In sacrificing better judgment for the sake of a juicy storyline, much of the football world has done its darnedest over the past 10 weeks to prop up Kyle Allen as the future of the Carolina Panthers. Well, he’s not. Allen, for the most part, will keep you in games – not put you over the top as do many of the league’s premier players at the position.
He’s someone you can feel relatively comfortable with in a pinch, given his aptitude to allow his offense’s best play-makers to make plays and not utterly self-implode. But his handful of flaws—most notably his feel for the pocket, his frantic processing, lack of downfield arm strength and a recent absence of ball security—won’t get you too far.
Today, however, was the day we finally saw that propped up Kyle Allen—that gritty, poised, moxie-filled Kyle Allen those overly excited folks have been so eager to die on a hill for.
Coming off his worst career outing, an afternoon where he threw four interceptions at home against a largely lost Atlanta Falcons defense, Allen shined under difficult circumstances in New Orleans. Allen was confident and effective once again in an extraordinarily difficult venue to win in.
Unfortunately for the Panthers and their playoff hopes, it just wasn’t enough.
Down 14-0 midway through the first quarter, Carolina got a boost from their quarterback. Allen shook off those downfield cobwebs and connected with wide receiver DJ Moore on a beauty of a 51-yard touchdown pass to keep the Panthers afloat in what was otherwise quickly turning into a thorough beat-down.
He’d do the same late in the third, leading the offense to a seven-play, 71-yard scoring trek to cut off the New Orleans Saints, who nearly broke away on a touchdown the possession prior, and cut into their 31-18 lead. Running back Christian McCaffrey (133 total yards, two touchdowns) put the 4-yard cherry on top of the drive to chop the deficit to seven.
After tying the game on a two-yard strike to Moore (six receptions, 126 yards), who also had his most impressive performance of 2019, Allen again pushed the Panthers into range, this time leaving a potential go-ahead, 28-yard field goal try for kicker Joey Slye with 2:00 left.
But, like he did on the pair of extra point tries on the two aforementioned scoring drives, Slye missed. And Wil Lutz, who was set up for a 33-yard game-winner by the Saints offense, did not.
Carolina’s crushing 34-31 loss in New Orleans can partly (and obviously) be attributed to Slye’s misses. The other portion of the blame can be placed on the team’s defense, who not only folded on the last stand of the game, but also failed to come up with big plays earlier in the contest.
Save for an interception by Tre Boston, the unit’s first takeaway since Week 9, and a fourth-down stop by safety Eric Reid (15 tackles), the Panthers struggled to take advantage of a Saints offense that wasn’t up to its usual standards. One sack through the game’s first 58 minutes and forcing just nine incompletions for quarterback Drew Brees won’t get much done in that particular dome.
While the Panthers’ postseason outlook was already fading even before the loss, this one stings a tad more for Allen (23-of-36, 256 yards, three touchdowns) and that valiant comeback. It may sting even harder for head coach Ron Rivera, who has his team at 5-6 and could be coaching out the rest of the season for his job in 2020 and beyond.
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