A half-dozen notes from the Carolina Panthers’ 22-10 loss to the Minnesota Vikings.

 

1.) No Touches for Kelvin Benjamin

 

Football is a fickle game.

After Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton had spent 21 of his 31 targets on Kelvin Benjamin and Greg Olsen in Week One, some wondered if Newton didn’t spread the ball around enough.

In Week Two, some wondered if Benjamin’s 7-catch, 108-yard, 2-touchdown performance made him an unstoppable force.

A week later, everyone’s now wondering how Benjamin could go an entire game with just one target and no catches.

“I’ve got a job to do. I just go out and run the routes,” a tight-lipped Benjamin said after the Panthers’ 22-10 loss to the Vikings.

Benjamin’s disappearance was the biggest stunner in a head-scratching day at Bank of America Stadium. His only target came late in the fourth quarter, and even that was almost intercepted by cornerback Marcus Sherels.

The Vikings often sent safety help over to Benjamin’s side, but other teams have done that. It had never stopped Newton from feeding Benjamin time and again.

Coming into Week Three, Benjamin had averaged over 9 targets and nearly 5 receptions in his first 20 career games. Over the season’s first two weeks, he caught 13 of his 21 chances. Then came the Sunday shutout.

“We have to get our playmakers involved in the game plan and it starts with me as the signal caller,” Newton said. “For him not to have any touches is, you know, really baffling and wowing. But you know we just had to find ways.”

Whether it was the extra attention, play calling, Newton’s decisions or all of the above, Benjamin wound up with his first goose egg since a Florida State win over South Florida on Sept. 29, 2012.

While Newton was targeting Ted Ginn Jr. and Philly Brown a total of 12 times, Benjamin and Devin Funchess saw a combined 3 targets. Even though, according to a former Panther, Funchess wasn’t a big part of Minnesota’s game plan.

“We weren’t worried about him,” cornerback Captain Munnerlyn said. “It was Kelvin Benjamin. I’m just going to be honest. Me personally, and I never talk like this, but I don’t think he is that good, No. 17. So, we weren’t really worried about him.”