Rodrigue analyzes the season

[Mr. Scot]

And states that there were signs early on that pointed to the coming collapse down the stretch...

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But just as that 63-yard field goal covered a lead blown by the Panthers in the fourth quarter, winning those six games in the first half of the year covered a lot of mistakes that hurt the Panthers down the stretch.

There were warning signs that, in hindsight, pointed to the seven-game losing streak that derailed Carolina’s season.

They began as early as Week 2, in Carolina’s 31-24 loss to Atlanta. The defense missed an uncharacteristic number of tackles as they allowed Tevin Coleman to rush for 107 yards on 16 carries, with a 36-yard long. It was the first 100-yard rusher the defense had allowed in 21 games, the longest run-stuffing streak in the NFL to that point.

But that wasn’t all. Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan rushed for two touchdowns, while the Panthers, featuring the best short-yardage runner in the NFL in Newton, elected to kick a 54-yard field goal on fourth and 3 in the first quarter, down seven. That juxtaposition was jarring.

 

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The one-score loss also foreshadowed a problem that would irk the Panthers down the stretch: The inability to close close games. Six of the Panthers’ eight losses after Week 2 were decided by seven points or less.

Those included a 23-17 road loss to Washington in Week 6, during which former Panthers cornerback Josh Norman intercepted Newton and forced a fumble.

And then in a 52-21 Week 10 drubbing at Pittsburgh in prime time, the Panthers’ wheels fell off and their nearly historic slide began.

During the seven-game slide, head coach Ron Rivera often repeated that each loss came down to just a couple of plays — a couple of “missed opportunities.”

 

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These were some of the key plays that defined that losing streak:

▪ In the Week 10 loss to the Steelers, an early turnover and a big passing play killed Carolina’s game plan. The Panthers had a 7-0 lead, scoring on their opening drive for the first time all season.

But James Bradberry was beaten by JuJu Smith-Schuster for a 75-yard on the Steelers’ first offensive play, erasing the lead.

Then, Pittsburgh “spied” Newton so he couldn’t run on the first play of the Panthers’ second drive, sending linebacker TJ Watt as a delayed rusher. Watt hit Newton in the shoulder area on his throwing arm, disrupting a throw that was intercepted and returned for a score. Newton was already showing up on the injury report with shoulder soreness. But that hit, and many more Newton took in the latter half of the year, only drew more concern about his throwing arm.

▪ Week 11’s loss to Detroit emphasized the Panthers’ season-long issues containing chunk passing plays. Bradberry looked elite against some of the league’s top receivers early in the year, but allowed Kenny Golladay to make two big plays over the top — a 36-yard catch and a 19-yard touchdown.

▪ Losing to Seattle in Week 12 highlighted third- and fourth-down defensive struggles. The Seahawks were 2 for 2 on fourth down, including a 35-yard touchdown pass given up by reserve corner Corn Elder. Seattle also converted long third downs with ease. Five of the Seahawks’ six converted third downs were chunk plays of 10-plus yards, and one was a touchdown.

▪ There were already questions about Newton’s shoulder health after the offense went away from utilizing the deep ball as heavily as it had in previous seasons. The questions increased when Newton popped back up on the injury report in Week 8, listed as “limited” on Wednesdays and for some Thursday practices. That looked like 2017, when Newton was recovering from his offseason shoulder surgery.

Then came Week 13’s loss to Tampa Bay, when Newton threw four interceptions — two in the fourth quarter — and was replaced for a Hail Mary attempt for the second time in the season. Newton ultimately sat out of the final two games of the year to rest his shoulder.

Notably, this Tampa Bay game was not memorable for the plays called so much as the people calling them: Rivera took over the defensive play-calling full time in the 24-17 loss as questions about his future circulated.

▪ How well-known had the defense become for giving up explosive passing plays by Week 14? So much so that Cleveland rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield threw deep on the Browns’ first offensive play. It went for 66 yards and set up a touchdown two plays later. Mayfield’s pass was the 13th passing play of 20-plus yards given up by Carolina’s secondary since Week 10, for a total of 534 yards — 41 yards per play.

▪ There wasn’t a lot to be excited about by Week 15, but the 12-9 loss to New Orleans did highlight the potential of some young players. McCaffrey ran a trick play on fourth down, throwing a 55-yard touchdown pass to reserve tight end Chris Manhertz for Carolina’s only offensive touchdown. Rookie cornerback Donte Jackson had a “pick 2,” returning an interception of Saints quarterback Drew Brees on a two-point conversion for two points.

▪ The feeling watching Carolina’s Week 16 loss to Atlanta was that of sickening fascination. A normal-person-sized quarterback, backup Taylor Heinicke, took the kind of hits superhuman-sized Newton had to endure weekly in the latter half of the year. One such hit, ultimately a penalty on Falcons defensive end Grady Jarrett, injured Heinicke’s left arm in the second quarter.

Carolina had to play its third quarterback in as many weeks as undrafted rookie Kyle Allen stepped in while Heinicke received medical attention before re-entering the game Heinicke went on injured reserve, giving Allen his first NFL start in Week 17.

Like Heinicke the week before, Allen had to leave the game after taking a vicious hit.

 

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The 33-14 Week 17 victory at New Orleans ushered out veteran center Ryan Kalil without the bitter taste of what would have been an eight-game losing streak in his mouth. Rivera made it clear in his postgame press conference that he would be retaining his job, which a league source confirmed this week. A source close to the situation told Observer that general manager Marty Hurney hadn’t been told any different by ownership, either.

Everybody felt good.

ut the next morning, it was hard to avoid the looming questions.

What will the Panthers do to overhaul their defense, and how deep will that go? Which free agents will be back in 2019? What is the plan to get Newton healthy? And while Rivera and Hurney have the benefit of owner David Tepper’s patience for now, it’s hard to see the full coaching staff remaining intact over these next few weeks.

Plus, the Panthers will pick at No. 16 in the first round of April’s NFL draft — from a 2019 class top-heavy with defensive talent.

The Panthers’ 7-9 season was full of “missed opportunities,” as Rivera often said.

To right the ship, the offseason can’t be.

Buckle in.

These moments defined the Carolina Panthers in 2018. Some might tell the future, too

Rodrigue's slant that there were early predictors of the failure to come also jibes with the feeling many of us had early on, that this success was a house of cards, an illusion that was bound to break down, and ultimately did.

Her closing paragraph echos Igo's statement that some current Panthers assistants might not be on staff come next season.

With Rivera now having returned from meeting with Tepper, I guess we'll see.

[Cdw]

2 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

The Panthers’ 7-9 season was full of “missed opportunities,” as Rivera often said.

To right the ship, the offseason can’t be.

And Rivera will change some assistants and the saga continues

[Mr. Scot]

2 minutes ago, Cdw said:

And Rivera will change some assistants and the saga continues

It's okay, though.  We got rid of Brady Hoke and Jeff Imamura.  Those guys were the real problem.

Everything will be fine now.

[Snake]

I expect business as usual from Rivera. I doubt we fire anyone else and upgrade nothing. 

[Mr. Scot]

I have no trouble believing Rivera might go ahead and fire more assistants if that's what it'll take to keep his ass out of the fire.

Where I have my doubts is whether the guy who promoted Eric Washington and put his neck on the line to save Mike Shula will choose the right ones to keep and the right ones to send packing.

One thing's for sure: If there is a staff shuffle but it ends with Richard Rodgers still coaching the secondary...

[Mr. Scot]

4 minutes ago, stbugs said:

I love how she mentions Golladay’s 36 yard catch where he was out of bounds on 3rd down and our intrepid leader didn’t challenge even though the announcers said he was out. So instead of attempting a FG (maybe a miss) we give Detroit a TD. Oh, remember we lost by 1 after going for two? It would have been nicer to kick the XP with Ganope already up 3 or 6.

I do find it interesting that she was more than happy to name Bradberry but left out Donte’s name on the 66 yarder. I’m weird because I like them both, just thought it was interesting.

Rodrigue comes across as a bit of a Rivera apologist sometimes.

Her take on the DBs, unknown.

[ellis]

Jourdan didn’t underscore anything I didn’t already know. I applaud her efforts, though. 

[PantherNation123]

11 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Rodrigue comes across as a bit of a Rivera apologist sometimes.

Her take on the DBs, unknown.

Yeah, Rodrigue's takes in general are horrendous.  She must have known someone at the Observer to get that job or they are just terrible at hiring.  Would be ecstatic to never see her or another word written from her again.  And before you lump me in with the "it's funny hearing a female talk about routes" club, I think Doris Burke is better than 99% of male announcers out there.  

[ellis]

I’m not being critical of Jourdan on the whole. I just knew all this stuff already from memory. She seems like good people. 

[Mr. Scot]

2 minutes ago, PantherNation123 said:

Yeah, Rodrigue's takes in general are horrendous.  She must have known someone at the Observer to get that job or they are just terrible at hiring.  Would be ecstatic to never see her or another word written from her again.  And before you lump me in with the "it's funny hearing a female talk about routes" club, I think Doris Burke is better than 99% of male announcers out there.  

I think she's good, but I don't agree with her all the time (nor anybody else, honestly).

[Darvinsun]

The take is true and seems like she places more blame on Ron and defense. Which is where it should be.Cams injuries and not just Cams but other QBs she pointed out seem to reflect back to Ron and Hurney.  I don' t think she agrees on the coaching staff being retained including Hurney . I applaud her for coming out.

DiD I misread what she wrote. I just wished she would have brought this out when the signs showed and asked Ron hard questions. It does us no good right now

[ellis]

As long as you watch the games, can review some film from time to time, and have a good eye for what’s happening on each play, documenting this is not rocket science. 

[top dawg]

Not really buying it. The selected highlights mainly speak to Newton's arm issues and Bradberry getting beat. It's really more "hindsight is 20:20" b.s.

[panthers55]

9 minutes ago, Darvinsun said:

The take is true and seems like she places more blame on Ron and defense. Which is where it should be.Cams injuries and not just Cams but other QBs she pointed out seem to reflect back to Ron and Hurney.  I don' t think she agrees on the coaching staff being retained including Hurney . I applaud her for coming out.

DiD I misread what she wrote. I just wished she would have brought this out when the signs showed and asked Ron hard questions. It does us no good right now

You read what you wanted to see Local writers have to be careful slamming coaches or players and then wanting interviews or exclusives from them. She isn't going to slam Rivera until he leaves. Notice she also didn't comment on how Newton got progressively worse and his interceptions skyrocketed leading directly to many of those losses. You don't say that when Cam is loved and popular here. If anything you cast him as the victim not the villian to gain reader support.

You take low hanging fruit like the defense and chunk plays which were painfully obvious since Washington took over.