Gerber: Panthers rewind shines light on critical errors in Week 1 loss

By Clark Gerber, WRAL SportsFan contributor

A double-digit loss to your most hated division rival is not how any NFL team wants to start its season. That's the unfortunate reality for the Carolina Panthers this week, as they reflect on a 24-10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons.

An in-depth rewind of Sunday's game shows seven key mistakes that cost Carolina the game, and not all of them fall on rookie quarterback Bryce Young.

1. Panthers stuffed on 4th & 1, fail to score on opening drive (6:08 1st Q.)

This one hurts on the scoreboard, but may be the most forgivable mistake out of the bunch.

The Panthers were pretty sharp on their first offensive drive, marching 50 yards in 10 plays. All six runs to Miles Sanders and Chuba Hubbard had gone for positive yardage, so it's easy to understand why the coaching staff felt they could convert a 4th & 1.

It didn't work out as Atlanta crashed eight defenders to the line of scrimmage and stuffed a pretty slow-developing dive play. In hind sight, you'd love to grab the field goal and take an early lead, but playing aggressive in the first quarter isn't the worst thing in the world.

2. Bryce Young throws first INT, leading to Falcons touchdown (1:01 1st Q.)

Carolina got behind the chains with two straight penalties to start their second offensive drive. Facing a 2nd & 16, Bryce Young stared down his tight end Hayden Hurst over the middle, and was intercepted by Jessie Bates III.

Atlanta got an instant red zone opportunity, and scored a touchdown three plays later.

This mistake is a painful lesson for the rookie quarterback, who had time in the pocket and seemed to lock on to Hurst for what he thought would be a first down.

The throw was on target, and probably would have been a nice gain in college, but this is the NFL.

It appears Young underestimated the range that Bates had in coverage and got his pocket picked. That's understandable for a rookie on his 4th career attempt, but a very costly mistake nonetheless.

3. Young throws second INT, hands Falcons game-tying FG (6:38 3rd Q.)

First game or not, there's no defending this throw. On the surface, it looks like the exact same mistake as Young's first interception, but actually it's worse.

This time, rather than underestimate the defender's range, Young simply never looked at the safety (Bates again) in the middle of the field. You simply can't do that and get away with it as a pro.

Atlanta's offense did nothing with the ball after this, but got a field goal anyway because they were gifted great field position.

4. Miles Sanders fumbles, leading to another Falcons touchdown (2:24 3rd Q.)

Not all fumbles are created equal and this is more bad luck than anything else.

Sanders, who ran hard most of the afternoon, was fighting for extra yards and had the ball punched out right before he hit the ground.

It's easy to second guess after the fact and say that Sanders shouldn't have extended the ball, but it's not like he was being reckless. If his fumbling problems persist then that's a different story, but in this case it looks more like a bad bounce for the Panthers.

The worst part about this mistake is that it seemed to catch the Carolina defense off guard.

After allowing just 71 yards through the first 42 minutes of game time, the Panthers allowed 57 yards on the first five plays after Sanders' fumble, leading to a Falcons go-ahead touchdown.

5. Ihmir Smith-Marsette goes backwards on punt return, pins Panthers deep for critical drive (8:16 4th Q.)

The old "plant your feet on the 10-yard line" rule for punt returners doesn't seem to apply anymore, as many punters have perfected backspin on their kicks.

But one rule that will never go out of style is "don't run backwards on a return, ESPECIALLY inside your own 5-yard line."

Smith-Marsette, who's on his fourth team in three years as a pro, tried to do too much on this 4th quarter punt return and wound up getting tackled at the 1 for a loss of five yards.

The Panthers, who were still very much in the game, had to start a critical drive in the shadow of their own goal post and never got going. Two inaccurate throws from Young (one on a deep shot to Jonathan Mingo) led to another punt for the offense.

6. Kyle Pitts catches deep ball, sets up Falcons final TD (4:57 4th Q.)

It's safe to say the Panthers defense played very well for most of the game, but surrendering this 35-yard catch to Kyle Pitts was kind of a back-breaker.

Without the benefit of knowing the exact defense that was called, it appears the Panthers were in man coverage on this play, with Vonn Bell acting as the single high safety.

CJ Henderson stayed in pretty good position as he guarded Pitts, but got bullied downfield by the much bigger receiver (Pitts is 6'6" while Henderson is 6'1").

Part of the blame could go to Bell. He would have had a much better chance to break up the pass, but was a step late coming over to help.

It's hard to get too angry at the secondary here, especially since this was by far the longest pass play they gave up all game. The timing was brutal though, as Atlanta scored just two plays later to take a commanding 14-point lead.

7. Panthers wave the white flag on final offensive drive (2:20 4th Q.)

The level of urgency on the Panthers' final offense drive left a lot to be desired.

True, a 14-point comeback was unlikely at this point, but it is certainly not impossible in today's NFL.

Facing a 2nd & 1 with 2:20 on the clock, Carolina called a draw play for running back Chuba Hubbard.

The 3-yard gain was fine by itself, but allowing the clock to tick down 16 seconds to the two-minute warning should irk Panthers fans.

If they were going to call a running play, Carolina should have done everything in its power to get another play snapped before the game's final stoppage.

This was an opportunity for your Quarterback of the Future to get valuable reps in the two minute drill against some favorable looks on defense.

Leading a late touchdown drive could have, at the very least, boosted his (and the offense's) confidence going into next week. At best, it could have led to a successful onside kick and a chance to tie the game.

Instead, the Panthers' lack of urgency carried on past the two minute warning. Carolina gained just 13 yards on 9 plays to end the game, all on short throws from its rookie quarterback.

Silver linings

- Apart from the mistakes listed above, there is reason to be encouraged by Bryce Young in his first game. His lackluster stat line was the product of some very conservative play calling on 1st and 2nd down -- not because he was rattled. When the Panthers faced an obvious passing down, Young usually threw at or beyond the sticks. No checking down for a 3-yard gain on 3rd & 9 to pad the completion percentage.

- The offensive line played pretty well against an improved Atlanta defense. They gave Young plenty of time to throw for most of the first half, and surrendered their only two sacks on blitzes late in the game. In the run game, they helped Miles Sanders and Chuba Hubbard (who ran hard) to almost 5 yards per carry.

- Brian Burns and Derrick Brown are in for a monster year on defense. The two stars combined for 16 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 3 tackles for loss as the Panthers held the Falcons' explosive run game mostly in check. The defense as a whole gave up just 221 total yards on Sunday, good for 5th best in the league.