Life comes at you fast. One minute you're just short of a perfect season, trying to win your franchise's first Super Bowl and the next thing you're staring
Bruno Fernando Jersey up in your division at the 3-1 . Such is life for the right now, a very talented team that looks extremely hung over a quarter of the way into the season. The Panthers find themselves in a very precarious spot, just a year after coming out of the gates a scorching 4-0 in their first four games. There are a number of i sues here, most notably on defense. Carolina was absolutely abused by (503 pa sing yards) and (300 receiving yards), including a 75-yard score that iced the game after Carolina closed within eight points.75 yards. He's GONE.JULIO JONES IS A MONSTER. NFL (@NFL) This did not go unnoticed by the Panthers' shutdown corner from 2015, . after Jones lit up the secondary, saying he was just going to "sip his tea." Norman got smoked once by Jones last year, so he wouldn't cure all the ills, but certainly Carolina is paying the price right now with an inability to cover top receivers. There's also no pa s rush coming out of the defensive line -- they have nine sacks on the season so far, but only two were produced by defensive ends ( and have one each). was supposed to parlay his breakout performance into a huge season, and it hasn't happened yet. When the defensive line doesn't generate pre sure, it means more time to cover for the defensive backs. And they're not talented enough to hold up. . So Carolina has this defense that isn't playing up to par and the offense isn't really doing its part either. With out, the run game has been a real i sue. Carolina is top 10 in the in rushing yards per game, and managing the same number of yards per rush, but it just hasn't been nearly as effective a unit as we saw last season. It's po sible the opponents are the i sue here. Atlanta isn't a loaded defense, but the Panthers did play the and . Winning games in the NFL is difficult, and Carolina's had some tough matchups. Denver and Minnesota, in particular, offer a difficult task for a questionable offensive line. and aren't high-end tackles (Oher was out Sunday) and haven't played well this season. According to Pro Football Focus, Oher and Remmers have both allowed three sacks this season, tied for fifth most among all tackles in the league. Combined they've allowed a whopping 20 hurries and three quarterback hits as well.
Atlanta Hawks Jeresy Mix in a concu sion -- not their fault -- and you have the recipe for an offense that isn't holding up its end of the bargain. Or maybe you have a team that's looked like an average NFL squad thus far this year. The Panthers have a pair of "get right" games coming up against the (home) and (road). But those are division games too. They're not freebies. Newton might mi s time with his head injury. Pushing the panic button a quarter of the way into the season is unnece
Tony Snell Jersey sary, but any concerns Panthers fans might have are absolutely justified at this point. Here are more takeaways from around the league Sunday.1. More struggles in ArizonaLike Carolina, the were riding high recently. Picked by many people to win the Super Bowl, Arizona looks like a team shell-shocked four weeks into the season. They're 1-3, with lo ses to the and at home, in addition to an ugly Week 3 lo s to the . Seven days ago that egg in Buffalo was an aberration. Right now it looks like reality after Arizona shot itself in the foot during a lo s to the Rams. Like Newton, the Cardinals haven't gotten what they wanted from their 2015 MVP candidate. is completing le s than 60 percent of his pa ses (58.
, has thrown nearly as many interceptions (five) as he has touchdowns (six) and now he too is dealing with a concu sion. Anyone who's watched the Cards play can't think Palmer looks like the same dude as last year. There's clearly something off. The "he's dealing with the playoff lo s poorly" excuse is dumb. But Palmer isn't right. It's weird, too, because the skill-position guys have been pretty good so far. finally showed up this week and looks healthy after struggling during the early part of the season. hasn't broken out the way people hoped, but he's been alright. 's been the best running back in football four weeks in. In terms of protection, and have allowed 21 total pre sures this season per PFF, putting them right in the middle of the road for tackles.2. John Elway wins again We yell a lot about quarterbacks when covering the NFL, but we don't spend enough time talking about the ability of smart front offices to invest heavily in quarterbacks. Elway didn't budge on his
Dominique Wilkins Jersey number for , and as a result he entered the season without great options at quarterback. However, he secretly put some depth together. The combination of (better-than-we-thought young veteran) with (rookie loaded with upside) and (break gla s in case of emergency) set Denver up well before the season. Even heading into the year with just Siemian and Lynch sounded risky, but they had a higher ceiling than people believed. Siemian met expectations, at least those of Gary Kubiak and Elway, , Lynch was there to jump in.The very FIRST TD pa s of 's NFL career! NFL (@NFL) The Broncos don't have the biggest name value at quarterback on their depth chart, but they do have quality and reasonable depth in different ways. Lynch was prepared enough to step in and manage a fairly easy win over the Buccaneers, . No one's asking for 50 pa ses in this Kubiak offense. For a guy with his skillset to come in ice cold and handle the offense is huge, even if the gameplan was conservative. Denver gets the Falcons and on deck next, which means they could very well conceive an offensive gameplan that allows them to move to 6-0.3. Chargers are chokers At this point, I'm just completely tired of
Jaylen Adams Jersey defending the Chargers. They're losers who can't close. I mean that in the nicest way po sible, which is not very nice. San Diego should be 4-0 at this point. Not joking at all. This is a mind-blowing stat about their inability to close out games:The Chargers are 1-2 this season in games they've led by 13+ points in 4th quarter. The rest of the NFL is 25-0 in such games ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) And the Chargers have had fourth-quarter leads in every single lo s this season. Sunday was something else, with the Chargers sitting on a lead, about to run out the ball and beat the Saints, when just handed the ball over and allowed to hit for a touchdown. The personal investment here is a pick of San Diego to win the division, a pick that looks like a total joke at this point. There are several early candidates to be the first coach fired, and Mike McCoy is the clear clubhouse leader.4. The No Fun League and celebration penaltiesThe NFL is out of control right now with these taunting penalties and celebration penalties. You're really going to hit for 15 yards for shaking his pelvis? Cam Newton gets nailed because he stands up and the ball hits an
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