Panthers’ defensive woes spill over, spoil offense in third straight loss

The Carolina Panthers are special.

The Carolina Panthers are special.

They’re not special because they’re particularly great or because they’re setting themselves apart in any positive or ingenious fashion. They’re special because they did not to mount a fourth-quarter comeback against the woeful Atlanta Falcons.

Given how that team is practically the Benjamin Franklin of inventing new ways to blow late leads, that’s impressive. What wasn’t in Carolina’s demoralizing 25-17 loss was their young defense.

Guess what? Morale gets lost when you allow a 35-year-old quarterback who runs like he underwent a double-foot transplant with an elephant and a duck gash you on the ground in critical spots. Matt Ryan hit up Carolina for 27 yards on six carries, two of which were pathetically painful.

Ryan’s first punch to the gut came at the 8:02 mark of the second quarter, when he rolled out to the wide-open right side of the field to pick up 13 of those yards and a touchdown. Two impressive scores from Curtis Samuel became two quick afterthoughts, as the clumsy Ryan embarrassed the Panthers defense to cut down their lead to 14-13.

Ryan’s second would help push what was the game-clinching drive forward. On a 3rd & 7 from Atlanta’s own 28-yard line, Ryan picked up 10 yards and a first down. Nine plays later, running back Todd Gurley extended a 19-17 advantage to the final 25-17 on a three-yard push into the end zone with 11:01 remaining.

Wideout Julio Jones also thrahsed a mostly soft zone defense for 137 yards on seven receptions. That 19.6 yards per catch average was a testament to Carolina’s shortcomings defensively, even with Calvin Ridley exiting early due to an ankle injury.

This often-punchless defensive unit is still failing to piece together timely stops consistently. They totaled just a single takeaway and two sacks while largely surrendering the edge in ball control (36:30 to 23:30) as well as in the first-down battle (28 to 18).

If you mix in last week’s loss to the New Orleans Saints, that time-of-possession difference stands at a jaw-dropping 71:11 to 48:49 in favor of their division rivals. They’re also well behind in total plays at 133 to 87 forced one punt in those eight quarters.

As the Panthers defense continues keeping opposing offenses on the field, they are—in turn—failing to get their own offense on it. This has helped lead to the aforementioned disparity in control and the lack of functionality and smoothness we saw in previous victories.

Outside of Samuel (54 total yards and two touchdowns on seven touches) and Mike Davis (66 yards on 13 carries), there wasn’t much to write home about on this side of the ball. Teddy Bridgewater was bland and flustered, D.J. Moore was MIA until the end and Robby Anderson was held in check for the first time all season.

With Carolina not having tasted victory in three weeks, the defense needs to dig deep and snap out of it. That will require getting help from someone other than Brian Burns and Jeremy Chinn, who is carrying quite a heavy work load. (They’re even counting on Chinn to convert 4th & longs . . .)

Next up, these Panthers will visit the reigning Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs next Sunday. Imagine what Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce can do against this defense.

Good luck with that.

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