It's not like he was going to say, "Welp, we're in such bad shape back there, we may as well not go to New Orleans." But how Ron Rivera answered a question about his banged-up secondary foreshadowed what we all knew could happen two days later.
"It's what we have," Carolina's coach said Friday. "We've got to line up and play, so we'll show up and play. There's nothing we can do about that."
Yeah, not necessarily a "1, 2, 3 ... TEAM!" moment.
Of course, you can't blame Rivera for the tools he was given to slow down a future Hall of Fame quarterback. Fantasy owners with Drew Brees were salivating all week, and that was before Friday when starting cornerback Robert McClain was ruled out with a hamstring injury. That left the Panthers with a group of corners made up of two rookies, a special teams ace and a guy re-signed off the street this week.
Lou Young wasn't used much, if at all, on defense. But the other three each had a hand in the loss.
- Zack Sanchez: According to Pro Football Focus, Brees had a perfect passer rating when targeting the fifth-round pick. Two of the seven receptions Sanchez allowed went for touchdowns, including an 87-yard score by Brandin Cooks, who got Sanchez to bite on a double move.
"We know they like taking their shots," the rookie said. "I've just got to be smarter and know my personnel."
- Teddy Williams: Playing the most defensive snaps of his five-year career, Williams intercepted Brees early in the fourth quarter. But in a tie game at the two-minute warning, Williams gave Travaris Cadet enough cushion to turn a short reception into a third-and-nine conversion.
"We wanted to keep everything in front of us and it just happened the way it happened," Williams said.
- Daryl Worley: Beaten by Mike Thomas for a nine-yard score that put the Saints up 21-0. Worley later left with a concussion.
It's unclear how involved Rivera was with the surprising call to cut Bené Benwikere two weeks ago, but general manager Dave Gettleman is ultimately in charge of putting together the 53-man roster. Even with the James Bradberry turf toe excuse, through six games, it's nearly impossible to defend how the secondary of the NFC's defending champs is constructed.
There could be more to why Gettleman pulled the franchise tag from Pro Bowler Josh Norman, but the reasons the Panthers have given don't hold much water. It's the domino that's seemed to start an inglorious fall from 15-1 to 1-5.
Think about this: In their first 339 games as a franchise, the most passing yards the Panthers allowed were to Trent Green, who totaled 431 for the Rams on Feb. 5, 2000. Now, in just 15 days, the Panthers have given up 503 yards to Atlanta's Matt Ryan and 465 to Brees. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it's the first time in NFL history a team's allowed two 450-yard passers in a three-game span.
No one should be shocked about what happened Sunday. What would have been surprising is if the Panthers didn't allow Brees to go off.
"They did exploit some of our young guys out there," Rivera said.
"The one thing you would have liked to have seen probably is a little bit more pressure on the quarterback."
Which opens up a whole other can of worms.
So about that pass rush ...
There were free agent options such as Prince Amukamara for example. Hell, Cromartie would have been a better option than what we have on the field. I don’t know why DG felt the need to be cheap at these positions. A trade during the draft would have made more sense too. Obviously it is much more than our CBs that are costing us these games (see the D-line for more of the same). Star, Short, CJ, Ealy, and Solail are still getting bullied at the line. KK came on stronger in NO but he was MIA the first four games along with CJ, Ealy, and Star. Kevin Love and Mario Addison are the sole bright spots on the D-line and that is quite telling IMO.
Yeah but you have to worry about Cromartie having another child at halftime….
In life you get what you pay for more often than not. Gettleman decided to go cheap. And this is what happened. At this point it doesn’t matter what the offense does. Unless they are gonna put up 50 burgers on everyone the Panthers are going to lose more games than they win down the stretch.
I can blame Ron and I am. He’s the head coach and supposedly a defensive genius. He agreed to the moves and that’s unacceptable. If he didn’t, he should have made it quite clear. I could careless about friction, sometimes friction is good. All I see is dicator with a big head after two winning over .500 seasons. Well this year marks his 2nd losing under .500 season, so he needs to fall back, stop talking, and build the best team. After his “no agent can’t scare him” comments he’s not only embarrasing himself, but he’s hurting the Panthers reputation in future free agency. And then the team cut Bene and looks more random and worse than before. JR needs to be very active now more than ever. Teams can change for better or worse after a SB and the Panthers are already 50 miles to worse
It’s all Gettleman. He needs to be fired! He has no idea what he’s doing. If not for our coaches turning his “bargain bin” acquisitions into pieces of worth, Gettleman would’ve been exposed as a horrible GM long ago. His stupid “best player available” draft mentality has left this team with gaping holes of need (OL, secondary), while he keeps piling on players in positions we are already stout in (DL, LBs, TEs). He’s completely worthless.