The Carolina Panthers didn’t get what they were ultimately looking for in their Week 14 clash with the Atlanta Falcons. Head coach Matt Rhule, however, did get what he was looking for out of his new offensive coordinator.
Following his team’s 29-21 loss to their NFC South foes, Rhule told reporters that he was satisfied with the play-calling from Jeff Nixon. Nixon, who replaced the departed Joe Brady last week, called plays for the first time in his NFL career on Sunday.
“26 runs—which, when you’re behind, that would’ve been in the 30s had that not happened. We ran the quarterback. We’ve had more completions than we’ve had,” Rhule said.
Between quarterbacks Cam Newton and P.J. Walker, Carolina completed 21 of their 35 passing attempts for 243 yards. Newton, additionally, went for a team-high 47 rushing yards on 10 takes, with the Panthers totaling 91 yards on those 26 runs.
But Rhule, as adamant as he’s been about establishing the run, also said the change at offensive coordinator was about improving the aerial attack.
“I think a lot of people think some of the decisions I’ve made was because of the run game,” Rhule went on. “It’s really, we haven’t thrown the ball very well in previous games. This game I thought, at times, we threw the ball better.”
Sunday, despite the pair of ill-advised interceptions from both Newton and Walker, marked the first time Carolina totaled at least 200 passing yards since Week 4 against the Dallas Cowboys. So, yes, technically they did throw the ball better in this one.
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