Jump to content

  • Welcome!

    Register and log in easily with Twitter or Google accounts!

    Or simply create a new Huddle account. 

    Members receive fewer ads , access our dark theme, and the ability to join the discussion!

     

Charlotte Observer ‘Panthers reverting to losing form

raleigh-panther

By raleigh-panther,
in Carolina Panthers

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Popular Post
raleigh-panther Grand Master

raleigh-panther

Posted
  • Popular Post
Posted

pulled forward notable quote   the blame lies where it so often does, on a head coach who managed to both settle for a field goal and leave too much time on the clock at the end, a pair of decisions that came back to bite him on each cheek.

Panthers revert to form after being on verge of winning the kind of game they often lose

BY LUKE DECOCK

[email protected]

1 day ago

There was a shimmering moment, between the initial desperation and eventual despair, when the Carolina Panthers looked like they’d finally figured out a way to win the same game they keep losing over and over again.

They had recovered from an abysmally slow start, finally found a way to get Christian McCaffrey the ball in places where he could put his skill to use, even managed to get a few stops on defense at critical times. They put the game on the foot of yet another stop-gap kicker — and got away with it.
 

Then the Panthers contrived to screw it up anyway, becoming the first team to lose an opener to the Cleveland Browns in almost a generation and finding, in the end, a way to lose the same game they keep losing over and over again.

And as much as people will point to a questionable roughing-the-passer penalty on Brian Burns that jump-started the Browns’ winning drive and set up their long-range field goal for a 26-24 win, much of the blame lies where it so often does, on a head coach who managed to both settle for a field goal and leave too much time on the clock at the end, a pair of decisions that came back to bite him on each cheek.

There’s a gym class somewhere missing Matt Rhule, whose team managed to look like 53 guys who were meeting for the first time in the first half only to be let down, once they figured things out, by their coach’s decision-making at the most critical moment in the second.

Just when McCaffrey got rolling, getting the Panthers down to the Browns’ 14-yard line, a fumbled snap — one of several by Baker Mayfield on the day in his Carolina debut, including one that McCaffrey picked up off the ground and ran with — cost the Panthers a down. Then, instead of even taking a shot at the end zone, they ran a pair of give-up runs inside and sent out Eddy Piniero, a late-camp replacement for the injured Zane Gonzalez, to kick a field goal with 67 seconds still on the clock.

Rhule and Mayfield said afterward that they were run-pass options that ended up runs, but either way, the failure to be more aggressive with the game on the line showed a lack of faith in an offense that finally found its groove — and would prove fatal.
 

The Browns had run the ball almost at will all day, but with no timeouts, they were stuck relying on Jacoby Brissett to take them down the field. The Panthers thought they had a better chance of stopping Brissett than trying to punch the ball in themselves. A 58-yard field goal later, they found themselves in the wrong.

Rhule even walked away with a timeout in his pocket after the Panthers got the ball back with 8 seconds to go, for all the world looking like a guy pulling a Full Costanza after finding out the Nebraska job was open. If the Panthers had any trophies, he’d be dragging them around the parking lot right now. That, at least, would have been a Rhule decision fans could get behind.
It was remarkable, to be sure, the Panthers had a chance to win this game at all. They were booed off the field in the second quarter, Mayfield bounced five passes off his former teammates and threw a sixth directly to one, and McCaffrey was merely a rumor until midway through the second half. Their best offensive play in the first quarter was a roughing-the-passer penalty on the Browns. CBS, at one point, caught owner David Tepper with the same expression on his face as every Panthers fan. They had no right to be in a game they ended up leading in the final two minutes.

But in it they were, with Mayfield finding his groove and zinging a 75-yard touchdown pass to Robbie Anderson, a one-play touchdown drive, and McCaffrey thriving in space and the defense getting stops. A restless, unhappy crowd finally had reason to cheer. If Burns had been able to keep away from Brissett’s helmet, the Browns’ last drive might have ended with a stop, too, and the game with it.

“It’s encouraging that we were able to turn it on,” Burns said. “It could have been a whole lot worse than what happened.”

So it’s all the more disappointing that the small-minded approach to the final two minutes left the Panthers in an all-too-familiar position when they were on the verge of starting fresh, riding Mayfield and a healthy McCaffrey to a very un-Panthers win, only to end up with a very ur-Panthers loss.

  • Pie 10
  • Beer 5
  • Flames 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Castavar Grand Master

Castavar

Posted
Posted

At some point, you are who you are. When it happens once, it's a fluke. When it happens twice, it could be a coincidence. When it happens three or more times, it's a trend. Rhule (dating back to college) has always been a fraud. He couldn't close out games in college, and he can't close out games now. He is what he is. Hopefully Tepper's bitchass figures this out sooner rather than later, but seeing as how Rhule should have been canned after last year, I don't have any hope for that. There isn't a worse owner + HC duo in the league.

  • Pie 4
  • Beer 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
raleigh-panther Grand Master

raleigh-panther

Posted
  • Author
Posted
1 hour ago, TheCasillas said:

posted yesterday by @ladypantherI believe. Its an opp ed. I think we have enough here that doesnt need to be validated by a no name media type.

Didn’t realize it had been posted   It blocked me from posting yesterday 

 Some actually like to read articles written by actual sports writers. 

  • Pie 1
  • Beer 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
JVic Community Regular

JVic

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, raleigh-panther said:

“It’s encouraging that we were able to turn it on,” Burns said. “It could have been a whole lot worse than what happened.”

This is the epitome of everything wrong with the Carolina Panthers, and not just Matt Rhule.  Our best player is encouraged that in GAME fuging 1, they were able to turn it on after halftime?!?! Pathetic. 

  • Pie 3
  • Beer 1
  • Flames 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
ladypanther Grand Master

ladypanther

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, rippadonn said:

I like this new guy. Nice name.

Quote

 

ExperienceExperience

Sports ColumnistSports Columnist

The News & ObserverThe News & ObserverSep 2000 - Present · 22 yrs 1 moSep 2000 - Present · 22 yrs 1 moRaleigh-Durham, North Carolina AreaRaleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area

Write 3-4 opinion columns per week for metropolitan daily newspaper, including ACC football and basketball, NHL, other sports and social issues. Social media super user (14k Twitter followers). Make regular national television and radio appearances (CBS, ESPN, NHL Network). Oversaw team of 10 writers and editors as interim sports editor, responsible for performance reviews and budgeting. Produce and edit audio and video, most notably a highly rated podcast. Travel frequently and internationally, including 2016 Summer Olympics.

• National Headliner Award for sports commentary, 2019

• North Carolina Sportswriter of the Year, National Sports Media Association, 2017, 2016

• Top 10, columns, Associated Press Sports Editors, 2018, 2013 (75k-150k circulation)

• Top 10, feature writing, APSE, 2012

• Multiple awards, North Carolina Press Association

 

https://www.linkedin.com/in/luke-decock-35690a6a/

  • Pie 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • PMH4OWPW7JD2TDGWZKTOYL2T3E.jpg

  • Topics

  • Posts

    • rayzor
      From the ground up: How the Panthers are retooling Bryce Young's footwork to slow down time

      By rayzor · Posted

      we got spoiled having superman and even then...he wasn't enough. superman was a fluke. there are incredibly unrealistic expectations for a first round QB, especially a first overall pick. people look at the short term, first year, rather than what you might get the next 10 and they also think that what you see the first year or two is what you get the rest of the time.  it just doesn't work like that. these guys are all young and a work in progress. you draft on potential. what it takes to reach that potential is different for everyone and it all depends on the situation they fall into, the player pieces around them, the scheme they either put him in or develop around him (the latter is better), and the coaching they give him. then there's also the work the player has to put into it. the work they put into is is the only thing they can control. the rest is just luck. 
    • travisura
      Panthers Blueprint

      By travisura · Posted

      I actually agree with everything you've said here. My comment was directed to the posters who feel the need to derail threads with the same Bryce talking points over and over again. It's just tiresome, even if what they're saying has some truth to it.
    • strato
      Panthers Blueprint

      By strato · Posted

      That's not totally the case. It is hard to discuss future without a crystal ball, you look at the past the to assess and project, and there is a lot of on field negative from year one. Some people say throw it out. You can’t dismiss things that were on him and not the OL or Reich or Chark or Mingo etc., if you want the real story.  That footwork is not just people picking on him, it is probably a huge barrier to his potential success. All the passing comes from a base and if it is off the throws are hard to trust.  OTA optimism is fools gold tbh. It buys nothing. We have seen the skins and shirts all stars enough times to know what that is. We will need real football at real football game speed which we won’t get even in preseason.  That said I expect him to somehow make his way to somewhere in QB tiers or rankings to maybe low 20s. Gotta win 6 at least for that.  My opinion is if they can make a playoff run with a 4th tier QB then fine but I’d just as soon go over to the side of those who for years held out for a QB capable of taking the team to and winning a SB. I am not thinking he is that guy so far but taking this year to find out is necessary. 
×
×
  • Create New...