The Panthers beat bad teams without Christian McCaffrey. Now they desperately need him
For nearly a month, the Carolina Panthers cobbled it together spectacularly well without Christian McCaffrey, winning three games in a row in the absence of their star running back.
But Chicago’s 23-16 victory over the Panthers on Sunday finally made the man who wasn’t there very apparent.
The Chicago defense was too fast to allow Teddy Bridgewater time to throw, too physical to let Mike Davis break tackles and too smart to let the Panthers trick them in the red zone.
The result: One TD in 11 possessions for Carolina’s offense Sunday, and a winning effort by the Carolina defense that got wasted in a one-possession loss.
You know what it’s time for? Past time for, really?
McCaffrey.
The problem is that McCaffrey’s ankle still may not allow it.
“I’m not sure if it’s this week, next week or the week after,” Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said when asked Monday when McCaffrey would return to play. “I’m hoping we get him back soon.... I’d love to have him. But whether it’s this week (at New Orleans Sunday) or not, I’m not sure yet.”
No. 22 has missed the past four games with a high-ankle sprain — an injury that typically takes 4-6 weeks to heal for a running back.
Carolina has gone 3-1 without him, amazingly, and is 3-3 overall. But the Panthers miss him badly as their “X” factor. McCaffrey, 24, is Carolina’s best entry in the category of “Ridiculous Athlete” — the guy who can conceivably make two players on a great defense like the Bears still miss and score standing up.
When Chicago is employing players like Khalil Mack on defense and the Panthers don’t have their McCaffrey counter-move to play, you get games like Sunday when Carolina only scores 16 points and Bridgewater is running for his life because, too often, nobody is open.
The Panthers won 23-16 against Atlanta a week ago and then lost by the exact same score to Chicago on Sunday, and the difference mostly was the quality of the opponent. You can beat an Atlanta (1-5) without a McCaffrey; you can’t beat a Chicago (5-1).
When is Christian McCaffrey coming back?
So when McCaffrey returns is the big question for a Carolina offense that is starting to struggle, with only one touchdown, four field goals and 19 total points over the past six quarters.
The answer to it is iffy. He’s still on injured reserve — though eligible to come off of it — and the Panthers are being extremely careful with him.
As Rhule indicated by his careful answer Monday, it’s possible that McCaffrey won’t return until the Nov. 8 game at defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City, which would mean he would miss six games altogether.
The Panthers don’t seem internally optimistic about McCaffrey coming back at New Orleans next Sunday, and then their next game after that is only four days later against Atlanta on Oct. 29 at home.
This is the right way to do it, to slow-play it.
No matter how many interceptions Bridgewater throws — and he was picked off on both his first and last passes of Sunday’s game — you can’t let that affect when McCaffrey plays again. Carolina is wedded to McCaffrey after that $64-million contract extension he signed in April, the biggest ever for a running back. The last thing anyone needs is for McCaffrey to come back, play a few quarters and get hurt again.
But it is enticing to think what offensive coordinator Joe Brady could do with Davis and McCaffrey in formation at the same time, and how McCaffrey’s mere presence allows Carolina’s other playmakers more room to operate.
It’s not foolproof.
One of the strangest stats about these Panthers is that they are 0-10 over the past 10 games in which McCaffrey has played. They are a better-balanced team now, though, and, given Davis’ emergence, they won’t need McCaffrey to immediately touch the ball 30 times a game. They just need him to touch it 15-20 times, and be a threat to touch it a lot more.
McCaffrey spoke to the media shortly after his injury, when the Panthers were 0-2. In a way, he predicted what happened next.
“I think this team has a lot of fight. I think our team has a lot of resiliency,” McCaffrey said. “And we have the right guys to pick it up from here and I’m excited about that. ... We have the right culture, and it’s still early, and there is still hope.”
Yes, there is still hope, and there will be more of it once McCaffrey comes back. The Panthers need him now. And they need him in the long term.
That’s a delicate tightrope to navigate, and one the Panthers may have to balance on for the next several weeks.
This story was originally published October 18, 2020 at 6:39 PM.
