Analysis: Panthers loss to Cowboys exposed all the problems we feared Carolina had
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Panthers at Cowboys
Expanded coverage of Carolina’s Week 4 game
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The Carolina Panthers had an opportunity to show the country Sunday that they were the real deal.
They led in the league in total defense after three games and were one of five teams with an undefeated record heading into the weekend.
But Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys, the Panthers looked anything but one of the top teams in the NFL. The Cowboys, the most talented team the Panthers faced this season, dominated to win 36-28. At one point, the Cowboys scored 23 unanswered points, magnifying the concerns Carolina (3-1) had heading into the 2021 season.
The offensive line was flat-out bad, allowing five sacks. Quarterback Sam Darnold threw two costly interceptions in the third quarter and nearly a third in the fourth quarter. Zane Gonzalez missed a 54-yard field goal. And each time, the Cowboys turned those lost possessions into points.
Before Sunday’s game, the Panthers hadn’t allowed a single point in the third quarter. They had also been known for their slow starts to the second half. Against the Cowboys, they were outscored 20-0 in the period.
If not for DJ Moore’s dominant performance — eight catches for 113 yards and two touchdowns — this game might have been a blowout.
Sunday’s game was a true barometer for the Panthers; their first game against a playoff team.
But if there was one thing the Dallas Cowboys showed them Sunday, it’s that the Panthers aren’t there yet. They can be, based on their comeback attempt. But not yet. They have too many issues, ranging from their offensive line to their running game and field goal kicking.
Christian McCaffrey’s absence on offense, and Jaycee Horn’s absence on defense, were felt.
While running back Chuba Hubbard was OK — he had 57 yards on 13 carries — he’s doesn’t pose the same threat McCaffrey does in the rushing and passing game.
After recording 14 sacks in the first three games, the Panthers did not record a single sack Sunday. And their cornerbacks were exposed when the pressure didn’t get to Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott.
Prescott finished 14-of-22 passing for 188 yards and four touchdowns.
The Panthers looked like two different teams in the first and second halves. Darnold was poised in the first half despite being sacked three times. He ran for two touchdowns and also completed 12 of 16 passes for 114 yards.
But Carolina needed Darnold to play within the game plan, and at times in the second half, he was trying to do too much, especially when the pressure got to him.
Darnold finished 26-of-39 passing for 301 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions at the hands of Trevon Diggs. Those two picks were costly and neither was a pass that should have been thrown.
Darnold’s first interception happened on the second drive of the third quarter. He had pressure around him and threw a pass behind Robby Anderson. Diggs ventured off his receiver and was in the right place at the right time.
Darnold’s second interception happened one drive later. DJ Moore was running a 10-yard comeback route when Diggs made a good break on the ball, stepping in front of Moore for the pick.
“Seven is a good player,” Darnold said of Diggs. “He was just waiting for that second one, and that first one, he was just reading my eyes the whole time and made a good break on it.”
Darnold can’t be blamed for all the Panthers’ struggles. His offensive line played perhaps the worst game it has all season. Darnold was under duress the entire game. In addition to the five sacks, the offensive line allowed 11 quarterback hurries.
“Anytime Sam has time, he’s going to make a lot of really good decisions. When he doesn’t have a lot of time it’s not quite as good,” Panthers coach Matt Rhule said. “Dak (Prescott) had a lot of time today, and Sam didn’t.”
Center Matt Paradis said the Cowboys’ defense and pressure had complexity, but it wasn’t anything they shouldn’t have been able to handle. He did say it was one of the toughest defenses they’ve faced, but added he would need to look at the tape to determine exactly what went wrong.
“We didn’t protect well enough,” Paradis said. “Too much pressure on Sam.”
The biggest surprise was how poorly the defense played. They entered the game with the top pass defense and top run defense. But aided by the offense’s miscues, the Panthers couldn’t stop Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott (143 yards on 20 carries and one touchdown). They missed tackles, allowing the Cowboys to finish with 245 yards rushing as a team.
And that ended up being one of the biggest differences in the game.
“Once the offense can run the ball, the playbook opens up,” Panthers safety Jeremy Chinn said. “We’ve got to stop the run. That’s where the defense starts.”
Perhaps it could have been different. The referees missed a momentum-changing fumble call late in the first quarter. The score was tied at 7 with less than two minutes left in the first quarter when Chinn tackled Cowboys tight end Dalton Schultz, jarring the ball loose.
The Panthers recovered it, however, the officials ruled Schultz forward progress stopped, meaning the Panthers couldn’t review the play. The Panthers would have received the ball in Cowboys territory. Instead, five plays later, the Cowboys scored a touchdown to go up 13-7.
“It could have been huge for us,” Chinn said. “Those plays change ball games. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way. But those plays can change a ball game.”
Regardless of the officials’ mistake, the Panthers needed to stop the run to win the game, and protect Darnold to win. They did neither.
The Panthers cut the Cowboys’ lead to eight points late in the fourth quarter, but Elliott kept finding holes. And when he didn’t have a gap, he found someone who did.
On the final play that wasn’t out of the victory formation, Dallas faced third-and-1 at the Carolina 41-yard line coming out of the 2-minute warning. Elliott took the handoff right, and when he was about to be stopped for a loss, he pitched the ball to Tony Pollard trailing behind him, who picked up 5 yards and a first down. The Cowboys then took two kneels and ran out the clock.
Sunday it became clear, the Panthers aren’t yet where they need to be.
“We came here knowing that this would be a great test for us,” Rhule said. “So now, from here our season really takes a jump. Either we’re a way better team next week or we’re not after this ... Hopefully our team is really galvanized and it brings us together because we want to be a team that is in it all the way down to the end of the season.”
This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 4:41 PM with the headline "Analysis: Panthers loss to Cowboys exposed all the problems we feared Carolina had."
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