Offense has little life in Carolina Panthers loss

Fullback Mike Tolbert, the unofficial DJ of the Carolina Panthers locker room, had his portable speakers still stowed in his black luggage.

In the Georgia Dome’s visitors’ locker room, where the past two years the Panthers have celebrated division titles by dancing and singing to “CoCo” and “Kings of the South,” there was none of that Sunday.

Quarterback Cam Newton didn’t talk to anyone for at least 20 minutes after media was allowed in, opting instead to sit in stunned silence.

The locker room was as lifeless as the Panthers’ offense after the first series of their 20-13 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.

As if Carolina’s offensive numbers looked pedestrian at the end of the game, consider what they are when you remove the first series from the total.

Subtracting Carolina’s opening drive of 11 plays for 80 yards and a touchdown, the Panthers ran 41 offensive plays totaling 188 yards, had just 13 first downs and scored six points.

“We lost the game by seven points and there were seven points out there to be made,” Newton said.

Before the Panthers were gifted an extra shot to tie the game with more than a minute left, they had been throttled in time of possession by a margin of nearly 10 minutes.

Carolina’s defense couldn’t get off the field and the Panthers’ offense couldn’t stay on it. The Panthers crossed midfield on four of their next five drives after the touchdown and only had six points to show for it.

“We were getting on their side of the field and we weren’t doing well in red zone other than the first drive of the game,” tight end Greg Olsen said. “We took it right down on them. Just didn’t quite find that there at the end of the drives.”

These Panthers had scored at least 20 points in every game this season until Sunday. And they notably put 38 on the same Falcons team two weeks ago.

But that game saw the Panthers make a number of chunk plays. Three plays went for 40 or more yards and another three went for at least 24.

Sunday, Carolina had just one play of 20 or more yards.

“Obviously their game plan was to take away the big play, and we did a good job of moving the ball,” receiver Jerricho Cotchery said. “Once we crossed midfield we weren’t able to keep the chains moving.

“This journey presents a lot of learning experiences and unfortunately, or fortunately, this is our first losing experience.”

Ted Ginn Jr. was the recipient of two of the long plays two weeks ago against Atlanta, but he was locked down this time. He had just one catch on three targets – including one first-quarter drop – for 9 yards as he was hampered with quad and knee injuries.

But the Panthers even had trouble with the short stuff. Carolina’s pass catchers couldn’t come up with two key third down plays that killed drives.

On third-and-4 from the Carolina 37 at the start of the fourth quarter, Newton looked for Philly Brown near the sideline for a first down. Newton threw it low but only where Brown could make the catch. It bounced off the second-year receiver’s chest, up into the air and out of bounds.

Then, with 8 minutes left in the game, Newton saw Olsen streaking across the field on a third-and-3 from the Atlanta 29 and led the tight end for what should have been a nice catch-and-run first down. Instead Olsen couldn’t haul in the pass despite having a paw on it and the Panthers settled for a field goal.

But the play that will eat at Olsen is the fourth-down pass with 1:53 remaining. Newton took the shotgun snap and, with some pressure in his face, threw it up about 10 yards downfield for Olsen.

Olsen, however, had only gone about 5 yards because of confusion. The ball fell harmlessly to the ground near midfield.

“I didn’t do a good enough job of getting the play call. I wasn’t sure what was happening, then the ball got snapped on me,” Olsen said. “I was just trying to get to the first-down chains and figure it out. I didn’t even really run a route. So I would love to have that play back and get out on them and run.”

Earlier this week, six members of the Panthers’ offense were named to the Pro Bowl. Sunday’s performance was a far cry from a championship offense.

And if that type of play continues into January, all six of those players will be taking that trip to Hawaii rather than playing for something that really matters.

This story was originally published December 27, 2015 at 6:52 PM with the headline "Offense has little life in Carolina Panthers loss."