We didn't lose because of Cam, Luke, or Coaching

[TN05]

We lost because we made mistakes early. That's it. You don't win against Alex Smith when you go down 17-0. Alex Smith doesn't make mistakes that let you come back very often. The fact of the matter is, if DJ Moore doesn't fumble twice we win, and we nearly won even with that.

We had three turnovers and only allowed 23 points. That's not bad. We had three drives in the second half and scored on two of them and nearly on the third. That's about as good as you can get. The sky isn't falling. We just have to stop turning the ball over.

Does this mean there's no issues with coaching or performance? Of course not. We should have went for it on fourth and one. We should have been more aggressive early. Eric Reid shouldn't have blown coverage. Curtis Samuel and CJ Anderson should have had more time. But that's not why we lost: we lost because of turnovers. And that's fixable.

[LinvilleGorge]

Yeah, the turnovers were the main culprit. But our defense's inability to get off the field meant our offense had little opportunity to answer or get in a rhythm. They spent the majority of the game on the sidelines. Then for some reason when we got in the redzone late with plenty of time and two timeouts we were focused only on the endzone and not on moving the sticks, whether that was Cam, the play calling, or a combo of both.

[CPF4LIFE]

Nah, definitely coaching. It was downhill after not going for it on 4 and inches. 

[Newtcase]

Anyone that's willing to overlook three failed attempts to gain 5 yards in a game winning situation is willfully putting the blinders on.  That game was there for the taking, period.  You can make any excuse you like from earlier in the game but that's all conjecture.  You truly have no idea how the game would have unfolded if those turnovers hadn't happened.  We do however know without doubt that we had an opportunity to win the game on the last drive and completely blew it.  

[RumHam]

I love when the "understanding" and acceptance posts come a day after a L.

[PantherBrew]

The biggest mistake by Alex Smith put the game out of reach.  The strip-fumble gained them 8 yards and put them into FG range. 

Cant make that poo up.  I was literally laughing like a crazy person. 

[TheRed]

Sometimes it's one move that can send things spiraling, and begin a momentum shift. Obviously the turnovers were the real momentum shift, but the move that sent things spiraling was treating our first drive as inconsequential. If our defense isn't going to be what it once was then we need to set the tone offensively, especially on the road. Our failure to do so basically doomed us from the jump. We spent the whole game trying to claw our way back. That's coaching.

[ickmule]

All of the mentioned reasons are why they lost.  I’m done making excuses for this mediocre franchise.  

[Cary Kollins]

fwiw I don't even blame Moore on the second fumble. Just a heck of a play by Josh using the Peanut Punch that he learned here. Gotta give props when they are due.

[raleigh-panther]

I call bullshit

The Panthers despite it all had a chance to win that game at the end  that’s what good teams do 

they blew it

simple and plain 

[Lumps]

I agree, just wish we were good enough to overcome those issues. Instead, we all got to see why we are not.

Coaches couldn't adjust going down 17 points and our offense couldn't execute a game winning drive, and that, to me, was more sad to see than the fumbles.

The defense was gassed and I can't put much blame on them other than not getting any pressure on Smith until it was too late. Coaching, QB and offense (including fumbles) though needs to be able to overcome mistakes like the great teams do.

Panther fans have gotten so used to a great defense, when we don't have an elite top 5 D, the blame shifts to them. But in today's league, scoring 30 points in pretty common and with all that's been invested in the Panther's offense and the Oline playing lights out, this game should have been won by the offense.

[wud35]

1 hour ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Yeah, the turnovers were the main culprit. But our defense's inability to get off the field meant our offense had little opportunity to answer or get in a rhythm. They spent the majority of the game on the sidelines. Then for some reason when we got in the redzone late with plenty of time and two timeouts we were focused only on the endzone and not on moving the sticks, whether that was Cam, the play calling, or a combo of both.

It also didn't help our defense when our offense and special teams put them back on the field.

[My Goodness My Guinness]

I was unable to watch due to power still not back, but I did listen to the end in my car. I looked back through the stats and our defense only gave up 280 yards which is pretty great these days in the NFL. Did most of this come on a few long sustaining TD drives or what?

[PantherPhann89]

2 hours ago, TN05 said:

We lost because we made mistakes early. That's it. You don't win against Alex Smith when you go down 17-0. Alex Smith doesn't make mistakes that let you come back very often. The fact of the matter is, if DJ Moore doesn't fumble twice we win, and we nearly won even with that.

We had three turnovers and only allowed 23 points. That's not bad. We had three drives in the second half and scored on two of them and nearly on the third. That's about as good as you can get. The sky isn't falling. We just have to stop turning the ball over.

Does this mean there's no issues with coaching or performance? Of course not. We should have went for it on fourth and one. We should have been more aggressive early. Eric Reid shouldn't have blown coverage. Curtis Samuel and CJ Anderson should have had more time. But that's not why we lost: we lost because of turnovers. And that's fixable.

I agree and disagree. I agree that the turnovers put us in a bad position early,  but i don't agree that it's the reason we lost. I believe that primarily,  we lost because of poor execution in all phases of the game, in conjunction with passive playcalling.