Bryce Young was right yesterday, insofar as the team’s perspective goes, that they need to win games by margins that can’t be overturned by a single, atrocious officiating error. “We should never be relying on Refs, or calls, or anything like that. It’s on us to go leave no doubt.,” he said during his postgame press conference. Unfortunately, doubt was about the only thing the Carolina Panthers left on the field in their 21-26 loss to the Denver Broncos yesterday.
13 penalties for 119 yards (a 69-yard
differential) against the Panthers and a controversial, replay-assisted turnover in the end zone held one of the most injured teams in the league back from beating one of the most charmed teams in existence. The Broncos have now won an NFL record 16 consecutive one-score games. They established that record yesterday by playing against a roster that, at several important positions, has been assembled over just the past couple of weeks.
If I were a Broncos fan, I wouldn’t be excited about my team after beating the Panthers yesterday. If I were a Panthers fan, I wouldn’t be too down on my team. Folks in the comments have spent a lot of time pointing out that the Panthers only wins come against the Cooper Rush Falcons, the Tanner McKee Eagles, and the Detroit Lions (who are actually a good team). I’ll counter that with the fact that the Panthers have been the most injured team on any field they have played this season. If the most important ability is availability then the Panthers have been far from the most able team on their own schedule. Let’s dig into that.
Bryce Young vs his offensive line
Panthers quarterback Bryce Young and his offensive line are having career years. For Young, he remains, statistically, a top ten passer in the NFL. He is fourth in yards per game and tied seventh for touchdown passes. He has also taken the fourth most sacks in the league and often shows up as the most pressured quarterback in the league in weekly advanced metrics.
That’s because his offensive line has been awful in pass protection this season. Left tackle Rasheed Walker and center Luke Fortner have been free agency busts, with both leading the league at various points this season with most pressures allowed at their respective positions. Right guard Robert Hunt, who has also made those lists, has clearly not returned to form after a torn bicep last season. Their disappointing seasons have combined with the nagging injuries for left guard Damien Lewis, the effectively total absences of right tackle Taylor Moton, left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, and do-it-all lineman Brady Christensen, and the rookie learning curve for tackle Monroe Freeling to make “the most expensive offensive line in the league” a strength that barely ever existed on paper. Add in the occasional injuries for back-up guards Torricelli Simpkins and Corey Bullock and it is clear that Young and running back Chuba Hubbard haven’t been playing from positions of strength.
Hubbard has been earning what I call “Jonathan Stewart yards” where he ends a game with more yards after contact than total yards. Young has been harrassed from the snap more often than he has had a clean pocket. Yet both show up in the top ten at their positions.
Complain all you want about the lack of offensive success, but let’s point fingers where they are due. Everything begins in the trenches in the NFL and the Carolina Panthers aren’t winning many battles there. Hope arrives next week, possibly, in the form of a returning Christensen. He’s unlikely to magically elevate everyone’s level of play, but sometimes all it takes is change at one position to settle the whole line in.
Short yardage situations
Yesterday’s goal-line fiasco (I’m trying to be polite) would never have happened if head coach Dave Canales and offensive coordinator hadn’t tried to get cute with a pass to Tommy Tremble. They had first and goal at the one yard line. They should have just run it in, right?
I’m not so sure.
The Panthers have struggled in short yardage situations all season. Most of their success has come either with passes or Hubbard bouncing a run to the outside when his intended gap has been congested by Panthers linemen not winning their blocks. This is going to be an ongoing area of concern and the biggest part of their current identity that will keep them back from making or succeeding in the playoffs. As for the goal line yesterday, Carolina had two choices: they could play to their strengths or they could try to impose their will with players who had proven they were not up to the task. I’m not mad at the call they made.
That play
I am mad at the decision to review the first down play after second down had been run and the ball was being spotted for third down. I think the NFL got it wrong, but I’m going to dive deeper into that later today. For now, suffice it to say that the interception, as far as the actual catch goes, was legit. Hilarious, even. I love plays like that. I also think that pass interference should be able to be assessed on review and that the challenge flag was late.
The Panthers were failed by multiple layers of the officiating and review process yesterday and that is the biggest thing that stood between them and beating a team that has a better record and a healthier roster. Now is not the time for a team that is still sitting at first in its division to talk about firing coaches and drafting new quarterbacks. It may be time to talk about their field, training staff, and anything else that concerns the health and rehabilitation of their players.
Can the defense catch a break?
The Broncos 14-play, 80 yard drive for a touchdown probably doesn’t happen if even one of Jaelan Phillips, Nic Scourton, Bobby Okereke, Jaycee Horn, or Mike Jackson were on the field. The Panthers defense is hurt, trying to evolve under changing leadership, and playing a roster that looks straight out of the preseason.
Marco Wilson was signed to the practice squad during the Week 5 bye. That means he had two weeks of practice with the practice squad before starting two games in a row in Weeks 8 and 9 that featured his defensive coordinator and passing game coordinator being dismissed from their roles in between.
Corey Thornton and Chau Smith-Wade have been with the team for a couple of years now, but have had vanishingly little game experience this season as outside corners. In Thornton’s case, this was his first game active this season. I truly do not mind the penalties here. Nor do I point to them as coaching errors. These are young, inexperienced, and rusty players being thrown straight into the game against opponents in midseason form. They will either calm down and play smarter or prove why they were fringe roster/practice squad players in the first place.
Improvement on defense will come, similarly to the offensive line, when they can field players who can reasonably be expected to compete in an NFL game.
What’s next?
Well, the Panthers are favored for their first game against the New Orleans Saints this season. That would put them on track to hold onto the first place position in the NFC South that they have held since beating the Atlanta Falcons in Week 2. Why are they favored, you ask, when they are on a three game losing streak and the Saints just beat the Browns?
Probably because the NFL just watched a beaten up Panthers team almost beat the “fearsome” 7-2 Broncos. Carolina had to contend with outrageous officiating, poor health, poor protection, and a missed field goal. They lost by five points in a game that was ended by an excellent defensive play by the Broncos. The Panthers are also due to receive reinforcements in the way of Damien Lewis, Will Lee III, Brady Christensen, and, if they’re lucky, Mike Jackson next week.
The math here is simple. A barely better team yesterday would have beaten the Broncos. The Saints would not be expected to beat a team the caliber of the Broncos. The Panthers expected returning players have the potential to make them a substantially better team. Therefore, we can have hope against the Saints. Honestly, if the team trends towards healthy down the second half of the season then they could be heating up at just the right time to make noise in the post season.
Remember that the Panthers have played eight games on a 17-game schedule. Over half the season is left to be played. Three different, painful losses in 15 days is a lot to watch as fans, but they’re not out of it yet.
