Where'd the Offense Go?
After a 46-point, 529-yard explosion against the 49ers, the Panthers' offense disappeared against an elite defense.
The Vikings, who returned all 11 starters after finishing 5th in points allowed last season, dominated Carolina's offensive line en route to 8 sacks. That's the most against QB Cam Newton since the Eagles took him down 9 times in 2014's Monday Night nightmare. The Panthers are now 0-5 when Newton's sacked at least 6 times in a game.
Without RB Jonathan Stewart, the Panthers struggled to establish the run as fill-in Cameron Artis-Payne managed just 47 yards on 12 attempts.
Most notably, KB was MIA. After 21 targets in two games, Kelvin Benjamin wasn't targeted until late in the fourth quarter.
With the Vikings coming at Newton in every direction, he and the Panthers' offense curiously eschewed a short-passing game for one that included 7 targets to Ted Ginn Jr.
Benjamin and Devin Funchess combined for 3 targets.
Minnesota, Meanwhile ...
The Panthers shut down Vikings QB Sam Bradford in the first half, limiting him to 26 yards on 4 completions while sacking him twice. But unlike Carolina, Minnesota went quick pass in the second half, which completely changed the course of the game.
Bradford picked apart the Panthers' defense in the final two quarters completing 14 of his 17 passes for 145 yards and a touchdown. He wasn't sacked in the second half.
Game Could Have Been Won in the First Half
The Panthers outgained the Vikings 205-34 and had a time of possession advantage of 21:04-8:56 in the first half, but somehow it was a 10-8 game at the break.
Just some of the ways Carolina shot itself in the foot:
- 7 penalties, including a block above the waist by Benjamin that negated a 56-yard touchdown pass to RB Fozzy Whittaker
- A 54-yard punt return touchdown
- A safety
- 3 sacks
- An interception
The Vikings have their flaws and are beset by injuries, but they're too good defensively to let hang around.
Yeah, this is starting to look very familiar of late… whenever the Panthers face good Ds, those coordinators dare Cam to beat them (like Harris said) and he’s showing that either he can’t, or that the team/scheme as a whole can’t help him do so. The Panthers have a lot more problems than I think a lot of pundits wanted to elude to in the offseason. This O-line is not as good (against the pass rush) as people insisted it was following the SB loss. The run game is not as good as it needs to be in order to execute the very predictable game plan (even with the 30 game streak). I don’t even know what to say about the mental errors and terrible special teams – that’s been a thing for A LONG time. Not to mention bad coaching decisions (NEVER put Gano out there for a field goal that is 50+ yards unless there’s no other choice, because he’s statistically probable to miss it – these data are available to everyone, for goodness’ sake). The D is still great, but the points allowed don’t reflect it because of all the short fields they inherit due to turnovers. Ironically, the area everyone was freaked out about the most coming into the season – the secondary – is playing pretty well, and the areas everyone poo-pooed as not being of concern – the O-line, the D-line (where’s Ealy’s “breakout” season so far?), Stewart (and his injury proneness + age), and Cam himself (throwing mechanics are STILL atrocious and he’s still holding the ball far too long and refusing to take the “gimmes”) are the bigger issues.
Yes, Minnesota has a great D, as does Denver, but winners beat the teams in front of them regardless of these circumstances, and losers, well, by definition they lose. Very disappointed in this showing… Obviously there’s time to turn it around, but so far I’ve seen a consistent unwillingness to adjust gameplans by this team to combat what these defenses are obviously trying to dictate to the Panthers’ offense. You can bet opposing Ds are just going to take these tapes from the last four games and keep on keepin’ on until Cam and Co. prove that that’s a bad idea.