Here’s a select non-scoring play for review from each quarter of the Panthers 31-21 loss to the New Orleans Saints. I try to keep these positive but when we lose in ugly fashion it’s hard. So here’s two good and two not so much.
First up we have the Panthers offense looking to get it’s young players involved early.
1st Quarter
1st and 10 - CAR 35 (9:36) Cam Newton pass short right to Russell Shepard pushed out of bounds at NO 46 for 19 yards (Ken Crawley). Pass 0, YAC 19
Newton does a nice job of letting the play develop and waiting for the receiver to break open. Sheppard also ran a good route. A nice play. Too bad we didn’t see many more of these on the day.
Now on to a bad play.
2nd Quarter
1st and 10 - NO 16 (13:08) Mark Ingram off right guard to CAR 12 for 72 yards (Daryl Worley).
I included this one mainly because of the controversy on who to blame. How about the entire front seven? They all got blocked, over committed or took a bad angle. If you have to blame anyone then blame Luke Kuechly. The run was right up the middle.
I’m not even going to comment on S Mike Adams getting spun around like a top by Ingram downfield. Unfortunately this wasn’t the Panthers ugliest play of the day. That would lie with the slippery hands of P Michael Palardy.
4th and 4 - CAR 31 (10:45) Punt formation: Michael Palardy to CAR 22 for -9 yards. FUMBLES, and recovers at CAR 22. Michael Palardy pass incomplete short right to Shaq Thompson. Penalty on Carolina.
It looks like Palardy just drops the ball, literally. Yet he was about a foot away from being all over SportsCenter for Play of the Day. Palardy recovers quickly and spies a potential receiver downfield and throws a nice spiral. If only he had thrown that ball a little higher so S Colin Jones can’t knock it down because there was another Panther wide open ready to convert the first down. Heck he could have just thrown it to Jones or even FB Alex Armah who was breaking open right in front of him. But alas...he double muffed a play he could have salvaged.
One last bad play...or for me, a case of deja vu.
3rd Quarter
3rd and 6 - CAR 44 (3:39) (Shotgun) Drew Brees pass deep middle to Ted Ginn to CAR 23 for 21 yards (Mike Adams). Pass 20, YAC 1
What I mean is not only do I miss WR TEd Ginn making this same play for the Panthers, but this is also the same play the Panthers complete to TE Greg Olsen all the time. It’s a 20-yard completion straight down the field, something we are missing in 2017.
I have to close on a positive note. Here’s Newton making the right decision to pull the ball down and run to open field.
4th Quarter
2nd and 2 - CAR 44 (4:50) (Shotgun) Cam Newton scrambles left end to NO 24 for 32 yards (Sheldon Rankins).
I love that Newton chose to maximize the run by cutting inside rather than sliding or angling towards the boundary.