Right, so, we’re here again.
The Carolina Panthers ended their historic three-game winning streak with a loss to the Buffalo Bills. The Bills have been a favorite of bettors nationwide to make the AFC Championship
game this season and the Panthers can’t even get odds on that game. This was penned in everyone’s calendar as a loss from the moment schedules were released. Even with the Panthers recent successes and the much-discussed matching up of Carolina’s strengths against Buffalo’s weaknesses, most of us still expected a loss.
And yet, fans young and old are disheartened today. It’s not that the Panthers lost. It’s how they lost that hurts. The 40-9 score is part of it. Andy Dalton’s worst Bryce Young impression didn’t help. The rash of injuries across the field, but particularly on the offensive line are terrifying right now. But the worst of it all was watching bad decision follow bad decision from head coach Dave Canales.
Keeping Dalton, even primarily as a mentor for Young, feels like a coaching-driven mistake. Trying to balance the run and the pass in a game that was always going to be decided on the ground was a mistake. Rico Dowdle being hilariously out-touched by Chuba Hubbard is an absolute mistake. The only caveat to that last point is if Dowdle was secretly injured.
An entire week of being cute in the media with Young’s ankle and game status led to a game where Canales got too cute for his own good. This is now a habit of his. His short-yardage and crunch time play calls often abandon what is working for his team for transparent attempts at out-smarting his opponents. That apparently translates into his big game game plans as well.
The Panthers were supposed to commit to the run, wisely playing towards Carolina’s strength, against Buffalo’s defense, all while insulating the team from Dalton’s “heroics.” It would have been one thing if they did that and lost after injuries to their offensive line forced the wheels off. Best laid plans of mice and wagons and all that. One good “Harrumph!” and we’re on to Week 9.
Instead, we saw Dalton repeatedly get handed the opportunity to prove he is not an NFL caliber quarterback anymore. He may be a great mentor. He may have a future as a coach. His days as a quarterback on an active roster are behind him.
The reason I’m harping on this is because it is so familiar to Panthers fans.
This reads like I’m writing about Matt Rhule or late career Ron Rivera again. Who remembers the years of Optimist columns vaguely hoping for competent offensive coaching and some future, reliable quarterback to unlock the potential of Christian McCaffrey, D.J. Moore, and Curtis Samuel?
The likes of Tetairoa McMillan, Xavier Legette, and Jalen Coker have us in the same position again. Dalton threw a pass in the end zone that was inches away from being catchable by McMillan. That came on first & goal with 0:26 left in the first half and could have sent the Panthers into the locker room down only 19-10. That was one of several missed opportunities that could have made this a different game. Up until the Bills scored their second touchdown in the second half, the game felt much closer than the score.
I’m using the phrase “missed opportunities” here deliberately. Unlike the Rivera years, the opportunities have consistently actually existed for Canales’ offense. Saddled with questionable quarterbacking, a talent strapped roster, and stifled by his own inexperienced instincts, Canales has still deliveres one of the most successful and entertaining offenses I have watched as a Panthers fan.
I want him to learn from his mistakes. I want to watch him grow as his roster develops. I want to see what happens when he learns to twist the knife instead of drop it in his own foot while attempting some kind of silly spinning flourish.
I’m not optimistic because I expect him to improve. Too many people are unwilling to learn from their own mistakes. I’m optimistic because I want him to. The mistakes that led to fans being mad about a result they expected are plain as day. The opportunity is there to be missed. That amounts to a rare second chance to learn and grow. I really hope he takes it.
And I really hope Derrick Brown and Cade Mays are OK, because all of this may be moot without them.
