Good Panthers show up again in win over Falcons, but how long will they stick around?

The Carolina Panthers won Sunday, which you probably didn’t expect.

But then again, maybe you should have. After two months of the NFL season, we’ve at least learned that this is a Panthers team that is predictably unpredictable.

Sunday’s 19-13 upset win over Atlanta was a smashmouth, old-school kind of victory for the Panthers. It felt like a game the Pittsburgh Steelers might have concocted in the 1970s. It wasn’t exciting — the entire afternoon didn’t contain a single offensive play over 25 yards. But it did break a four-game Panther losing streak, pushing Carolina (4-4) back to .500 and letting them avoid going oh-for-October.

It also came with a cost. Carolina quarterback Sam Darnold, who played a decent and turnover-free game, got hurt midway through the fourth quarter when he tried to score on a keeper. Instead, Darnold got drilled at the Atlanta 3 and sustained a concussion. His status for next week is uncertain.

So it may have been a Pyrrhic victory, but it was a victory all the same, coming one week after the Panthers looked like they might be the worst team in the NFL. Carolina’s 25-3 loss to the one-win New York Giants on Oct. 24 was so pathetic that a jittery, skittish Darnold was benched.

But the Panthers have been like that all season. They whipped the New Orleans Saints by 19 points at home. They blew another home game against Philadelphia in the final minutes. They made a huge comeback in the final minute against Minnesota, only to immediately allow a touchdown in overtime. They look awful or average or pretty darn good, depending on what Sunday it is.

All of that has added up to 4-4, as it should. The 2021 Panthers haven’t been able to decide what kind of team they are yet.

These Panthers remind me of a great children’s book by Margery Cuyler called “That’s Good! That’s Bad,” where a little boy in a jungle finds terror and joy on alternating pages. Every time something good happens to him, there’s a python on the next page, awaiting a meal, and he must attempt another frenzied escape.

That reminds me of these guys, who still haven’t truly established their identity.

Hold on, you say.

Wasn’t the identity just established Sunday, when the Panthers ran 47 times for 203 yards, and did all of that good work without Christian McCaffrey playing a down?

Sure — for a Sunday, anyway.

Carolina will certainly try to run the ball 47 times every game — that was the most in any Carolina game since 2009. But that doesn’t work when you’re down by 14 points or when the other team is putting eight in the box every play. The Panthers still have to prove they can throw the ball consistently and score touchdowns instead of field goals. That’s the next step for an offense that couldn’t get No. 2 wide receiver Robby Anderson a single catch Sunday and needed four field goals from Zane Gonzalez to salvage stalled possessions.

To be fair, the Panthers’ defense has been pretty consistent this season. It has worn down in some second halves, yes, but I’d blame part of that on an offense that has had too many three-and-outs. It still ranks in the NFL’s top 3 in yards allowed.

And the Carolina defense was good Sunday, with Stephon Gilmore grabbing an interception in his first game as a Panther and Shaq Thompson returning from a foot injury to also pick off Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan.

“Shout-out to Stephon,” Thompson said. “He came in and made a big play for us … We’ve got to play like this every week.”

Several players and coach Matt Rhule pointed out afterward that the defense stood and watched when the offense was playing and the offense did the same, rather than simply sitting on the benches and waiting their turn to play. This was team-bonding at its most elemental and worked for a week at least.

So what can the Panthers do next? Having Darnold back Sunday against New England would be nice; Bill Belichick scheming things up against P.J. Walker hardly seems fair. Darnold has his bad points, and last week he was horrible, but he’s clearly the best quarterback on the roster.

As for the final nine games of the season, the Panthers still have some opportunities to win in November before the December schedule turns brutal.

“First time since I’ve been here we ran for 200 yards, so it’s a step in the right direction,” Rhule said.

Absolutely true. The embattled offensive line allowed no sacks, either.

“I felt like we had a lot of dog in us today, to be honest,” Walker said.

And they did. But how long can they keep barking?

This story was originally published October 31, 2021 at 7:09 PM.

Scott Fowler

The Charlotte Observer

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Columnist Scott Fowler has written for The Charlotte Observer since 1994 and has earned 26 APSE awards for his sportswriting. He hosted The Observer’s podcast “Carruth,” which Sports Illustrated once named “Podcast of the Year.” Fowler also conceived and hosted the online series and podcast “Sports Legends of the Carolinas,” which featured 1-on-1 interviews with NC and SC sports icons and was turned into a book. He occasionally writes about non-sports subjects, such as the 5-part series “9/11/74,” which chronicled the forgotten plane crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 in Charlotte on Sept. 11, 1974. Support my work with a digital subscription