Pounding Panthers Chronicle: Week 5
Week 4 Recap:
The Carolina Panthers walked into Dallas with a confidence that may have felt scarce in recent past. They were 3-0, fresh from knocking off the little brother in the other Texas based team in Houston, and the Panthers would face their toughest challenge yet on the season. This challenge would prove to be too much for the Panthers, on many fronts they would appear to be overmatched. In a game where this team found themselves going into halftime with a one point lead; which makes it difficult to imagine it being so one-sided. The before mentioned confidence was present on both sides of the ball. Chubba Hubbard was able to gash the defense for solid chunk runs in a game that would turn pass heavy in the rookie’s first career start. On the day he would finish with 13 carries for 57 yards, but the rushing touchdowns on the day belonged to Sam Darold. The Panthers quarterback has now rushed for five touchdowns in the first four games of the 2021 season. DJ Moore notched his 10th career 100 yard receiving game in the loss. DJ’s play is asserting himself as one of the top receivers in the game today. Moore busted off a 39-yard catch the involved a Spider-man like move to stay upright after colliding with multiple Dallas defenders. The Carolina defense was not successful in getting to Dak for a sack, but the pressure was one throughout the first half.
I would be hard pressed to not point out that this coaching staff has had issues with clock management in the past. On a third quarter drive we saw two separate timeouts used on the same drive, one on a fourth down, and the second later on a third down play at the line of scrimmage by Darnold. This drive netted a total of zero points and left the team with only one timeout for the remainder of the game. The schemes and concepts felt as if offensive coordinator Joe Brady was calling this game as if CMC was actually playing in this game. The more concerning note is what appears to be a lack of adjustments being made at halftime. The team in a whole and specifically the offense has struggled mightily in the 3rd quarter throughout this season. Joe Brady can be the greatest ever to draw up X’s & O’s, but if he can’t adjust to what teams are doing it will end in failure.
The second half offered a tale that would remind people of a “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” story. The confidence and swagger that was alive in the first half was quickly dashed away when the teams came out after halftime. Dallas didn’t just take the lead back and going on a 20-0 run in the third quarter. There was a crucial missed fumble call on the field, and due to a wrongly ruled forward progress call on the field Head Coach Matt Rhule was unable to challenge the play. This play could have swung the momentum back to the Panthers but it was clear that DC Dan Quinn of the Cowboys was uncovering the holes the Panthers offense had been keeping under wraps. We all have known there were issues on the offensive line and that Sam Darnold has good and bad qualities as a player. This past Sunday we got a bit more of the latter as the Cowboys smacked down the 3-0 Panthers. In pass coverage we saw miss assignments and blown coverages that for a player of Dak’s caliber is simply too easy. In a world where you allow Dak to throw to wide-open receivers there is no chance for your team’s pass rush even with the talent that exist on the Panthers’ roster.
The game in Dallas left the team with more than a poor taste left in their mouths. During the game Shaq Thompson left briefly with an injury and returned sporadically throughout the remainder of the game. Cameron Erving was sidelined on the first drive of the game for the Panthers with what has been listed as a neck injury. It is not a definite that Erving will be a scratch from next week’s game, but I would consider him doubtful for the matchup with the Eagles.
I Got a Bag of Chips If We’re Trading
Early Wednesday morning it was being reported that the New England Patriots would be releasing the former 2019 Defensive Player of the Year Stephon Gilmore. This raised a lot of eyebrows across the NFL as the former DPOY has been on the PUP-List. Gilmore would have been eligible to return to the Patriots upon being activated after week 6. The move to release Gilmore left speculations as to why; with some leaning towards the narrative of an inability to renegotiate Gilmore’s contract. Almost as quickly as phones and apps could buzz with notifications of Gilmore’s release there was another breaking story hitting the airways. In what felt like mere seconds reports were coming out that the Panthers were trading a sixth-round 2023 pick to the Patriots in return for Gilmore. There were whispers within the Panthers community of desires to bring the South Carolina native home to the Carolinas. These whispers erupted into cheers as the news of the trade broke. The 2019 Defensive Player of the Year will be joining newly acquired cornerback CJ Henderson and Donte Jackson in what appears to be an almost overnight transformation. In the prior 2 weeks the Panthers have traded for just as many defensive backs since the announcement of the surgery to repair the broken bones in rookie Jaycee Horn’s foot. The before mentioned Jackson and Gilmore would be unrestricted FA after this season; though the moves to bring in Henderson and Gilmore say that GM Fritterer is in a win now mode. The first year Panthers GM has stepped up to the reigns of running this organization and is unafraid to bring in the players he feels the team needs. It is yet to be seen how these trades will work out, and could lead to Fritterer finding himself on an early hot seat. The debut of Gilmore with the team is expected to be in New York against the Giants. We will see this team likely field a defensive back unit that has CJ Henderson, Donte Jackson, A.J. Bouye, and now Stephon Gilmore. As to the question of who will play where this is unknown at the moment. This is a good problem to have if these recent trades prove to be fruitful.
Is He Back?
A big reason the Panthers did not put Christian McCaffrey on the modified Injury-Reserve list was because of the belief that he would bounce back quickly from his hamstring issue. I think it will be highly unlikely that we see CMC this weekend against the Eagles. This would line up a possible return for the October 17 matchup with the Vikings as McCaffrey’s return. Last year showed what rushing a player back could potentially lead to, specifically this player, with a GM in a win now mindset a slow timetable may be seen as unacceptable, but this is on speculation on my part. If you are fanatical as the name fan implies you know how tricky soft tissue injuries can be. After the horrible performance by the offense in Dallas it would be foolish to think the Front Office isn’t at least secretly hoping for a fast recovery. Christian McCaffrey is the identity of this offense; mainstream media would have you believe this is Darnold’s team. That folks is just simply not true. CMC is the heart of this team, and humble enough to share the limelight with his fellow teammates. As someone that will be in attendance for the Vikings game on said person’s birthday, yes I want to see McCaffrey out there, and that’s because they are better with him suited up. If McCaffrey being game-dressed comes at the expense of rushing him back into service I feel the cost will be too high.
Two Hands Touching the Century Mark
In the defeat against Dallas we saw DJ Moore record his 10th 100 yard receiving game in his career. This is the second game in a row that the receiver out of Maryland has cross the century mark. It does mark another trend of at 6 catches in every game this season, and 8 in each of the last 3 games. DJ Moore has seen double digit targets out of Darnold and should be expected to continue with this rate. I have seen nothing that would imply this connection doesn’t grow stronger, and any regression would not be by the person catching the ball. The Panthers number 1 wide receiver is fourth in receiving yards in the NFL. At his current projection Moore would soar past his current career highs in receiving yards totaling out around 1500 yards. The pace is likely unsustainable but further proof of the talent that exists on this roster. Expect Moore to lead the way in target this weekend against the Eagles. We saw an increase in targets and catches for Robby Anderson this past week as I expected, the RB’s as a whole had seven catches, and I expect a similar scenario when the Panthers return to Bank of America stadium this Sunday.
Coaches Gotta Coach
Let’s get things clear, this coach staff has had successes with this team, and do seem to be gifted in their professions. There is a growing concern that these coaches are not fully yet adjusted to the NFL. A large portion of this coaching staff was plucked straight from the college ranks by Matt Rhule himself; recently promoted from the colligate level. This is inexcusable given that this coaching staff is going into their second year as a unit. In the Dallas game I looked for Joe Brady to make some level of adjustment, and there became a growing nostalgic feeling of 2020. You don’t throw out a playbook because a star player goes down. Every coach has their style; schemes, philosophies, and typically a lot of personality imprinted on their system, but Sunday felt like a kid playing madden unsure how to run the offense without its star player. The Dallas game left fans wondering if Brady can bend to the strengths of this team, rather than forcefully try to cram the gameplan down defenses throats. The leader of this staff and team head coach Matt Rhule has shown his own moments of indecisiveness throughout his tenor. Is it possible that Rhule truly believes that he will see his seven year deal to fully mature if this team is not consistently winning games? Yes and the team started 1-0 (really 3-0 but that’s our little secret) and that should not be overlooked, but inconsistent success sounds an awful lot like missed opportunities. You know how that went for the last guy.