Panthers Remain in Mid Form at Midseason. What’s Needed?

Last season, winning five games out of 17 was a sign of hope for the Carolina Panthers. This year, taking that same win total into their 10th game marked the progress the team has seen. That is until Week 10, when the Saints came marching in and exposed what appeared to be an unprepared Carolina team, leaving Bank of America Stadium in a familiar cloud of malaise and skepticism. 

Sunday’s loss against New Orleans hurt for a few reasons; the Panthers had a chance to go to 6-4 against their division rivals, which would have placed them right in the mix for Wild Card with a chance at the division. But it hurt the most because the Saints came into the game with a horrid 1-8 record, yet still drummed the Panthers 17-7. 

This came the week after rookie Panthers kicker Ryan Fitzgerald secured a last-second victory against the Green Bay Packers at historic Lambeau Field despite entering that game as a two-touchdown underdog. It was a continuation of an inexplicable pattern for the .500 Panthers: winning games they aren’t expected to and dropping the ones they should take … on paper, anyway.  

So now heading into Week 11 with a 5-5 record and a Sunday game against an even more heated rival in the Falcons (whom they trounced 30-0 in Week 3), all we have to go by is the numbers. They don’t look great.

The Panthers have been outscored by 45 points across 10 games this season, averaging under 18 points while giving up more than 22 per game. 

In this league, it all starts at the QB position, and after a promising end to last season, Bryce Young has been a bit of a disappointment this year. He had six interceptions to go along with five fumbles coming into the game and added one of each, but it could have been worse; a roughing call saved him from another interception. 

The Panthers need to see Young back in the form he finished with last season, putting up points like a pinball score in two of his last three games of the winter. So why have the Panthers won games they’re not supposed to? And could it be that they’re learning how to win even when they’re not playing well? 

The finishing touch

Last season the mantra I kept hearing was “finish,” — play to the final whistle, leave it all on the field, any other related cliche, etc. Changing bad habits takes time, and Canales is still preaching that same sermon. It seemed his followers had been buying in before the Saints reached the gates of The Fortress (sorry, right stadium, wrong sport). 

Following the win in Green Bay, Canales said his goal involved “just building on the confidence of this group to believe if we just play our style of ball, we keep ourselves in it, we’ll give ourselves a chance to finish the way we want to.” 

Canales wants to control the offense on the ground, giving Young a good foundation to build his passing game. This is not a bad strategy, as the Panthers’ running game has been one of the team’s strong suits this year thanks to a great run (or many runs?) by Rico Dowdle. 

Dowdle had back-to-back games of more than 200 total yards against Miami and Dallas, breaking 200 on the ground alone at home against the Dolphins. 

Then Chuba Hubbard returned from an injury, leading Canales to split carries between the two. Dowdle’s dominance won out, however, as Canales stuck to his process in having the most productive players play. That put Dowdle back in the lineup against Green Bay and he responded with 141 yards including 130 on the ground as the Panthers gutted out the win.

“From carry one it was attitude,” Canales said of Dowdle after that win. “It was aggression and violence at the end of it. It affects the whole sideline when they see that kind of energy and that kind of violence, it gives them confidence and it’s who we want to be. So, I just really loved what he was able to do.” 

Dowdle, who came into Sunday’s game ranked fourth in the league in rushing, wasn’t able to keep it up against New Orleans, only gaining 53 yards on 18 carries for a 2.9 average and pulling in three passes for 10 yards. Without his dominance, the offense sputtered. 

If Canales can get Young back on track to how he played at the end of last season, there could still be hope for the playoffs. The coach continues to support his quarterback in press conferences, insisting after the Saints’ game that “he’s throwing the ball great.” 

“I think he’ll have some plays he’ll tell you he would like to have back,” he continued. “But in general, this is not about Bryce, this is about me. This is about taking steps so we can be a balanced offense.” 

It’s nice Canales is protecting his players, but Young simply isn’t throwing the ball great or close to it. There were a lot of off-target and underthrows by him on Sunday, and the game was a prime example of how perfect he has to be in playing with an arm that just isn’t as strong as many other quarterbacks in the league. 

Young shouldered the blame for his rough outing, claiming his spot as leader through good and bad and acknowledging that he has to make better decisions to keep the ball out of harm’s way. 

On the defensive

In my season-opening piece following a Week 1 loss to Jacksonville in September, I questioned the decision to bring back defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero after the disastrous numbers the D put up last year, especially against the run. 

It looked like nothing had changed after the first game in Jacksonville, when the Jags ran roughshod over this defense for 200 yards. Outside of the debacle against Buffalo where they ran for 245 yards, the Panthers rush defense has been much better, including a three-game winning streak in which they allowed 81, 31, and 19 yards. 

A big reason for the improvement is the return of defensive tackle Derrick Brown, who had been injured since the first game of the 2024-25 season. Brown is like an iceberg in the sea; he’s hard to get around, but if you run right into him, only bad things can happen. 

The defense wasn’t bad Sunday and certainly wasn’t the reason the Panthers lost, though they didn’t put a lot of pressure on the Saints’ rookie quarterback, Tyler Shough, who had a much better day in the pocket than Young did. 

Carolina is near the middle of the pack in points allowed, rushing yards and total yards allowed, which is a great improvement from last year. The one area they really need to get better in is getting to the quarterback, as they have only 16 sacks on the season, putting them near the bottom of the league. 

With a lot of new players added to the defensive side of the ball, they’re doing better than I expected. Linebacker Nic Scourton is looking like a keeper. 

Hopefully they can put more pressure on the quarterback, because no help is coming in the form of any trade at the deadline, which passed after Week 9 while the Panthers stood pat. 

With 10 games in the books, it’s still hard to complain. Who thought Carolina would be .500 while still plagued by a plethora of injuries, especially to the offensive line? 

The team’s running game has remained consistently strong, which is likely why Chuba Hubbard took exception to my question about what the offense can do to run smoother than it has been.  

“It’s crazy to say that because last week, everyone was saying the offense is doing great,” Hubbard said. “Some games aren’t going to go the way you want it to and that’s unfortunate. We’re not going to hang our heads on this loss. Obviously, it sucks losing, it’s a tough loss, but to sink the ship because of one loss, it’s crazy to me. You’ve got to be able to take lessons from the loss and I know we’ll do that.” 

Let’s see if there were lessons learned on Sunday and the Panthers can apply them to the coming games, starting with Atlanta next week. It would be a shame to let one game sink the ship after a promising start.