Panthers rookies show real promise in team’s second win of 2020

This 2020 Panthers team wasn’t supposed to be competitive.

This 2020 Panthers team wasn’t supposed to be competitive. In fact, a lot of people were expecting a disaster. It’s not difficult to see why.

Let’s count up the pieces: A new coach whose only prior NFL experience amounted to a year’s worth of assistant work, a new quarterback trying to follow the franchise’s greatest athlete, a new system to learn in a process greatly limited by a deadly pandemic and a new roster, with a league-low 46.9 percent of snaps returning from the 2019 season.

Team owner David Tepper even sent out a letter to season-ticket holders bracing them for the long struggle to come.

Guess what? This young team is under control and competing every week.

Rhule’s Panthers continue to pick up steam, as they chalked up their second straight victory in a 31-21 trouncing of the Cardinals. Unlike their outlook heading into this turbulent 2020 campaign, the win was almost never in doubt.

The victory was highlighted by what was supposed to be their most fatal flaw – the defense. After spending their entire bag of draft capital to rebuild this unit, the investment is incredibly already paying off.

The star of the band is second-round pick Jeremy Chinn, who came into this week leading all rookies in tackles and continued his strong start to the season. He led the way with a team-high eight tackles against Arizona’s high-powered offense today. Most impressively, 6-foot-3, 220-pound Swiss Army knife was tasked with spying on the agile and super-quick Murray, a plan that limited one of the game’s most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks to just 211 total yards. For the fourth straight game, Chinn appeared explosive and made impact plays all over the field.

Fellow second-rounder Yetur Gross-Matos made his presence known as well, forcing a strip-sack of Murray to halt an eight-play drive that got as far as Carolina’s 38-yard line.

The recovery by safety Tre Boston set up the Panthers for an ensuing eight-play, 74-yard touchdown trip.

Let’s not forget the headliner of the rookie class either, that dancing bear known as Derrick Brown. Brown’s power up the middle helped stunt Arizona’s rushing attack, as running backs Kenyan Drake and Chase Edmonds combined for a paltry 51 yards on 17 carries (three yards per attempt).

As good as the defense looked at times, Carolina’s 31 points didn’t just appear out of nowhere.

Teddy Bridgewater was the maestro the organization signed him to be in the offense’s most commanding performance thus far. Save for one interception, Bridgewater was everything offensive coordinator Joe Brady could’ve asked of him, completing 26 of his 37 attempts for 276 yards and a pair of scores. He even ran one in on this slick 18-yard scamper.

The offense’s crown jewel possession came with 1:08 remaining in the third quarter and didn’t end until nearly halfway through the fourth. The 15-play drive ate up a massive amount of time – 8:30 off the clock, effectively clipping the Cardinals’ wings. By then, the Panthers’ 17-point edge was too much to overcome.

Much of that success can be credited to a fine outing by the offensive line. They executed their pass sets incredibly well throughout, not allowing a single sack of Bridgewater and paving the way for a combined 137 rushing yards from the backfield combination of Mike Davis and Reggie Bonnafon. Davis continues to run with conviction, reminiscent of another No. 28 before him and made his case for more playing time even more appealing.

Now a quarter of the way through the 2020 season, the Panthers sit at 2-2. It’s not what the “Tank for Trevor” fans want to see, but at least this team is not painful to watch. They might even be fun.

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