Three things I really didn’t like in Carolina Panthers’ 31-17 loss to Tampa Bay
There were a lot of things to dislike in Carolina’s 31-17 loss to Tampa Bay on Sunday — the Panthers’ 10th straight loss dating back to Nov. 3, 2019.
But since nobody wants to read a list of 50 things that went wrong, I’m going to narrow it down to the three things that were the most damaging as Carolina fell to 0-2 on the season.
The No. 1 most damaging thing that could come out of Sunday, of course, is if running back Christian McCaffrey’s ankle injury turns out to be serious.
McCaffrey missed the game’s final 13 minutes, getting hurt on his second touchdown run of the game. The severity of the injury wasn’t apparent immediately, and McCaffrey — easily this team’s best player — wasn’t available to be interviewed afterward.
Since we don’t know about McCaffrey, let’s talk about what we do know: Here are three things that went wrong Sunday and need to get fixed if Carolina is ever going to break this losing streak that has now stretched for 322 days.
That ugly fake punt
Let’s start with a second-quarter sequence that, if successful, would have allowed the Panthers not to fall so far behind in the first half.
Carolina was down 14-0, midway through the second quarter, but had the ball with a third-and-3 at Tampa’s 37. McCaffrey, the team’s franchise running back and best player, had just run for 7 yards on second down.
McCaffrey then came out of the game on that third-and-3 — this didn’t seem to be injury-related, according to the timetable coach Matt Rhule gave after the game — and the Panthers ran Mike Davis on the play. That gained a single yard.
I thought that call was OK — but only if you were then going to get the ball to McCaffrey on fourth-and-2. Remember last week? On fourth-and-1, the Panthers gave the ball to little-used Alex Armah instead of McCaffrey, and he got stuffed.
But this time McCaffrey stayed on the sidelines as Carolina sent out the punt team — even though in that situation, a fake punt is no surprise at all.
But Rhule and the Panthers tried to get cute, running a fake punt instead of trying either a 54-yard field goal or simply getting the ball to McCaffrey on fourth-and-2 via either run or short pass.
Unsurprisingly, the direct snap to rookie Jeremy Chinn had no chance, and he was stuffed by a Tampa Bay special-teams unit that was ready for the fake. This was a bad call all around by the Carolina coaching staff.
Later in the game, on another fourth-and-2, Carolina did run McCaffrey. And, on a pitchout, he scored (although he also got hurt on the play). At least, however, it appeared the coaching staff finally learned its lesson on who should get the ball on fourth down.
However, it took one too many times to learn it.
Derrick Brown’s penalty
The Panthers were flagged nine times for 77 yards Sunday. Too often they looked undisciplined or unsure, and no penalty was more emblematic of that than the one committed by Brown, their rookie first-round draft pick.
In a scoreless game early in the first quarter, the Panthers had just stopped Tampa Bay on third-and-9 from the Carolina 20.
LeSean McCoy had been tackled 3 yards short of a first down. But Brown — all 318 pounds of him — came jumping on the running back late. It was a silly thing to do. He was correctly called for unnecessary roughness. It was a gift of a first down.
On the next play, Ronald Jones sprinted 7 yards for a Buccaneers touchdown. Brown is going to be a good player one day, but on Sunday he would later have another crucial penalty and he’s still looking for his first NFL sack. Of course, you and I are both tied for the “most sacks” category for the Panthers in 2020. We’ve all got exactly zero.
Bridgewater’s screen pass
Panthers QB Teddy Bridgewater had three turnovers Sunday, all of them costly. It was exactly the sort of game that “Steady Teddy” isn’t supposed to play — although, to be fair, he was under a lot of pressure and was sacked five times. But his first turnover was his worst.
With Carolina poised to score on its first drive, with a first-and-10 at the Tampa 22, the Panthers tried to set up a screen pass to McCaffrey. There was a modest amount of rush, but certainly not enough for Bridgewater to try to loft a ball between three defenders to McCaffrey. He instead threw it way over McCaffrey’s head, and the ball was intercepted. It was the throw Bridgewater said he most wanted back.
Add all that up and you get a critical turnover, a bad penalty and a botching of a fourth-down play. That’s a recipe to lose a game, which is exactly what the Panthers did Sunday. A nice comeback late got wasted when Carolina’s defense gave up a 46-yard rushing TD to Leonard Fournette in the final two minutes while trying to gamble in an already desperate situation.
Rhule keeps insisting that this can be a good football team one day.
On Sunday, though, that one day seemed a long way away.
This story was originally published September 20, 2020 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Three things I really didn’t like in Carolina Panthers’ 31-17 loss to Tampa Bay."
