The Carolina Panthers had no shot against the Cincinnati Bengals and were thoroughly dominated from the start in a 42-21 loss.
The Bengals got the ball first and methodically marched down the field for an opening drive touchdown. A Joe Mixon screen picked up the biggest chunk of the drive, but the Panthers offered little resistance on just about any play. The Panthers responded with a three and out that was matched by the Bengals. PJ Walker did his best to get the offense moving on the second Panthers drive, but his houdini act to avoid a third down sack was nullified by Tommy Tremble butterfingers. The Bengals took possession and the first quarter ended with them knocking on the door of their second touchdown.
Some unusual refereeing delayed the inevitable, but Joe Burrow snuck in the Bengals second touchdown. Yet another Panthers three and out was followed by a long Bengals drive for a touchdown. The game continued to spiral from there, as PJ Walker threw an ill advised ball into triple coverage on the next Panthers possession for an interception. And, you guessed it, the Bengals took the ball and scored another touchdown to effectively end the game before halftime. The Panthers finally got their first first down after the Bengals fourth touchdown, and it came on an illegal contact penalty. The drive didn’t go anywhere though, and the Panthers punted again. They finally forced a Bengals punt before halftime, but Walker through another interception to give the ball back to the Bengals in scoring position before the half. Joe Mixon scored his fourth touchdown of the half at the buzzer. At the half, the Bengals had more points (35), than the Panthers had yards (32). To really drive home how bad of a half of it was, the Panthers fumbled away the squib kick on the final play of the half.
Raheem Blackshear ran the second half kickoff back 66 yards to put the Panthers across midfield for the first time, where Baker Mayfield took over the offense. His second play was a completion to DJ Moore for the Panthers first genuine first down of the game. He found Tommy Tremble in the endzone on fourth down a few plays later for the Panthers first points of the game. The Bengals responded with another long drive that ended in Joe Mixon’s fifth touchdown and Joe Burrow’s departure from the game due to the blowout nature of the contest.
Terrace Marshall scored his first career touchdown with a highlight catch in garbage time.
First NFL TD for TMJ pic.twitter.com/jGA67erfzg
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 6, 2022
Blackshear scored his first career touchdown in the closing stages of the game with a short run.
Bury the tape of this one. There weren’t many bright spots aside from the first career touchdowns from Marshall and Blackshear after the game was already decided.
The big question heading into the short week will be what to do with the quarterback position. Walker has had the most success as a starter this season, but today’s performance was as bad as it could be. The Panthers only have a couple of days to figure it out, as they host the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday.
Loading comments...