thielen — its leading receiver a year ago — with little problem.
In Dalton’s four starts, the offense has only had one clunker of a game and is averaging a respectable 22.5 points. On Sunday, Dalton led a gorgeous two-minute drive for a touchdown, one that ended with rookie Xavier Legette scoring and galloping away on his imaginary horse and Dalton blowing a kiss to the home crowd.
Dalton also hit Johnson for a first-quarter TD and played a good three quarters, although his interception with Carolina down 28-20 and driving in the fourth was nasty.
“I think if I had let it go earlier I think I probably could have had (tight end Ian Thomas, his intended target),” Dalton said. “… I could go back and do it again, I would have checked it down and kept that drive going. That one hurt us and set us back. And that’s on me. I’ve got to make better decisions in that moment.”
That’s true, but Dalton did throw for 221 yards. He had something going for large swaths of the game.
The defense? It did force an early fumble. But it had no sacks, no pass rush and allowed an average of 5.98 yards per rush when you take out quarterback Kirk Cousins’ kneel-downs. On one particularly humiliating rush, Atlanta running back Tyler Allgeier pushed about half the Panthers’ defense backward for 10 yards.
What will the Panthers do now? “We’re just going to attack the fundamentals and the basics, because that’s what we got,” Canales said.
That’s not going to be enough. There will need to be some new starters and, perhaps, some new defensive coaches before too long. What’s happening right now on D is unacceptable for a Panthers team that, once again, has semi-solved one problem only to see three more crop up.
