Panthers’ offense failed against Seahawks. That can’t happen vs. Buccaneers
There’s no more leeway, and little wiggle room left to spare.
It’s down to the wire for the Carolina Panthers (8-8) as they enter Week 18 following Sunday’s disappointing 27-10 loss to the Seattle Seahawks. The home finale was a major letdown, as it kept the slumping Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-9) alive in the most confounding division race in football. And the most puzzling aspect of the loss was Carolina’s offense, which sputtered throughout a foggy afternoon.
Bryce Young threw for a career-low 54 passing yards and an interception. The running game averaged 3.8 yards per carry, despite running back Rico Dowdle individually picking up 4.9 yards per tote. And the unit as a whole coughed up two giveaways that led to 14 points for the opposition.
The Panthers’ offense put its defense in bad positions all afternoon. And those misgivings led to a 17-point loss on Mint Street.
“Just didn’t execute,” Young said following the loss. “Ton of credit to the defense, they did a great job. Offensively, we let them down today. That sucks. Obviously, it starts with me. We all take ownership.”
The Seahawks produced five scoring drives against the Panthers’ defense. Three of those scoring series began in Carolina territory following a fumble recovery, an interception and a turnover on downs.
All three series following the Panthers’ mishaps ended in Seahawks touchdowns. Carolina’s defense only allowed six points on drives that began on Seattle’s side of the field.
The Panthers’ defense also produced two turnovers.
Rookie pass rusher Nic Scourton created a strip-sack and the ball was recovered by the defense. The takeaway led to a first-half field goal after the offense was stopped following just three plays in Seattle territory.
Cornerback Mike Jackson also picked off Sam Darnold in the end zone. But on the very next play, following a touchback, running back Chuba Hubbard coughed up the ball and it was recovered by Seattle. The Seahawks hit paydirt six plays later.
“We made mistakes on the offensive side, and when you play a good team like this, you have to be able to take advantage,” Coach Dave Canales said about the limited success off turnovers.
A few hours before the game, the Panthers put rookie wideout Tetairoa McMillan on their last-minute injury report with an illness. McMillan ended up playing, but he didn’t catch a pass until the fourth quarter.
Young targeted him four times — including an ill-fated interception in the third quarter — but the Panthers’ No. 1 playmaker just couldn’t find his rhythm.
Following the game, both Young and Canales said they felt McMillan looked the part on Sunday. The rookie concurred.
But the numbers — one catch for five yards — told another story.
Still, McMillan, who woke up congested, refused to make excuses, even with an uncharacteristic output.
“Yeah, I felt fine,” McMillan said. “I was all right.”
Young, who ran for a touchdown in the fourth quarter, was hurried regularly behind the line scrimmage. While that outlook isn’t outside the norm, Young wasn’t able to improvise for passing success as he typically does.
His interception throw, meant for McMillan, lacked juice and was easily undercut by Seattle defensive back Julian Love. Young also took a pair of sacks, while getting hit four times behind the line of scrimmage.
“Credit to them,” Young said about the Seahawks defense. “They made adjustments. They came out with a game plan. They did a better job of executing it than we did. That’s the league. You’re going to go up against different schemes. People are going to make adjustments, and we didn’t do a good enough job of being able to react to that and counter it.”
“We’ll watch the film, and we’ll learn and grow from it,” Young added. “That’s the NFL.”
Adding to the passing game woes was the first-quarter injury of tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders. The second-year player broke his ankle while blocking for a Dowdle run on the opening series.
That left the Panthers with just two natural tight ends: veteran Tommy Tremble and rookie Mitchell Evans.
The Panthers have had success in three-tight end sets this year, and that seemed to be part of the game plan in a cold, cloudy atmosphere.
“Obviously, we kind of found something we liked in 13 personnel (one running back, three tight ends) this week, so that was not our whole game plan, but a pretty good bit of that,” Evans said. “And we kind of have to go out of that, from something drastically happening to (Sanders) — we’ve still got to be able to adapt with whatever we’ve got to do. ... We’ve still got to execute at a high level. But obviously, it is a shock — when you’ve kind of been repping it in practice and things all week — to not be able to do that.”
The offensive line, which endures almost-weekly makeovers due to injury, also seemed sluggish on Sunday. While the sack and QB hit numbers won’t alarm anyone, the Seahawks clearly won the trench battle at Bank of America Stadium.
Canales put the shortcomings of the entire offense on execution and play-calling.
“From what I could tell live, just whether it was formationally, or whether it was just the technique that was involved in what we were asking them to do, we have to make sure we clear those things up so we can play our best ball,” Canales said.
Heading into the final week of the regular season, the Panthers only have one more chance to clinch a division title. They probably won’t accomplish that feat without a competent offense.
And with the Buccaneers awaiting their challenge in Florida, it’s time for Canales and company to bounce back in a hurry.
The Panthers have done it before. They can do it again.
Their division foes are struggling. But they can’t take that for granted.
It’s time for the offense to prove its worth on the biggest (and final) stage of the regular season.
