Grading the Carolina Panthers in their Week 4 loss to the Dallas Cowboys

The Carolina Panthers marched into Arlington, Texas, with the No. 1 defense in the NFL and an undefeated record.

And they’ll head home to Charlotte without those distinctions.

Here’s a first look at how Carolina (3-1) graded out in its close-but-not-quite 36-28 loss to the Dallas Cowboys (3-1) on Sunday afternoon.

Passing offense

For most of Sunday’s contest, Sam Darnold played like he had all season: patient, confident, creative.

But for a bulk of the third quarter — one riddled with sacks, missed throws and two interceptions (both by Dallas defensive back Trevon Diggs) — the Cowboys had his number.

Darnold finished his first loss as a starter for the Panthers with a prolific stat line: 26 of 39, 301 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. In doing so, he became the first quarterback in franchise history to record three consecutive games with 300-plus pass yards.

He even quietly guided the Panthers on back-to-back fourth-quarter scoring drives to pull his team within one possession with 4:36 remaining in the game.

He did all of this while nurturing a relatively balanced offensive attack — which is worth noting with star running back Christian McCaffrey out — and while largely playing from behind.

But the aforementioned lull put the Carolina defense in less-than-ideal situations and allowed the Cowboys to build a big enough lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Darnold’s connection with receiver DJ Moore proved to be special again on Sunday: Moore finished with eight catches on 12 targets for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Robby Anderson was targeted a season-high 11 times but only recorded five catches for 46 yards.

Grade: C+

Rushing offense

Despite being down on the scoreboard for most of the second half, the Panthers still had a decent day on the ground. Five players ran 24 times (versus 26 throws) for 113 yards and two touchdowns.

Both of those touchdowns, of course, appeared to be planned runs by Darnold — who now leads the NFL (yes, the entire league) in rushing touchdowns. The 24-year-old quarterback had six carries for 35 yards and two touchdowns Sunday.

He’s now the first quarterback in NFL history to notch five rushing touchdowns in the first four weeks of a season.

Chuba Hubbard played admirably in McCaffrey’s stead, notching 13 carries for 57 yards. McCaffrey’s absence hurt, but it gave the Panthers a chance to try out new looks on offense: Anderson and Moore set up in the Panthers backfield several times on Sunday — and Moore even caught his second touchdown catch of the day standing next to Darnold in the shotgun.

Grade: B-

Red-zone offense

The Panthers did not have a scoreless trip in the red zone. They scored touchdowns all four times. That stat is typically good enough to deliver a win.

Grade: A-

Passing defense

The No. 1 defense started the game by forcing the Cowboys to take a three-and-out, but it could only subdue Dak Prescott and company for so long.

Prescott finished the day with 14 completions on 22 attempts for 188 yards and four touchdowns. The stat line isn’t indicative of his mastery on Sunday: He started two scoring drives, specifically, with a short field after Darnold’s turnovers.

The defense also struggled to get pressure on Prescott, a function of a Dallas offensive line that’s widely considered to be among the best in the league. The Panthers came into Arlington with a league-leading 14 sacks and didn’t add to that total Sunday.

This said, the secondary was robbed of a fumble late in the first quarter that could’ve had game-changing implications, when defensive back Jeremy Chinn forced a fumble that was ruled down.

Grade: B-

Rushing defense

It wasn’t an in-your-face dominance, but the Cowboys won Sunday’s game on the ground. That’s a nod to their 245 rushing yards — provided mostly by Ezekiel Elliot, who notched 20 touches for 143 yards and a touchdown.

But it’s also an acknowledgment of the game’s final drive.

Down eight, with 4:36 remaining and no timeouts, the Panthers needed a stop to get the ball back and ultimately have a chance to perhaps tie the score. With the run blitz coming, the Cowboys still managed to squeak out multiple first downs, none more consequential than a third-down play after the two-minute warning that saw Elliot receive a handoff and then pitch the ball back to Tony Pollard, who fell forward for a 5-yard gain that sealed the win.

Grade: D

Red-zone defense

The Cowboys scored on each of their three trips inside the Panthers’ 20-yard line. The Panthers defense forced them to kick one field goal with the Cowboys on the 19 — a 37-yard kick that split the uprights from Greg Zuerlein.

The defense got burned twice on non-red zone touchdowns: one a 35-yard TD catch by Amari Cooper, the other a 23-yard catch by Cedrick Wilson.

Grade: D

Special teams

Zane Gonzalez missed the only kick he took — a 54-yard try on the team’s first possession of the second half that could’ve extended the Panthers’ lead to four. It sailed wide left.

The miss marked the beginning of the Panthers’ detrimental stretch in the third quarter.

Grade: C-

Coaching

No head-scratching play calls. No embarrassing mishaps.

Was it ideal that the Panthers gave the ball to the Cowboys down eight with 4:36 left without any timeouts to stop the clock? No.

Does it make it worse that all three second-half timeouts were used on offense, the last of which was used with 12:02 remaining in the fourth quarter? Perhaps.

But the Panthers appeared to have a good game plan. They were just, for the first time all season, outmatched.

Grade: B-

This story was originally published October 3, 2021 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Grading the Carolina Panthers in their Week 4 loss to the Dallas Cowboys."

Alex Zietlow

The Herald

Alex Zietlow writes about sports and the ways in which they intersect with life in York, Chester and Lancaster counties for The Herald, where he has been an editor and reporter since August 2019. Zietlow has won nine S.C. Press Association awards in his career, including First Place finishes in Feature Writing, Sports Enterprise Writing and Education Beat Reporting. He also received two Top-10 awards in the 2021 APSE writing contest and was nominated for the 2022 U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s Rising Star award for his coverage of the Winthrop men’s basketball team.