Eagles 28 Panthers 23: Panthers Player of the Game fan poll

A week ago I was saying the 2017 Panthers offense reminded me of the 2015 offense when they went 15-1. The Thursday night happened, the 2016 offense showed up. The Panthers offense has turned in the NFL version of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde.

They now get ten days to prepare for a trip to Soldier Field to play the Bears. They have four more games before the bye week and I can see them going at least 2-2, 6-4 overall. But I digress...

Here’s this week’s candidates:

RB Christian McCaffrey

On a day the running game was trash, McCaffrey hauled in 10 passes on 14 targets for 56 yards and a score. He also added a nifty 25 yard punt return. The return set up the Panthers offense at the Eagles 43 yard line where they were able to score a TD and take a 10-3 lead.

WR Kelvin Benjamin

KB caught 9 of 13 targets for 99 yards. He looked unstoppable at times though he did have one bad drop. Ins pite of the drop PFF gave him a good grade:

WR KELVIN BENJAMIN, 76.0 OVERALL GRADE

Benjamin was targeted 13 times, hauled in nine passes for 99 yards, and forced two missed tackles after the catch. However, he also dropped an easy pass, his second in as many games after not dropping any in the first four weeks of the season.

CB James Bradberry

Bradberry logged 6 combined tackles, a sack, a TFL and a QB hurry while also getting a solid report from PFF Edge:

Despite being thrown at a team-high eight times, Panthers cornerback James Bradberry allowed only three catches for 43 yards. Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz had a passer rating of 55.7 when throwing into Bradberry’s coverage.

S Mike Adams

Adams led the defense with 8 combined tackles plus a QB hurry.

QB Cam Newton

I’m not putting Newton in here for his passing game. 28 for 52 for 239, 1 TD, 3 INTs and a 48 QBR is not PoG worthy. Instead he’s here for his running production. Once it became clear the Panthers RBs weren’t getting it done Newton took matters into his own hands. He ran ten times for 71 yards and a slick 16 yard TD run. His running kept the Panthers in the game but in the end couldn’t overcome his poor passing game.

Cast your vote now: