Thursday night felt like deja vu for Panthers fans. Carolina fell 27-19 in Green Bay, and despite the one-score margin, it never felt like the Panthers had a chance in the second half.
Having a weak offensive line is one of the biggest struggles an offense can have in the NFL. Not being able to cover receivers downfield is one of the biggest struggles a defense can have. The Carolina Panthers have had both issues in their last two games.
Coming off a short week where they suffered a 30 point loss to their division rivals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Carolina had high hopes of addressing the reasons for their concerning defeat. Unfortunately for Panthers fans, Thursday night in Green Bay felt like deja vu.
The opening kickoff made it appear that Carolina was ready to compete as they were able to rip the football loose and recover it deep into Packers’ territory. Bryce Young and the offense were set up perfectly to take an early lead but could only put three points on the board. It then became apparent that field goals would not be enough to come out victorious.
Carolina’s rush defense improved from a week ago, only allowing 66 total yards on the ground but Packers’ quarterback Jordan Love was able to pick apart the Panthers’ secondary on plays downfield.
Love ended the night 30 for 41 through the air with 288 passing yards and two touchdowns. Christian Watson accounted for the majority of the success in the passing game with eight catches for 113 yards. Perhaps the most impressive part of Watson’s night was suffering an injury, being taken to the hospital via ambulance to be evaluated and then later returning to the field.
After gaining a comfortable lead, the Packers offense turned conservative enough to somehow keep Carolina in the game. A Chuba Hubbard 1-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter made the score 27-19 Green Bay. Head coach Dave Canales questionably called for a two-point attempt which failed and this held to be the final score of the night.
Carolina’s offense had a chance to tie the game with a touchdown and 2-point conversion late in the fourth quarter but some more questionable play-calling resulted in revoking that opportunity. It is also worth noting that plays downfield were not an option because the offensive line could not give Young enough time for the play to develop. Young was sacked six times on the evening and under pressure more dropbacks than he wasn’t. The Panthers had the ball around mid field with about three minutes to go in regulation. On 3rd and 7, Carolina chose to run the ball for little to no gain. This was followed by an incompleted pass that resulted in a turnover on downs. Carolina proceeded to use all of their timeouts on the defensive side of the football.
The Panthers gained possession back on their own 20 yard line with 22 seconds remaining. As expected, no scoring threat was made and the game ended on a fumble from a lateral attempt.
As bad as the offensive line has been, the real concern for the Panthers right now is the defense. A unit that can give up 250-plus rushing yards one night and an astronomical number of deep balls the next has proven too inconsistent, and it cost defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero his job. News broke Friday morning that Evero had been relieved of his duties.
Carolina has at least shown over the last couple of seasons that they will make changes when necessary if standards are not being met but it still feels like this is a completely different team than a few weeks ago.
The schedule doesn’t get any easier when the Panthers host the Denver Broncos on November 8th. Unless the offensive line improves significantly, expect for Bryce to be under pressure yet again against (another) strong, defense-minded team.
