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Kicking off the new year with a slide down to 5-11, the Carolina Panthers lost 18-10 to the New Orleans Saints in the Caesars Superdome.
Here are our studs and duds from that Sunday evening tilt.
Stud: Frankie Luvu
Luvu was easily the player of the game for the Panthers, adding to his career year with yet another impressive performance this afternoon. The former Jets linebacker totaled nine tackles—with three of them for a loss—while repeatedly pressuring quarterback Taysom Hill and stifling the Saints’ rushing attack behind the line of scrimmage.
If Carolina wants to keep him around, though, they’ll probably have to pay up. Luvu, who was signed to a one-year deal this past offseason, is set to hit the open market off an eye-opening campaign. If he returns, he should upgrade from a rotational player to one with an opportunity to start in Phil Snow’s unit.
Dud: Panthers offensive line
14 sacks in two weeks isn’t exactly a recipe for success. Still, the Panthers have repeatedly found themselves trying to be a successful football team despite a lackluster offensive line.
Their line gave up seven sacks for 42 yards through constant pressure, forcing a dismal performance characterized by frantic, rushed check-downs. To make things worse, Panthers right guard John Miller hardly took any responsibility for the struggles in his postgame press conference.
“It’s the NFL, man,” Miller said. “It happens. Sacks [happen].” Well, allowing the fourth-most sacks and registering the highest sack rate shouldn’t happen . . . for winning teams, at least.
Stud: Panthers’ draft position
If the Panthers have figured out how to do one thing well over the last two months, it’s losing. Sunday’s loss was the sixth in a row for Carolina after dropping to Washington, Miami, Atlanta, Buffalo and Tampa Bay previously.
Now, they’re continuing to hand out wins like Oprah does with cars, and the only beneficiary on the Panthers’ side is their draft position. Currently, Carolina holds the sixth overall pick, which, with the state of things right now, should almost certainly be used on an offensive lineman.
Dud: Sam Darnold
Darnold can’t be blamed for all of the Panthers’ offensive struggles, especially with the performance of his offensive line. However, he deserves blame for something in that listless showing.
After an impressive 9-for-9 start, Darnold finished the game with just 132 passing yards and zero touchdowns to two turnovers. Worse, though, it seemed like the quarterback limited the rest of his offense. Refusing to throw the ball downfield, he finished with just 3.5 air yards per attempt, relying on check-downs and screen passes that gained a couple of yards at best.
Every week, it’s becoming more clear that the offense cannot continue to evolve as a unit with Darnold at the helm and the offensive line in shambles.
Stud: Chuba Hubbard
Hubbard was one of the only sources of light in an otherwise dim offensive outing for the Panthers. Even then, the light wasn’t exceedingly bright.
The rookie running back led the team with 55 rushing yards, including a breakaway 21-yard touchdown run that gave his team a one-score lead in the first quarter. Hubbard also drew four targets—second only to Ameer Abdullah—turning them into 13 net yards throughout the game.
Depending on the capacity in which the Panthers decide to use Christian McCaffrey next season, Hubbard appears to be capable of maintaining a decent role in this Carolina offense.
Dud: Panthers’ pass rush
While the Saints managed to put plenty of pressure on Darnold, the Panthers could hardly do the same to Hill. By the end of the game, the Panthers only sacked Hill twice over five total hits, allowing him to escape the pocket and run far more often than he was tackled for losses.
Hill ran on the Panthers for 45 yards on the ground and put up 222 yards through the air, too. With hardly any pressure up front, Carolina let the Saints control—and eventually win—the game.
Stud: Panthers run defense
Except for a bruising, 30-yard run by Kamara, the Panthers defense held the Saints’ top running back in check Sunday. Kamara’s other 12 carries—excluding the aforementioned rush—all combined for just two yards, forming a pitiful 0.16 YPC.
For as poorly as they did in putting pressure on Hill, the same unit impressed in stopping the run for most of the game. The Panthers should use that as a building point as they rework both sides of the ball this offseason.
Dud: Panthers secondary
It’s never a good sign for a defense when the pass rush and secondary both have issues. Still, that’s what happened for the Panthers today, and it showed in the Saints’ offensive stats.
Hill finished with that respectable yardage total and zero interceptions. Two New Orleans players, additionally, totaled more than 50 yards—including 97 yards for wideout Marquez Callaway.
The only thing that saved the Panthers was their red zone defense, as they limited the Saints to a field goal on multiple occasions that they could have come away with a lot more.
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