Lea: Can someone find the Carolina Panthers offense?
Posted September 19, 2023 12:31 a.m. EDT
Updated September 19, 2023 1:56 p.m. EDT
Charlotte, N.C. — Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper didn't hire Steve Wilks as the team's head coach this past offseason, after coaching them to a 6-6 record after taking over for Matt Rhule, and nearly getting them into the playoffs.
The reason was offense. Tepper wanted to hire the first offensive minded head coach in team history. In comes Frank Reich, who brought in an all-star cast of names. Thomas Brown as offensive coordinator, Josh McCown as quarterbacks coach and even former NFL head coach Jim Caldwell as a senior assistant.
With names like those, and others, you'd expect the Panthers to look like a much improved offensive team.
But tonight, the Panthers are 0-2 in this young season after their 20-17 loss to New Orleans. The Saints, Falcons and Buccaneers, the other teams in the NFC South are all off to a 2-0 start. Not an ideal position for the Panthers.
Two unfortunate stats stood out in the Monday Night game.
The first: The Saints had three drives of 10 plays or more, followed by three-and-out Panthers offensive drives each time. This kept the Panthers defense on the field for an extended time. Ejiro Evero's group mostly held the Saints in check, but better offensive teams will blow the Panthers out if they continue to have these poor drives.
The second: Rookie quarterback Bryce Young only had 92 yards passing before adding 61 yards in the final drive for the Panthers. Essentially in garbage time when the Saints were playing a soft defense. Young finished 22-33 passing for only 153.
Where are the explosive plays? Jonathan Mingo caught a 22 yard pass late in the game, which is the longest pass play of the season for the Panthers. Before that, two separate 15 yard receptions from Adam Thielen and DJ Chark respectively in this game. The longest pass play versus the Falcons in Week 1 was 14 yards.
The weapons are just not there for Young and everything seems extra laborious for this offense, especially for a team that we expected to have a fresh offensive scheme. Running back Miles Sanders averaged only three yards per carry after totaling 43 yards on 14 carries. Tight end Hayden Hurst only pulled in three catches for 20 yards. Chark's 15 yard reception was his lone catch in the game.
Besides Thielen, none of the players acquired to be Young's weapons in the offseason seem to be making a difference. Thielen's seven receptions is the fifth consecutive time he's caught seven or more passes against the Saints.
There's much left to be desired for the Carolina Panthers on the offensive side of the ball.
Dennis Cox and I discuss this and more coming from this game in the latest episode of 'Panthers Playbook'. Listen below.
