In this year’s edition of the Carolina Panthers playing an confusing and overall weird game versus the Arizona Cardinals, the Panthers’ went down early and looked dreadful before a herculean 2nd half effort to storm back from a 27-3 deficit to being 51 yards away from victory. After a perfectly executed onside kick, the Head Coach Dave Canales found his team with the ball on offense, just less than 2 minutes to go, and a hair over half the field to go before completing what could, and likely should,
have been the largest comeback in Panthers history.
What followed next is one of the most confounding instances of situational football many have ever witnessed. A drive that was officially only 8 plays for 5 yards included a sea of mistakes by both teams and a whopping 6(!) penalties.
After a thorough review, there were 3 key reasons why the drive fell so flat and ended a dazzling 2nd half with a pitiful whimper. First, here’s a quick review of the entire drive.
(1st and 10) Incomplete short left to Tetairoa McMillan
A quick drive starter falls incomplete as a defender drives on the out-route by McMillan and the contact is enough to disrupt the receiver.
(2nd and 10) Incomplete short right to Legette
Young’s pass is batted down at the line of scrimmage as Zavala is pushed back into the pocket. Young looked to be targeting an open Legette over the middle of the field for at least a first down, assuming Legette can bring the ball in.
(3rd and 10) Encroachment penalty called on Cardinals (+5 yds)
(3rd and 5) Incompletion short left to Brycen Tremayne
After a free 5 yards, there was a pretty easy holding call there to be made on the pass to Tremayne that went uncalled on the following play. Cardinals blitz 6 with only 5 Panthers in protection, so the ball has to come out quickly. Cardinals know this and are playing receivers physically and not allowing them to get out of their breaks without a fight.
(4th and 5) Defensive Holding penalty called on Cardinals (+5 yds)
Thank goodness the actual play did not count as Young tried to make something with his legs and ended up fumbling in the process. The penalty was called on the receiver covering McMillan, however there was another easy defensive holding call on Tremayne on the opposite side of the field. Could Young have found a receiver if both were not held on the play?
(1st and 10) Run up the middle for Chuba Hubbard (+3 yds)
Spoiler: Hubbard’s 3 yard run was the only yards gained on the drive by an actual offensive play.
(2nd and 7) Offensive Holding called on Panthers (-10 yds)
The first penalty of the drive for the Panthers goes to Chandler Zavala who was playing in place of the injured Robert Hunt. Would have been an 11 yard gain to Hubbard. A potential momentum builder for an offense in desperate need of positive plays is called back.
(2nd and 17) Roughing the Passer called on Cardinals (+15 yds)
A questionable Roughing the Passer call as Josh Sweat technically put his body weight on Young. Sweat did make the tackle from his knees instead of the usual spearing/driving the player into the ground type motion that usually elicits that call.
(1st and 10) Incomplete short left. Intentional Grounding called on Panthers (-10 yds and loss of down)
A devastating, and highly questionable, call against the Panthers. Young looks to be hit as he releases the ball, causing it to flutter and land a few yards past the line of scrimmage. Despite the contact and Young pleading his case, the officials upheld the flag. Not only did the Panthers lose the down and get put back 10 yards, they also were forced to burn their 3rd timeout to avoid the 10 second run-off. A triple whammy that put Panthers in a rough situation that ultimately finished off the last of their comeback dream.
(2nd and 20) Incomplete deep right to Hunter Renfrow
Renfrow is not exactly my first choice to be targeting deep down the field, but the options were slim for Young and the ball needed to come out with pressure in the pocket mounting.
(3rd and 20) Defensive Offside called on Cardinals (-5 yds)
(3rd and 15) Incompletion short right to Tremayne
A fantastic, well-timed, breakup on the comeback route to Tremayne.
(4th and 15) Young sacked by Calais Campbell (- 8 yds, turnover on downs)
On the right side of the line, Moton cannot handle the stunt by two Cardinals defensive lineman to give the receivers enough time to get past the line to gain and get open. Campbell gets the inside shoulder of Moton and drives his way into Young to bring him down and seal the game for the Cardinals.
So what went wrong for the Panthers that caused such a lackluster final attempt?
First of all, the Panthers were not able to overcome the Cardinals aggressiveness. The Cardinals were playing bully-ball and it threw the Panthers off their game and made getting into any flow or rhythm impossible. The line was attempting to jump the cadence on every snap (hence the encroachment and offsides penalty) while the cornerbacks were holding on for dear life on just about every rep and daring the officials to call penalties – which they did, but probably could have called more. Not only did this not allow the receivers the ability to separate, but the constant flags being thrown did not allow the team to establish anything productive before another yellow flag hit the turf.
The second major issue, and perhaps the most important, was the offensive line’s performance. Ekwonu let through multiple pressures forcing Young to shift in the pocket and lose potential throwing lanes – this includes the contact that interrupted Young’s pass that eventually became the devastating grounding penalty. Zavala allowed immediate interior pressure and his assignment to bat a ball at the line of scrimmage that would have been a first down connection to Legette.
Zavala immediately followed that up with a holding penalty on the Panthers only successful play. Moton losing to Campbell on the final play of the drive was just the icing on the cake. Overall, the team was unable to handle the Cardinal’s pass rush regardless of if they sent a blitz or just the four man rush.
The final nail in the coffin was the Panthers play selection during the final drive. Canales had a timeout in his pocket and only needed 51 yards in nearly 2 minutes. At that point, the entire playbook is an option as Young had been handling the 2nd half expertly thus far. Despite this, Canales began to call a number of slow developing, down-the-field shots that amounted to nothing but cardio for the receivers.
Wideouts were constantly being forced to run down the field, against grabby defensive backs, leaving them gassed and unable to extend max effort. Remember, the Panthers had also just completed a 12 play, 76 yard drive prior to the onside kick and 33 of the final 34 plays were pass attempts. The opportunity to recover was non-existent. The slow developing plays allowed the Cardinals defensive line to tee off on the Panthers line which heavily contributed to pass protection issues. Canales’ choice to forgo incremental short gains in favor of trying to win the game in a single play ultimately left the Panthers gasping for air and eventually fizzling out in the final moments.
A brutal start to the game eventually ended with a brutal finish. Despite this, Canales did have the team willing to keep pounding in the middle 52 minutes of the contest and for that reason I do have some optimism going forward.
Next up, the Atlanta Falcons.
