Plays to Love, Plays to Hate (aka “P2L, P2H”) looks at the most significant plays in swinging momentum and impacting the eventual outcome of the game. There is always plenty to hate about NFL officiating, so we will only focus on the plays on the field, not the refs.
Three Plays to Love
2nd Quarter 1:56 – Panthers 3, Falcons 20. ATL ball 3rd-and-9 at ATL 11
The Situation: With the game quickly slipping away before halftime, Carolina’s defense needed a big play to give the Panthers offense another chance to score.
The Play: Kurt Coleman shot untouched through the A Gap as Matt Ryan dropped back to pass. Coleman smothered Ryan at the Atlanta three yard line, setting up 4th-and-17 and forcing the Falcons to punt from their own end zone. Carolina got the ball at the 50 with plenty of time to score, but Cam threw another interception on the very next play.
2nd Quarter 0:18 – Panthers 3, Falcons 20. ATL ball 3rd-and-9 at ATL 11
The Situation: Already leading 20-3, Atlanta set up for a chip-shot field goal to end the first half.
The Play: Rookie Vernon Butler pushed his blocker backward, got his hand up, and blocked the field goal attempt. Great play by Butler to take an almost guaranteed three points off the board from the Falcons.
3rd Quarter 0:02 – Panthers 6, Falcons 23. CAR ball 1st-and-10 at ATL 26
The Situation: After nearly three full quarters of offensive incompetence (six points), Cam looked to make a big play to close out the third.
The Play: Kelvin Benjamin ran a streak down the left sideline with Jalen Collins in man coverage. Cam lofted a perfect pass toward the end zone, throwing over the 6’1” Collins right into the hands of his 6’5” receiver. The touchdown cut the Falcons lead to 23-13 at the end of the third quarter, and the Panthers were suddenly back in the game.
Three Plays to Hate
1st Quarter 8:38 – Panthers 0, Falcons 7. CAR ball 1st-and-10 at Midfield
The Situation: Atlanta took the opening possession and carved up Carolina’s defense for an easy touchdown. On the Panthers first possession, Carolina gambled early to convert on 4th-and-1 to get some momentum and try to keep pace with the high-scoring Atlanta offense.
The Play: On the next play after the fourth down conversion, Cam Newton threw a terrible interception on a deep ball which Brian Pool easily picked off and returned to the Carolina 44. The pick sucked all the air out of Bank of America Stadium and set up the Falcons for a field goal and an early 10-0 lead.
2nd Quarter 1:40 – Panthers 3, Falcons 20. CAR ball 1st-and-10 at Midfield
The Situation: Kurt Coleman had sacked Matt Ryan to force an Atlanta punt from their own end zone. Ted Ginn returned the punt to the 50, setting up Carolina’s offense with a chance to score to close out the first half.
The Play: On the first play from scrimmage to start the new drive, Cam threw another terrible interception, this time to Jalen Collins. Cam apparently didn’t see Collins lurking underneath the route. Collins returned the interception down to the Carolina 21, but Vernon Butler blocked Atlanta’s field goal attempt to end the half as noted above. The Panthers just needed one first down to be near field goal range, but the pick killed all hopes of scoring.
4th Quarter 14:03 – Panthers 13, Falcons 23. ATL ball 3rd-and-21 at ATL 19
The Situation: Carolina was only down 10 with 14 minutes left and had pinned Atlanta back to a 3rd-and-21. A stop here would mean the Panthers offense would get the ball back with decent field position and have the chance to cut the deficit to one score.
The Play: On 3rd-and-21, Tevin Coleman leaked out of the backfield into the left flat. No Panther defender covered him. Matt Ryan hit Coleman for a 31-yard catch-and-run extending the drive. This play was a momentum killer for the Panthers defense. Then, on the very next play, Coleman busted a 55-yard touchdown run thanks to two of the worst attempts at tackles this year coming from Tre Boston and James Bradberry. Rather than describing the play, I’ll just share the short-hand notes I took watching the game real-time: “Weakest tackle attempts ever! Gave up! Quitters! No heart! Atrocious!” Instead of the Panthers getting the ball back trailing 23-13, it was now 30-13. Game over.
Closing It Out & Summing It Up
The Tevin Coleman conversion on 3rd-and-21 followed by his 55-yard TD run perfectly summed up the Panthers 2016 season: “You know, we could try to make a big play here. But, meh.”
Greg Olsen became the first tight end in NFL history to record 1,000-plus receiving yards in three consecutive seasons. I respect this guy so much. He always gives 100% effort. What a professional.
Cam Newton looked terrible. It was almost depressing to watch him start 1-for-7 with an interception spraying the ball all over the field while Matt Ryan started 10-for-10 with laser accuracy. Now that Cam rarely runs, his lack of accuracy as a passer is really hurting the offense.
How are Panthers wide receivers almost never wide open? It seems most of Cam’s passes are to guys who are in tight coverage. Is it the receivers’ lack of ability to get separation? Is it poor play design? Is Cam making the wrong reads? I don’t know what it is, but Panthers receivers are almost never truly open and Cam keeps forcing pass after pass after pass into coverage.
I HATED the play with 9:53 left in the game with Carolina trailing 30-13 with the 3rd-and-5 on the Atlanta 13 AND MIKE SHULA PULLED KELVIN BENJAMIN AND GREG OLSEN AND THE PASS ATTEMPT WENT TO JOE WEBB!!!!!!! Baffling. Just baffling.
Just one more meaningless game to go and we can finally extinguish this dumpster fire of a season.
“P2L, P2H” Season Leaders
Plays to Love Year-to-Date:
10 “PTL” – Cam Newton
6 “PTL” – Kelvin Benjamin
5 “PTL” – Kurt Coleman, Thomas Davis
4 “PTL” – Ted Ginn
3 “PTL” - Vernon Butler
2 “PTL” – A.J. Klein, Andy Lee, Charles Johnson, Kawann Short, Star Lotulelei, Tre Boston
1 “PTL” –Bene Benwikere, Cameron Artis-Payne, Corey Brown, Daryl Worley, Devin Funchess, Greg Olsen, Jonathan Stewart, Kony Ealy, Kyle Love, Lavar Edwards, Luke Kuechly, Shaq Thompson, Robert McClain, Wes Horton
Plays to Hate Year-to-Date:
10 “PTH” – Cam Newton
4 “PTH” – Kelvin Benjamin, Kurt Coleman, James Bradberry
3 “PTH” – Daryl Worley, Derek Anderson, Graham Gano, Tre Boston
2 “PTH” – Bene Benwikere, Jonathan Stewart, Ted Ginn
1 “PTH” – Colin Jones, Ed Dickson, Kony Ealy, Leonard Johnson, Luke Kuechly, Michael Griffin, Michael Oher, Mike Remmers, Mike Tolbert, Ryan Kalil, Thomas Davis, Trai Turner, Zack Sanchez