So said Ray Liotta's Henry Hill in Goodfellas, "This is the bad time," as he descended into drug abuse, paranoia and legitimate fear of his "friends" in the mob, who may or may not have been planning to kill him.
The Carolina Panthers can probably relate right now, as they have lost two games in a row to NFC opponents—and it's been their own mistakes that have doomed them. From bad pass protection to turnover problems and a total lack of a pass rush, the Panthers are in free-fall mode going into their Week 9 matchup against an elite Denver Broncos team.
Following last week's 27-19 loss on the road to the Green Bay Packers, the Panthers have earned a 'C' grade for the week by John Breech at CBS Sports. Breech writes:
The Panthers' offensive line
has struggled to protect Young all year and it only got uglier on Thursday night with two more starters out (RT Taylor Moton and LG Damien Lewis). Young tends to struggle when he's under pressure and he faced a lot of pressure while facing a Packers team that sacked him six times. If the Panthers can't figure out how to protect Young, this offense might struggle for the rest of the season.
The Panthers have a lot of problems, but the biggest by far is this issue of pass blocking—which has been horrible all year and is only getting worse by the week. Over the last two games, quarterback Bryce Young has been sacked 11 times—an unsustainable number for any team, especially one that doesn't have the weapons or the defense to counteract that kind of pressure.
It's a bit late in the game to fire offensive line coach Joe Gilbert now, but they have to do something to shake up their lineup—or you can kiss a second straight playoff appearance goodbye.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Analyst warns Panthers offense could struggle the rest of the season
