Carolina Panthers

Panthers Three Takeaways: Week 5 vs. Buccaneers

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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After the Carolina Panthers Monday Night Football performance, is there any hope for the 2016 season?

Imagine having a conversation with another Panthers fan in mid-August, just about as the preseason was midway through and the regular season only a couple weeks away. Where would the Carolina Panthers be pictured in the hunt for the NFC South championship? At the top.

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But just a little over a month into the season where do the Panthers find themselves? At the very bottom and probably not reaching the top at any point this season.

Not to completely write this year’s Panthers off, because miracles do happen, but the cards (and statistics) are certainly stacked against Carolina at this point.

They are now three games back of the NFC South leading Atlanta Falcons coming off of a statement win against Denver, and the defense as well as the offense has failed to produce enough positives to be considered in contention for anything but a top half draft pick in next year’s draft.

It would be disingenuous to mince words at this point. The reality is, the Panthers failed to adapt to other teams improving in this offseason and the organization fell behind. Now five weeks into the season, the time to play catch up has past.

Carolina’s Monday night performance was mediocre at best, 7-9 record football. Turning the ball over four times to a Tampa Bay team that came into the night with only two turnovers forced in four games is playing to lose. Letting a third string journeyman running back in Jacquizz Rodgers make the Panthers front seven look like Swiss cheese for the better portion of the game is playing to lose. Throwing from the one-yard line when the Panthers are one of the only teams in the NFL to employ a fullback for offensive purposes is playing to lose. And thanks to the folks at SB Nation’s Cat Scratch Reader, all of us can relive Monday night’s pivotal moment in horror.

Anderson INT is a corner/flat concept. Read the defender and hit open target. Both defenders double Olsen, leaves Tolbert open underneath pic.twitter.com/lDt7iSrbSh

— Nur C (@CP_CSR) October 11, 2016

Pictures say a thousand words, the face of Anderson and the dejected fan probably wishing for this season to all end soon speak for just about everybody.

After Roberto Aguayo missed a second field goal of the night Carolina had yet another shot to win and instead went three-and-out, throwing the dog-tired defense back onto the field to crumble and set up a game winning field goal that could have been seen from miles away.

But Anderson is not all to blame here, after all, he is just a backup being thrown into a starting situation after Cam Newton was injured last week. How about Mike Shula?

Shula decides that two Anderson turnovers just weren’t enough and instead of running Cameron Artis-Payne, the man who scored all of the Panthers points, Shula runs a designed pass tunnel-visioning one receiver the entire way. Is it even a shock that turned out the way it did?

Oct 10, 2016; Charlotte, NC, USA; Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera argues a call in the fourth quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Bank of America Stadium. The Buccaneers won 17-14. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports

Postgame, Ron Rivera defended the play call stating, “It was a good play call. The guy (Bucs corner Brent Grimes) just made a tremendous play. He hinged on underneath the throw. If that ball is maybe a little bit higher or if he mistimed that jump, it’s a touchdown.”

Credit to Rivera for picking up his fellow coach, but respectfully, Rivera is wrong. That play call in that situation given your record, and how the night had already progressed in turnover differential, was a terrible decision. It is almost as if Shula has never seen the final minute of Super Bowl 49. It was a momentum swinging, sail deflating play that ultimately may have cost the game.

Carolina outgained Tampa Bay by a full 101 yards on Monday night, threw for more passing yards, ran for more rushing yards with Tampa Bay going 0-4 on red zone opportunities into touchdowns. However, Carolina turned the ball over four times to Tampa’s zero, held the ball for nearly ten minutes less and was only 1-8 on third down conversions.

For every step forward in Monday night’s game, two steps were taken back. Now Carolina has to face the air raid of the New Orleans Saints, and in their five opponents after that, four have .500 or better records (the only exception being an underperforming, yet dangerous Cardinals team.)

While the motto for some Panthers seasons has been “Cardiac Cats,” these cats have suffered an arrhythmia. And it seems the only way for them to get the heartbeat back on pace is time.

Time that this season doesn’t have to offer.

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