Hello again, Bryce: After latest loss, it’s time for Panthers to make another change at QB
It’s time for the Carolina Panthers to make a change.
Again.
Andy Dalton is looking very much his age, and Carolina’s offense looks like a car on blocks that needs four tires and a new transmission. The Panthers lost 40-7 at Washington Sunday, and it didn’t feel that close.
So, five games after benching second-year quarterback Bryce Young, it’s time for the Panthers to reverse course and start him next week at Denver.
What’s the harm? Carolina is now 1-6 after its latest debacle, when Dalton started the onslaught by throwing a screen pass directly into the arms of Washington’s Dante Fowler Jr. who took it 67 yards for a touchdown on the game’s first series.
Dalton, the 36-year-old veteran who will turn 37 on Oct. 29, would end up playing every Carolina drive but one. Young came in for one final march of mop-up duty and completed both of his passes for (ahem) negative-4 yards. So Young actually ended the day with fewer passing yards for the year than he began.
Nevertheless, it’s time to give Young another spin. If nothing else, showcase him after a full week to prepare for the next game, so that teams that need a QB before the Nov. 5 trade deadline can see him and maybe offer something decent. But more to the point, you want to see if the break has helped any and if Young has actually learned anything.
It seemed Sunday like this proposed switch at QB is unlikely to happen, however. Head coach Dave Canales indicated after the game in his press conference that Dalton will be the starter next week.
Then again, Canales said much the same thing with Young after the Week 2 loss this year, and then he changed course the next day and announced Dalton would start instead.
Bench Dalton, start Young
I’d do the same thing again now, but in reverse. Bench Andy, start Bryce, and let’s see what the Young guy can and can’t do.
Maybe, as I suspect, he won’t do a bit better. Young was 2-16 the first time around, starting almost the entire 2023 season and the first two games of 2024. That’s a pretty large sample size. If he’s no better, you can always go back to Dalton.
But maybe — just maybe — Young will be better. And if he looks even worse, well, then you know what you don’t have. So you jettison him either at the trade deadline or before next season, and you pick your next future quarterback in April 2025 in the draft. That pick will be a high one, at least, and might even be another No. 1 selection if Carolina keeps playing like this. Losses at this point aren’t that bad for the bottom line.
The Panthers have few straws to cling to at this point. The 2024 version of the team is now once again vying for the “Worst Panthers Team Ever” title. Carolina was behind 27-0 at halftime in this one, and the CBS telecast showed a graphic saying that 27 points constituted Washington’s largest halftime lead since 2005.
You know how long it’s been since the Panthers trailed by 27 points at halftime?
Oh, man, it’s been so long that the president at the time was … Joe Biden.
It’s been six weeks. Carolina was losing, 30-3, at halftime to New Orleans in Week 1 of this season.
That’s the kind of year the Panthers are having, where a 33-point loss isn’t even your worst of the season (Carolina lost by 37, in a 47-10 rout, to a New Orleans team that is now 2-5 and looks sort of terrible itself).
Said Dalton after Sunday’s defeat: “We have to look ourselves in the mirror and say, ‘All right. Why do these games keep going like this?’”
The answer: Well, how much time do you have?
Canales outcoached in Washington
Head coach Dave Canales and his staff were badly outcoached Sunday, and the team was outplayed at pretty much every position, and the talent level has been underwhelming since 2017.
Yes, the Panthers also have a lot of injuries, as they always do every single year, because that is the way the NFL works and it’s silly to pretend otherwise. But it was Washington (5-2) who lost star quarterback Jayden Daniels after one series due to a rib injury and had to play very average veteran Marcus Mariota for the rest of the game.
Daniels left with Washington ahead, 10-0. It could have still theoretically been a game.
The Panthers made Mariota look like Joe Montana, though, which is one of this woeful defense’s specialties. In one six-drive stretch under Mariota, Washington went TD-FG-TD-TD-FG-FG.
The Panthers have now allowed 34, 36, 38 and 40 points in their last four games. ESPN reports that Carolina’s 34.7 points allowed per game through seven games this season is currently on pace to be the second-highest points per game allowed in the Super Bowl era, trailing only the 1966 New York Giants.
Panthers are 3-21 in last 24 games
Sunday’s beatdown was complete.
Washington outgained Carolina in total yardage, 421-180. Dalton, who led Carolina to 36 points in his first start, has now led the Panthers to only 37 combined in the last three.
Carolina, missing six defensive starters on the front seven, had to have come close to the team unofficial record for missed tackles. “Blocking” tight end Ian Thomas whiffed on key blocks on two significant plays early. Wide receiver Diontae Johnson appeared to run an incorrect route, resulting in Dalton’s second interception. Carolina once again had nearly as many penalty yards (59) as gross passing yards (85). And so on.
All of that made it sound kind of thin when Canales said after the game: “I’m proud of our guys. I’m proud of the work that we do.”
Really? You were proud of that?
Canales also relies on the “gotta look at the film” cliche far too often. Enough with the coachspeak. You don’t have to look at the film to realize how awful that performance was. You don’t have to watch film to understand that you aren’t giving Panther fans who have seen their team go 3-21 over its past 24 games enough of a reason to hope. You don’t have to go to the tape first before you say, “Look, I’m sorry it’s not better right now, Panther fans. But it’s going to get better. I promise. Hang with us.”
As for the idea of starting Young again: He’s been deeply flawed, but he’s still only 23 years old and the Panthers did bet the farm upon him only 18 months ago. Young is definitely going to get another chance to start this season. It may as well be right now.
Because really, what else is there to lose?
