For four straight games a slow start by the Panther offense has been followed up with a yards porous defensive effort. The Panthers do well in forcing 3^rd downs at times but still end up giving up first quarter points. For the first time though against the Falcons, the defense couldn't come up with that game changing play, that key stop that ignites the offense later in the game.

John Fox felt that the key play to turn the momentum was the 69 yard reception by Falcons WR Harry Douglas. Actually the Panthers had a chance to redeem themselves a few plays later when the Falcons gave the Panthers one last chance to bail themselves out. Faced with 4^th and goal at the 2 yard line the Falcons lined up to go for it but then called timeout. If John Fox felt the momentum had shifted back to the Falcons then now would have been a good time to fire up the troops. Instead Turner scored over the left side pretty much untouched. They ran right at DE Julius Peppers and DT Damione Lewis, who if they had made the stop, could have given the ball right back to an offense that had just scored pretty easily.

BTW, on the 69 yard catch by Douglas, CB Richard Marshall may have been guilty of trying to jump the route and got caught out of position but he wasn't primarily at fault. In my view more at fault was FS Charles Godfrey who had  the over coverage and whiffed on the tackle. I can't fault Marshall too much for trying to make a play, similar to the one he made the week before in the end zone against the Lions (an interception). If Godfrey makes that tackle it's a 14 yard gain. If I had to guess it looked like he was trying to knock the ball loose with a big hit. Instead he sold out and was juked by the shifty Douglas. We'll have to chalk that one up to ‘rookie' mistake.

Instead the Falcons score and the Panthers start their next series at the 20. Next it was LT Jordan Gross's turn for a mental lapse, err...make that a double. First he gives up a sack to back-up DE Chauncy Davis (who? exactly) and then a false start. TE Dante Rosario then adds his own false start (I bet he leads the team in that category) to put the Panthers at 2nd and 24 inside their 10 yard line. That ends the Panthers drive that leads to the punt and killer return by Douglas for a TD. The game was over at that point.

So what exactly is at the center of the Panthers defensive lapses? Being away from Home? Lack of motivation? Lack of preparation? Poor play calling? Poor execution? The truth is it could be any one of these from one mental lapse to the next. Maybe they were waiting for Julius to make the play, which obviously never came. I have to say I would have expected Peppers to have a big day given he was going against supposedly over-matched LT Todd Weiner.

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Where Was the Panther Wildcat?

The Panthers have done well this season running the latest fad formation, the wildcat run-based plays. I would think that being able to line up in an obvious run formation and still getting 5-7 yards builds momentum. For some reason we haven't seen this formation in a  while. We also don't see many passes to the RB, designed roll-outs or the screen-plays that were supposedly favored by OC Jeff Davidson. Its not that I want to see specific plays, what I would like to see is plays that expose a defenses weakness rather than rely on perfect execution. I want to see coaching moves that catch the opponent off guard, instead of the other way around. Maybe I'm being overly critical given I've already argued how close this game was to tilting toward the Panthers. It's just that I'm tired of watching our offense suffer from predictability.