Tag: Jeremy Chinn

Winners and losers from the Panthers’ 23-16 loss to the Bears

The Panthers fell to 3-3 with a 23-16 loss to the Bears, bringing an end to their three-game win streak despite a valiant comeback effort.

The Panthers fell to 3-3 with a 23-16 loss to the Bears, bringing an end to their three-game win streak despite a valiant comeback effort.

Here are our winners and losers from today’s game.

Winner: DB/LB Jeremy Chinn

The Panthers’ second-round draft pick is making a case for Defensive Rookie of the Year. Along with two pass deflections, Chinn added a clutch red zone interception just one play after Mike Davis fumbled the ball. The pick off Nick Foles set up a long 55-yard scoring drive for Carolina. Chinn also recorded five tackles.

Loser: LB Tahir Whitehead

It’s near impossible to fill the shoes of Luke Kuechly, but to say Tahir Whitehead has disappointed would be an understatement. As has been the case all season, Whitehead had multiple missed tackles. The Panthers need Whitehead to improve in coverage or find someone who can.

Winner: Panthers run defense

Carolina did an impressive job containing David Montgomery, limiting the Chicago running backs to just 2.5 yards per carry. After the loss of Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kawann Short, the pressure was on this young Panthers defense to step up and stop the run, and plays like this Derrick Brown tackle for loss helped them deliver.

Loser: Penalty problems

Penalties continue to be a problem for this young team. The Panthers fought for every yard they got in today’s game, but they gave away 69 on penalties. That’s a recipe for disaster against a stout defense like Chicago’s.

Winner: DE Brian Burns

Burns has quietly been one of the league’s best players at pressuring opposing quarterbacks. The second-year defensive end managed to hit Nick Foles three times and record three more tackles. After a concussion scare last week, it was reassuring to see Burns return to form this week.

Loser: OT Russell Okung

Starting left tackle Russell Okung racked up two false starts and gave up several pressures on Teddy Bridgewater. The offensive line struggled as a whole, giving up six QB hits and four sacks, plus six more tackles for a loss.

Winner: Panthers wide receivers

It was a tale of two halves for the Panthers receivers. A shaky first half by Robby Anderson was obscured by the emergence of D.J. Moore. Then, a shaky second half by Moore was covered for by Anderson. While they did drop a few passes, these two receivers combined for 216 yards, so this loss doesn’t fall on them.

Loser: Third-down offense

It’s fair to say that the Panthers missed Curtis Samuel in this one. The loss of one of the league’s best third-down receivers led to a dreadful performance by the offense in that position, converting just 3-13 opportunities. The Panthers will look to regroup ahead of next week’s matchup against a high-powered New Orleans team.

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Panthers Highlights: Jeremy Chinn gets first career interception vs. Nick Foles

Every week, Panthers rookie Jeremy Chinn is getting better.

Every week, Panthers rookie Jeremy Chinn is getting better. Watch Chinn pick off an ill-advised pass by Bears quarterback Nick Foles.

That’s the first interception of Chinn’s career.

Chinn also broke up a pass intended for Jimmy Graham earlier.

Chinn’s coverage was the big question mark about his game coming into the NFL, so if he can keep improving in this area he’s going to be truly special.

Carolina trails Chicago 13-6 in a game that’s getting uglier by the snap.

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Panthers rookie watch: Yetur Gross-Matos’ breakout game

Here is how the 2020 draft class performed on Sunday.

This was a big week for the Panthers rookies. They got strong performances from their top three draft picks in their win over the Cardinals.

Here is how the 2020 draft class performed on Sunday.

Jeremy Chinn, spy master

For the fourth-straight game, second-round pick Jeremy Chinn looked nothing like a rookie. He led the team with eight tackles and was given the awesome responsibility of spying Kyler Murray. Watch Chinn close down his running lanes, here.

Derrick Brown’s power flashes again

Carolina’s top-10 pick flashed his power against vs. Arizona. Watch him bully his way through Cole Mason and then drop Kenyan Drake for a loss.

Brown is now up to five tackles for a loss this season.

Yetur Gross-Matos has his breakout game

The first few weeks of the season were forgettable for defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos. He struggled against the Raiders, then missed Week 2 and committed an awful penalty at the wrong time against the Chargers. Yesterday, he came through with some flashy plays.

Here he uses his speed to get by D.J. Humphries and then gets a strip/sack/fumble on Murray.

Gross-Matos also showed surprising closing speed when he chased down Murray on a scramble earlier in the game.

Troy Pride Jr.’s run defense

Fourth-round pick Troy Pride Jr. made a couple of nice run stops in the red zone, including this one.

However, he gave up a touchdown in coverage moments later. The learning curve continues for No. 25.

As for the rest, Kenny Robinson is still on the practice squad and Bravvion Roy and Stantley Thomas-Oliver were inactive yesterday.

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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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Panthers Highlights: 5 promising plays from the defense vs. Chargers

Panthers Highlights: 5 promising plays from the defense vs. Chargers

This Panthers defense was supposed to be the worst in the NFL this season. That may yet prove to be true, but so far the numbers and the tape suggest there are several defenses that are playing much worse than this one. Also, we saw several signs of progress in this past week’s upset road win over the Chargers, including an improved pass rush and some timely takeaways.

Here are five promising defensive plays we saw during the Week 3 victory.

DE Brian Burns’ strip sack

Carolina’s defensive line came to life against the Chargers, getting consistent pressure on rookie quarterback Justin Herbert. Burns was in Herbert’s grill all afternoon, starting with this strip sack.

DT Derrick Brown’s early TFL

The team’s top-10 draft pick flashed in run defense several times, totaling three tackles for a loss. Here’s another angle on his first.

LB/DB Jeremy Chinn shuts down a screen

Chinn has had some issues in coverage and has missed a few tackles, but overall he’s defended at a very high level for a rookie. He played every defensive snap against LA, including this one when he shut down a screen pass for Austin Ekeler.

S Juston Burris blows a play up in the backfield

Here’s a well-timed safety blitz by Burris. He reads the play and blows it up in the backfield, resulting in a huge loss for the Chargers.

CB Donte Jackson’s pick

Here Herbert just simply misread the defense, leading to a relatively easy pick for Donte Jackson.

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Panthers rookie watch: Derrick Brown rebounds in Week 3

Here’s a review of how the kids did this week.

The Panthers finally broke into the win column yesterday with an upset victory on the road over the Chargers. They wouldn’t have gotten there without some solid play from their 2020 rookie class.

Here’s a review of how the kids did this week.

DT Derrick Brown

After committing two horrible penalties on third down against the Buccaneers last week, Brown rebounded against LA. He was a disruptive force in the middle of the defensive line, totaling three tackles for a loss.

Fans should expect Brown to continue making rookie mistakes from time to time, but his power is clearly going to prove a problem for a lot of pro offensive linemen.

LB Jeremy Chinn

While things have gone up-and-down for the team’s top-10 pick this year so far, Chinn has been consistent every game. Against the Chargers, he posted 12 combined tackles, finishing second on the team for the third consecutive week. His instincts and range are serving him very well.

This is what we call a tackling machine. For Chinn to be playing this well at this point with no rookie camp and no preseason games to prepare is a great sign of things to come for him.

DE Yetur Gross-Matos

Carolina’s other second-round pick isn’t adjusting to life in the NFL quite so well. In his debut against the Raiders, he made a few glaring errors in run defense and missed last week after getting poked in the eye. On Sunday he returned and once again drew attention for the wrong reasons. He committed a facemask penalty on Justin Herbert at the worst possible time, extending a potential game-winning drive for LA. Gross-Matos totaled two tackles.

CB Troy Pride Jr.

Fourth-round cornerback Troy Pride Jr. also had a big yikes moment late in the game against the Chargers. He fell down on this play while trying to cover Keenan Allen. Fortunately, Tre Boston broke up the pass in the end zone that could have cost the Panthers the game.

Pride did make a nice play as a gunner, though. We will probably mostly be seeing him on special teams once Eli Apple is activated from injured reserve this week.

The rest didn’t make much of an impression, but seventh-round pick Stantley Thomas-Oliver was active for the first time this season.

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Panthers defense finally steps up in team’s first win in 11 games

Carolina Panthers defense steps up in team’s first win in 11 games going back to 2019 season.

Through their first two games of 2020, the Carolina Panthers defense had a bend-but-don’t-break dynamic going on. There was also a whole lot of don’t-do-much-of-anything, though.

Just two takeaways, zero sacks and not a timely stop to speak of beset the unit in Carolina’s first two losses to Las Vegas and Tampa Bay. They didn’t completely implode in either contest, which was impressive given their youth and drastic personnel turnover rate, but the big plays were essentially non-existent.

That changed on Sunday.

Carolina’s 21-16 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers, their first win since Week 9 of 2019 (yes, you read that correctly), was headlined by seized opportunities on defense. Perhaps, with the Ron Rivera era behind us, we can call those “un-missed opportunities?”

Whatever you call them, the clutch stops began early with edge rusher extraordinaire Brian Burns. The second-year defensive end forced a fumble off rookie quarterback Justin Herbert midway through the first quarter. Burns’ dirty work halted a drive near midfield and helped set up an early 6-0 lead.

The Chargers fumbled again later, as linebacker Shaq Thompson kneed the ball out of the grasp of running back Joshua Kelley from behind. Not exactly a “Peanut Punch,” the seemingly accidental strike and subsequent forced fumble set Carolina up at their own 43-yard line.

Three minutes and 57 seconds later, Christian McCaffrey-replacement Mike Davis hit the end zone on a reception from 13 yards out to stretch the lead to 15-7 at the 3:02 mark of the second quarter.

The Panthers didn’t waste those final three minutes of the half either, as cornerback Donte Jackson picked off Herbert on the ensuing possession. Jackson’s 66-yard return left Carolina on the Los Angeles eight-yard line. They closed the half with a chip-shot field goal and an 11-point lead.

When they returned to the field for the second half, rookie linebacker Jeremy Chinn broke out again.

Like Burns, Chinn has proven he’s got a bright future. Chinn ranked second only to Thompson (13) with 12 total tackles on the afternoon. Chinn now has 20 tackles through three games and has made an impression with his athleticism and versatility.

On offense there weren’t any shocking developments. This performance just reinforced the fact that, even with the most dangerous group of weapons they’ve had in quite some time, they have their limits.

That’s due to the limits of QB Teddy Bridgewater. It’s not that he can’t throw downfield, as evidenced by his 38-yard connection with DJ Moore, it’s that he and offensive coordinator Joe Brady seem reluctant to do so.

Take their possession at the end of the first half, for instance. Rather than take a quick shot at a receiver in the end zone from the eight-yard line with eight seconds left, Bridgewater dumped off to Robby Anderson at the four-yard line. Eight seconds is certainly more than enough time to at least take your one shot at a touchdown before you settle for three points.

Offenses go as their QBs go. Although he’s solid option and a guy who won’t hand the opposition the game with poor play, Bridgewater doesn’t exactly go above and beyond. He’s not, as Panthers fans have seen in the nine years previous, a Cam Newton type that can drag a fundamentally-flawed roster kicking and screaming to a victory.

But Bridgewater will usually keep you afloat, as he did on Sunday. He was efficient (22-of-28), drew the defense offsides with his cadence a few times and didn’t offer the Chargers any giveaways to catapult themselves back into contention.

Regardless, it’s time to celebrate. Congratulations to head coach Matt Rhule and his staff on their first win and congratulations to the franchise for their first victory in *checks notes* 329 days!

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Panthers rookie watch: Derrick Brown struggles, Jeremy Chinn continues to impress

Here is how the kids did in Week 2 against the Buccaneers.

The Carolina Panthers need to rely on their 2020 draft class more than any other NFL team this season. Week 1 was a good debut for a couple of the rookies who wound up starting on defense.

Here is how the kids did in Week 2 against the Buccaneers.

DT Derrick Brown

This was a poor showing from Carolina’s top-10 pick. Brown committed two bad penalties on third down Sunday, bailing Tampa out in a couple of critical situations. He also did nothing to push the pocket and get pressure on Tom Brady in the absence of the injured Kawann Short. It’s only one game, but this was a forgettable one for Brown, who had just one tackle.

LB Jeremy Chinn

For the second straight week, Chinn impressed fans and analysts with his performance. Chinn has demonstrated plus range for a linebacker and has proven to be a harder hitter and better tackler than advertised.

Chinn tied cornerback Rasul Douglas for a team-high seven combined tackles.

DT Bravvion Roy

Roy did not see much playing time in Week 2 despite the injury to Short leaving the interior rotation short-handed. He played 28% of the defensive snaps and made one stop.

CB Troy Pride Jr.

After starting last week against the Raiders, Pride mostly stayed on the sidelines against Tampa. Douglas took his place in the lineup and Pride wound up only playing 13% of the team’s defensive snaps.

As for the rest, defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos missed this week after getting poked in the eye at practice and going into the concussion protocol. Fifth-rounder Kenny Robinson remains on the practice squad and seventh-rounder Stantley Thomas-Oliver has been inactive in both games.

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Panthers rookie watch: Jeremy Chinn, Derrick Brown flash in NFL debuts

First-round pick Derrick Brown and second-round pick Jeremy Chinn were  as good as advertised in their NFL debut.

The new-look Carolina Panthers defense took center stage in their season opener Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. Four of the 11 starters were rookies (Derrick Brown, Yetur Gross-Matos, Jeremy Chinn and Troy Pride Jr.)

First-round pick Derrick Brown and second-round pick Jeremy Chinn were  as good as advertised in their NFL debut.

Like he did at Auburn, Brown clogged up holes and attacking the opposing offensive line. He showed flashes of potential dominance he can build on, including a tackle for a loss and a couple of pass breakups.

Jeremy Chinn got the start at strongside linebacker and did not disappoint. He displayed excellent closing speed, open-field tackling, and strong coverage skills, all things he did very well at Southern Illinois.

While they lost, the Panthers can at least come out of this game knowing they have early building blocks for the future of the defense in Brown and Chinn.

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Panthers Highlights: Rookie Jeremy Chinn stuffs Reggie Bonnafon

Panthers Highlights: Rookie Jeremy Chinn stuffs Reggie Bonnafon.

The Carolina Panthers had the worst run defense in the NFL last season and whoever had the second-worst wasn’t close. The hope is that Derrick Brown and a few other new pieces will help turn that around this year under incoming defensive coordinator Phil Snow.

Watch second-round pick Jeremy Chinn stuff backup running back Reggie Bonnafon at practice on Monday.

Chinn is expected to start at “strong safety” in place of Eric Reid. However, fans should expect to see him lining up at multiple spots.

As for Bonnafon, he’s competing with Mike Davis for the right to backup Christian McCaffrey.

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