6 short nuggets from Monday
The Carolina Panthers were hoping to give RB Jonathan Stewart four full weeks to recover from his foot sprain. Now their hand may be forced.
Fozzy Whittaker suffered a high-ankle sprain in Sunday’s loss to the Falcons, and he’s out until at least the Divisional Round. That leaves the Panthers potentially short-handed for the season finale against the Bucs, and with home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs still up for grabs, coach Ron Rivera on Monday admitted getting Stewart back out there sooner rather than later is tempting.
If Stewart doesn’t return this week, preseason all-star Brandon Wegher will be active for the first time in his career and Cameron Artis-Payne will get more work. The rookie looked good Sunday, gaining 49 yards on five carries, but only one of those came in the second half.
The Panthers didn’t necessarily abandon the run in the final two quarters, they just didn’t have many chances. Because their defense struggled to get off the field while the offense failed to sustain drives when it did actually have the ball, Carolina’s time of possession in the second half was a paltry 8:38.
Whittaker’s injury will also force the Panthers to plug in a new kickoff returner. Rivera mentioned WR Ted Ginn, CB Robert McClain, Wegher and Artis-Payne as possible fill-ins.
After a Panthers’ motivational baseball bat had dominated NFL headlines throughout the week, a handful of officials lined up across the 50-yard line during pregame warmups in Atlanta. They were likely placed there by a league hoping to avoid confrontations similar to what occurred ahead of Carolina’s Week 15 win against the Giants.
The pregame peace was kept, but the extra attention may have taken a bit of ‘swagger’ out of a Panthers’ secondary that had been playing with heaps of attitude.
“It’s a fine line,” defensive coordinator Sean McDermott said. “This is a physical game and playing defense is a personality and an attitude. We want to be aggressive, but we have to play smart at the same time.”
The officials flagged CB Charles Tillman for a personal foul on the Falcons’ third play of scrimmage, which both he and McDermott admitted was an example of not playing smart. And because CB Josh Norman had the worst game of his breakout season, it’s fair to wonder if last week’s drama made him more cautious.
“That’s something I’ll have to talk to Josh about,” Rivera said. “Unfortunately, when you have a game like we previously had, there’s going to be a little bit of carry over. But we brought it on ourselves.”
When linebackers Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis botched plays on the Falcons’ first drive, it was a sign Sunday wasn’t going to be the Panthers’ day.
Kuechly had a chance at Devonte Freeman in the backfield on 3rd-and-5, but the RB slid out of Kuechly’s grasp for a 13-yard gain. Six plays later, Davis had QB Matt Ryan in his sights when he rolled out on a 3rd-and-2, but Davis took a bad angle and Ryan picked up seven yards.
An ordinary pass rush and a suspect secondary were flaws the Panthers had been aware of, but they didn’t expect to struggle with basics. During his 11-minute meeting with reporters, McDermott used a form of the word ‘fundamentals’ 18 times.
“To make a run into the playoffs, we’ve got to play good, solid fundamental football,” he said.
“It’s the same reason why the jump shot is a lost art in the NBA. Fundamentals. Free throws. Fundamentals. Tackling. Fundamentals. The great teams play with great fundamentals.”
“We’ve got a chance to go 15-1. The sky isn’t falling, at least, I hope it’s not. It’s not if we get back to fundamentals and doing what we do best. That’s playing attack-style defense, fundamentally sound defense, every guy doing their job and tackling.”
The Panthers could use a spark at DE, but Wes Horton doesn’t have the skill set they need. So Horton, who isn’t much of a pass rusher, was waived from the exempt list.
The Panthers had seven days to add him to the active roster after his four-game suspension for violating the league’s substance-abuse police ended last week. But the rotation has already negatively affected some of the younger DEs, so adding Horton back in would’ve just added another cook to the kitchen.
A whole lot of ink and internet space was wasted the past few weeks.
While Rivera kept reminding reporters that a 16-0 season couldn’t happen unless the Panthers kept winning, he was constantly pinged by questions about whether or not he would play his starters in the season finale.
“I wish I had that problem,” he joked less than 24 hours after the Panthers fell to 14-1.
About as big of a players’ coach as there is in the NFL, there was little doubt Rivera would have let his guys face the Bucs if they had a shot at 16-0.
When asked what the plan would have been, Rivera said:
“Play to win.”
“The truth of the matter is, that’s who these guys are. They’re professional athletes, and they want to play to win.”
“How long they would have played, I didn’t answer that.”
#carolinapanthers pic.twitter.com/m3JF5aqhMr
— Don Shula (@DonShula) December 27, 2015
Each time he was asked about the Panthers’ pursuit of perfection the past few weeks, offensive coordinator Mike Shula maintained his dad was rooting for it to happen. Now that it won’t, Hall of Fame coach Don Shula is disappointed for his son.
“He was like every other kid’s dad, he felt bad for us,” Mike said, describing a morning phone call between the two. “He always has good advice, good fatherly advice.”
And what advice did the coach of the lone perfect team in NFL history give?
“It was the advice most dads give their sons after a tough loss,” Mike said with a smile. “You can figure it out.”