The Carolina Panthers are, unbelievably, back in the NFC South race just one week after the Saints seemingly knocked them permanently into the wild card race. With 3 weeks to go in the 2017 season, the playoff picture is nowhere near settled. A microcosm of their conference, the Panthers have been both as good and as unpredictable as the entire NFC.
Yesterday’s performance was exactly the kind of game that head coach Ron Rivera has been hoping to draw out of his team all season. A powerful running game supported by a stout and play-making defense combined to carry the Panthers over one of the best teams in the NFL. 2017 could be another classic case of Rivera’s teams shining down the stretch.
What I liked. . .
The Panthers win against the Vikings was plain and simply old man football dominated by old men. It was great to see this kind of performance from veterans this late in the season. Yesterday’s stars were the late Jonathan Stewart, Julius Peppers, and Ryan Kalil.
Stewart’s career has been mourned by a lot of fans as he has looked slow next to Christian McCaffrey. I think, perhaps, we have forgotten that there are cars that look slow when running next to the Panthers first round rookie. It is well worth noting that Jonathan Stewart, in addition to posting his first career 3 touchdown game, was the first rusher to gain 100 yards on the Minnesota defense this season.
Meanwhile, Kalil finally looked back to form after his mysterious neck injury and Peppers remains a natural wonder of the world that is unexplained by modern medical science. The only old man who didn’t come up with a big play on the stat sheet was Greg Olsen. Guys, it may be time to admit that he won’t post a fourth consecutive 1000 yard season.
The future took a breather on offense yesterday, with Cam Newton and McCaffrey having largely uninspiring days. That is actually really great news for the Panthers. They hadn’t won a game yet this season, particularly not a close game like this, without it being on the backs of those two players. Proving they can win, even proving they can compete, against a quality foe like the Vikings without game-breaking performances from their most dynamic players is perhaps the most encouraging we have seen from Carolina all season.
The Panthers defense stepped up across the board. Mario Addison - who still barely qualifies as a younger player - put up a key strip sack during the Vikings comeback attempt. Daryl Worley had the first interception by a Carolina corner this season and was followed in short order by James Bradberry posting the second.
A small part of the offensive improvement this week can be traced to the Panthers finally getting their much talked about speed on the field. Damiere Byrd and Kaelin Clay, who need to have big days if the Panthers want to make any noise in January, were both more involved in the game plan than they had been in previous weeks. They have yet to make any huge plays downfield, but for now we can take heart that Shula is trusting them with more and more of the playbook. The rest will come.
What I didn’t like. . .
Ron Rivera’s game plan has to be the most internally consistent in the entire National Football League. It is turtles all the way down on both sides of the ball. The Panthers once again, nursing a very surmountable lead, turned to their prevent offense to try to limp away with a win. Reeling off three straight punts after going up by 11 was not inspiring football, to say the least.
Similarly, he defense relaxed into a pattern of soft coverage and little manufactured pressure when the Vikings got the ball back, still down by 11, with about 7 minutes left on the clock. The idea, traditionally, is to keep the field in front of you to limit big plays and costly mistakes. Any Panthers fan could have told you what would happen next.
The Vikings easily converted a 2nd and 4 when there were only 2 Panthers within 4 yards of the line to gain. Two plays later, Case Keenum capped off a 4 play, 73 yard drive that took only 1:28 off the clock. A successful two point conversion and the Panthers lead was all but gone.
I don’t know if the Vikings figured the Panthers out or if Shula and company really did turtle up for most of the second half, but the Carolina offense had almost no success outside of its opening touchdown drive. The reality is that Cam’s late run - by far his best play of the day - saved this game from going to over time. Sure, Minnesota is a great team but the Panthers have shown their only consistent trait this season to be an ability to let teams back into games in the fourth quarter. They should ask the Falcons how that trait plays against Super Bowl caliber teams.
What’s next. . .
The NFC playoff picture is starting to get a little more clear, although only the Eagles are guaranteed a spot so far. The current standings have all three NFC South teams making the cut after big losses by New Orleans and Seattle propelled Atlanta back into the wild card hunt.
Technically, all three NFC South teams are also still alive for the division crown as well. I’ll be honest, I didn’t really expect the Panthers to rally after last week’s loss to New Orleans. I figured they would be sitting at 8-5 today and looking at a quick slide out of contention. Instead, at 9-4, the Panthers are just one game out of the conversation for a first round bye and home games.
The Panthers dream scenario involves running the table with the Falcons sweeping the Saints. That would lock up the NFC South and likely give the Panthers at least the number 2 seed. That could even put them up for the number 1 seed after the odds on favorite, the Eagles, may have lost quarterback Carson Wentz to a torn ACL last night.
To see that playoff picture develop, Carolina has to look for something a little simpler: a complete picture. They need to stop spending entire quarters punting on offense. For everything good and bad said above, there were a lot of balls that could have bounced a different way and made for a completely different game. The Vikings were also incredibly thin on their offensive line. It is hard to say the Panthers are entirely responsible for making their own luck. Consistency is something that has eluded this team and it is what they need to move from being dangerous to being a contender in January.