Carolina Panthers’ biggest concern has nothing to do with the defense, and it’s an area that needs to be addressed immediately
The Carolina Panthers have to do some soul searching and actually make meaningful changes after another home blowout loss on Sunday, and the solutions on offense will be even harder to find.
The Carolina Panthers are going to have to do some soul-searching this week after another home blowout loss that left this team absolutely deflated. This time, it was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who walked into Bank of America Stadium and dropped 40+ points on this defense.
However, the Panthers’ most immediate concern isn’t on the defensive side of the ball. Don’t get me wrong, the unit looked awful on Sunday and changes need to be made (both with personnel and big picture with who’s calling the defense). For now though, I can see the defense responding again after a tough showing, mainly because it’s something we’ve already seen once this year and I believe in the talent being able to bounce back.
The main concern I have on offense is one that doesn’t have an immediate solution outside of hoping for better results. And having a short week won’t help things.
Offensive line play should be seen as a major concern for the Carolina Panthers
Say what you want about the defensive performance, but Sunday’s loss was a full-team effort across all three phases. And the play of the offense forced the defense into some tough situations early on in the game.
The thing that really needs to be cleaned up is the play of the offensive line, and there’s not a clear solution right now. Left tackle Rasheed Walker is the biggest problem and with Taylor Moton suffering a fractured fibula (on a play caused by Walker), the Panthers no longer have the ability to just swap Walker out for rookie Monroe Freeling. Unless, you want to start Stone Forsythe at right tackle, which is just as problematic.
And it’s not just Walker. Luke Fortner and Robert Hunt have also struggled all season long. The Panthers have Corey Bullock and Sam Hecht (who was a healthy inactive) as options at center and Brady Christensen as an option at guard. But, it doesn’t seem like the Panthers are interested in shaking things up on the offensive line.
Looking at the numbers, they certainly need to do something because it’s bad.
- Rasheed Walker: 26 pressures (most in the NFL), 3 sacks allowed
- Robert Hunt: 17 pressures, 1 sack allowed
- Luke Fortner: 15 pressures, 1 sack allowed
- Monroe Freeling: 16 pressures, 2 sacks allowed
The play up-front has been inexcusable and it was overlooked earlier in the season because Bryce Young was still playing at a high level despite the constant pressure. The last three games, the time to pressure has gotten worse and worse. Sunday’s showing was the eye-opening day that changes need to be made. I mean allowing your QB to get strip-sacked against a three-man rush is as egregious as it gets.
Changes need to be made going into Thursday’s game. There’s no way the Panthers can trot out the same group (especially Walker, Fortner, and Hunt) and expect different results. And the issue with Walker is that Moton’s injury made it even harder to bench him and Hunt’s price tag makes it hard to justify him sitting on the bench. We’ll see what the Panthers decide to do.
