It's Tricky
By Peyton Schultze
After a close loss to the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday, the Panthers will look to bounce back with a divisional win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (via The Item).
It is early November in 2018, with the Panthers flying high and heading into Pittsburgh for a Thursday Night Football clash with Big Ben and the rest of the Steelers. With a 6-2 record and Cam Newton looking rejuvenated in a brand new Norv Turner-led offense, the Panthers look like a legit Super Bowl contender for the first time since their loss at the hands of the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50. On the first drive of the game, Carolina’s offense is able to move the ball down the field with ease before punching it into the endzone on a 20- yard strike from Cam to running back Christian McCaffrey to make it 7-0, Panthers. Everything seems to be going well for the explosive Panthers, right?
Wrong. Carolina would finish that game by losing 52-21, allowing quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to throw for five touchdowns in a full blown rout. Since then, the Panthers has fallen off a metaphorical football cliff, winning only one football game in a meaningless Week 17 contest against the New Orleans Saints. A quiet offseason followed, including a serious surgery on the injured shoulder of Cam Newton, until Week 1 finally arrived this past Sunday against the reigning NFC champions in the Los Angeles Rams. Would the Panthers power through their past struggles or continue their downward spiral?
Although Carolina played a tough game against a very good opponent, they ultimately lost again and have now lost eight of their nine games dating back to last year. Coming into Thursday night’s NFC South matchup against the unpredictable Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Panthers are looking to find their own pulse and get back to their winning ways of the past. Will they be able to regain their previous prowess or will they continue to sink to the bottom of the NFC?
Despite the loss, running back Christian McCaffrey put on a show in his first game of the young season (via Antwan Staley, The Riot Report).
Even though Carolina has not had much recent success, there is still plenty of hope for Panther fans. Most of this hope lies on the massive shoulders of running back, Christian McCaffrey. McCaffrey, a standout college football star at Stanford who put up ridiculous numbers for the Cardinal, has been a revelation for the Panthers since being selected eighth overall in the 2017 NFL Draft. After a nice rookie season, the running back took his game to the next level in 2018, tallying 1,098 rushing yards with seven touchdowns, to go along with 107 receptions, 867 receiving yards, and six touchdowns. Even after only one week of football this season, McCaffrey showed signs of becoming even better with a monster game against the Rams (128 rushing yards, 81 receiving yards, two touchdowns) that almost helped push Carolina over the top for a win. At this point, McCaffrey is one of the most lethal weapons in football and is a threat that not many teams in the league have. If Carolina wants to get hot and rebound after last year, they’ll likely rely on the Stanford product to carry the load and become one of the best players in football.
However, all Panther fans realize that McCaffrey can not do it all on his own. Even though Carolina’s defense remains a capable unit that is in middle-of-the-pack territory (they did, however, limit the Rams’ star Jared Goff to only 186 passing yards), much of Carolina’s ability to get over the top and make a run toward the playoffs will depend on Cam Newton. The versatile quarterback had another solid season in 2018 with 24 passing touchdowns, but truly never looked the same after badly injuring his shoulder on that fateful night against the Steelers in Pittsburgh.
Before the injury, Cam looked like he was in his own MVP form under coordinator Norv Turner. Turner’s new look offense from a year ago featured a lot of screen play and misdirection, which helped lighten the load that Newton has often had to carry for most of his NFL career with the Panthers. Now, with the quarterback fully recovered and ready to go, the Panthers need him to not only step up for the Panthers’ offense, but stay healthy for all 16 games in order to give themselves a chance at success. Luckily for Carolina, there are enough options on the outside that will give him a chance to succeed, including the return of veteran tight end and Cam’s own personal security blanket in Greg Olsen. In addition, the Panthers have two promising young receivers in DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel on the outside, but both players will need to improve in a big way to help transform this offense into one of the league’s best.
The Panthers will need their dynamic duo on offense to have huge seasons in order to win football games in a tough NFC South (via The Heavy).
On Thursday night, the Panthers welcome the Bucs to town in their first divisional bout of the year with a NFC South foe. Last week, Jameis Winston and Tampa Bay struggled mightily on offense with three turnovers, which could be a good sign for a team that at least contained the Rams’ potent offense just a week ago. However, with head coach Bruce Arians in the mix for the Buccaneers, Tampa Bay still has some big play ability that may allow them to put up some points on the Panthers’ defense, leaving the Panthers’ offense to decide how this game goes. Tampa Bay did show a much improved effort on defense last weekend against San Francisco compared to a season ago, but they still do not have a ton of playmakers that should be able to stop Cam and McCaffrey.
The Panthers face a surprisingly big game in Week 2 this Thursday that will set the stage for the outlook of the rest of the 2019 season. Will Carolina end their recent slump and show that they are a force in the NFC, or will another loss cause some major concerns all around the organization? It’s now or never for the Panthers to make a loud roar in the NFC South and return to their winning ways of the past.