other key injuries<\/a> before the game had gone entirely off the rails. And yet\u2026 those excuses do nothing to soothe the wounds. There are no excuses for giving up 216 yards rushing, having 13 missed tackles, turning the ball over 3 times and losing a game by over 4 touchdowns.<\/p>\nAt least none that fans are willing to hear.<\/p>\n
After the Panthers first beatdown at the hands of the New England Patriots, head coach Dave Canales made it known that he was conferring with the coaching staff and the team\u2019s leaders to sort out the team\u2019s issues before their next game. After his press conference on Monday, it looks like Canales\u2019 is taking a similar approach this week. I guess if it worked so well the first time, might as well do it again.<\/p>\n
For this week\u2019s game review, we\u2019ll take a similar look at the state of the Panthers performance and make note of what the team will need to start doing, stop doing and continue doing to achieve some worthwhile results moving forward.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s get the low hanging fruit out of the way: Dowdle is the the best and most productive running back currently on the roster and should take the majority of the snaps at the position moving forward. I can respect providing Chuba Hubbard, who has been the heart and soul of the team for the past couple years, an opportunity to prove himself after coming back from an injury. Unfortunately, the sample size is now large enough and the disparity between the two back\u2019s production is so clear and obvious (Dowdle nearly tripling Hubbard\u2019s yards per carry) it\u2019s time to hurt some feelings and make the better back the bell-cow. Based on Canales\u2019 words to the media Monday afternoon, that writing may already be on the wall. The book is far from closed on Hubbard, but right now it\u2019s Dowdle\u2019s time.<\/p>\n
Stop\u2026 making it so unnecessarily difficult<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t have to be this hard, and yet certain decisions by both the players and coaches make it seem as if they are hell-bent on making it as difficult as possible. Throw the ball away when there isn\u2019t anyone open. If you\u2019re 36 years-old, maybe don\u2019t try to scramble for a first down while surrounded by players 10 years your junior. If there is a receiver open, give them a catchable pass. If you\u2019re the open receiver, catch the ball if it hits you in the hands. Tackle the ball carrier when they\u2019re in front of you. If one player is proving to be the best option at their position, stick to them until proven otherwise.<\/p>\n
Continue\u2026 leaning on the the young and talented playmakers<\/p>\n
If there is one blessing, it is that a lot of the players making the most positive impact on the field are the same ones considered to be the long-term building blocks. Tetairoa McMillan continues to produce as the Panthers number one option in the passing game. Fellow rookie Mitchell Evans looks like a Day 3 steal that already may be the Panthers best tight end. Ikem Ekwonu and Damien Lewis have anchored the left side of the offensive line. Jalen Coker, Jimmy Horn Jr and Xavier Legette have each had flashes in October. Derrick Brown looks like an All-Pro. Nic Scourton\u2019s effort is unmatched and is starting to turn into stat production. Jaycee Horn is a playmaker. Trevin Wallace has shown significant signs of improvement and is developing into a worthwhile starter. Continue to rely on these players and find what works with everyone else on the roster.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll see you again here next week once the Panthers complete their trip to Lambeau Field to take on another Super Bowl contender in the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If I had a nickel for every time the Carolina Panthers got off to a promising start against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,52938,2567,7,6,236],"class_list":{"0":"post-481806","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolina-panthers-scores-results","11":"tag-carolinapanthers","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115451591771031253","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}