The Carolina Panthers’ offensive line played party pooper on Saturday.
In what was supposed to be a cheery introduction into a new era for the hopeful franchise, yesterday’s preseason opener ended being quite the stinker. The visiting New York Jets, even without four-time Most Valuable Player Aaron Rodgers, had their way—big-dogging the cats en route to a 27-0 thrashing.
Chief among Carolina’s issues was a feeble effort from its hog mollies, who combined to allow eight quarterback hits and five sacks during the exhibition. After the game, veteran Cameron Erving spoke about the private (and probably not peachy) meeting held by offensive line coach James Campen and the unit.
“Camp called us in, and we just talked. We had to keep it real with each other; the s— wasn’t good enough,” Erving said, via Darin Gantt of Panthers.com. “Top to bottom, it doesn’t matter if it was preseason, regular season, or offseason. The s— was not good enough at any level, from any position, myself included, especially myself. All we can do is come back, try to regroup, and f—ing fix it.”
From starter Bryce Young to backup Matt Corral, the Panthers’ passers faced a constant stream of pressure throughout the contest. Starting left tackle Ikem Ekwonu, who allowed a crushing hit of Young on the opening drive, had a similar sentiment on the sour performance.
“Just disappointed. Not what we’re looking for at all,” he said. “He shouldn’t be getting hit at all. That’s on us. We just weren’t good enough today.
“We’ve got to just attack it. A lot of things on tape we’ve got to fix. So that’s the goal going into next week.”
Hopefully for Young, Corral and the rest of the offense, the group will just flush this one and light a few matches.
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