Lea: Not running McCaffrey on 4th & 1 was not the Panthers problem against the Raiders

By Chris Lea, WRAL Sports anchor/reporter

Roger Craig, Marshall Faulk and Christian McCaffrey.

Those are the only three players in NFL history to go for over 1,000 yards in both rushing and receiving yards in the same season. With McCaffrey hitting that mark last season, a season where it appeared he was the only true threat to move the ball for the Carolina Panthers, no wonder all the 'Monday Morning Quarterbacks' wanted CMC to get the ball on 4th and 1 this past Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders with 1:23 left in the game.

I'm no different. I also thought CMC should've gotten the call, however, I wasn't upset with, nor surprised that Joe Brady (even though Matt Rhule took responsibility for the call) went with Alex Armah. But many Panthers fans seem to be unnecessarily upset with that call.

Don't be.

Ultimately, Armah was stopped short of the line to gain, ending the Panthers chances of trying to win the game from the Raiders. However, we don't have to go too far back to see that Armah can be clutch in the waning moments of a tight game.

Week 1, 2019. Panthers hosted the Los Angeles Rams at Banl of America Stadium. With 4:08 left in the game, the Rams held a 30 to 20 lead against the Panthers. The Cardiac Cats then went on to march down the field for 69 yards to a touchdown to bring themselves within 3, 30 to 27. The final play on the 1 yard line, the Panthers (with Cam Newton and McCaffrey) opted to hand the ball off to Armah, who scored and gave the Panthers a chance to win.

The Rams were able to hang on to win after the Panthers couldn't recover an on-side kick, but Armah proved he could get the tough yard.

There are two more important moments from last season to remember.

Week 2 versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Week 10 versus the Green Bay Packers. Both games, 22's number was called to get 1 or 2 tough yards to give The Panthers a chance to win. What do you think happened?

Both times, he was stopped and the Panthers went on to lose both games. 20-14 versus the Bucs, 24-16 against the Packers.

In no way am I suggesting that CMC is not clutch or not capable of getting that tough yard in the waning moments of a game. But McCaffrey, listed at 5'11", 205 pounds and known for his speed and elusiveness, shouldn't be the guy Panthers fans want to go up the gut for that one tough yard every single time. Part of the Panthers' problem last season was that their offense was predictable and if you stopped McCaffrey, you stopped the team. Kudos to the Panthers for trying to do something different to throw the defense off, but they could do more.

Last season, Norv and Scott Turner didn't establish another runner to keep defenses off balance. Under Matt Rhule's new regime for this one game seemed to be the same. Rhule wasn't unhappy with the amount of times CMC was ran, but he did state this past week he wanted runningback Mike Davis to get more touches.

All off season, Rhule did nothing but rave about how much Davis could help this offense.

“I really like Mike Davis. He’s a pro. He’s done a lot of good things in this league. He’s doing a lot of good things for us."

But even with this glowing quote, Davis did not have a single carry against the Raiders this past Sunday. That carry for Armah was only his second of the game.

So what does that have to do with 4th & 1 to extend a drive?

Everything. If two runners were established, along with the blocking and running threat of Alex Armah, maybe, just maybe The Raiders defense would've had one more thing to consider looking into that Panthers' backfield. It doesn't mean they would've gotten that yard, but if Davis and Armah had rhythm and momentum heading into that fourth quarter, the outcome of the game could've looked very different.

We can't change the call, nor the outcome. But I would hope that Sunday versus the Buccaneers, the Panthers (*ahem Joe Brady*) would establish a second running threat to keep Tampa off-balance. I think we can all agree that Christian McCaffrey would be more effective for this Panthers offense if he isn't the only legit threat coming out of the backfield.

That would be great for us all!