I wrote about five things that needed to happen for the Panthers to improve to 2-0 yesterday just a couple hours before the game.
I predicted that if we woke up this morning and the Panthers had won, these five things probably happened.
How did those five things go? Well, let's just say in a very unconventional and dirty slug fest, I certainly wasn't perfect.
As always, and like I did with my final 53 roster projection which you can also read for fun on this blog, I'll review myself and see where things went wrong and what the Panthers did instead to edge the Bills 9-3 in Charlotte.
1. LeSean McCoy was bottled up
Starting off strong. Actually, yes. Bills running back LeSean McCoy was in fact very bottled up.
After racking up 110 rushing yards against the Jets, McCoy managed just nine yards on 12 carries against the stout Panthers defense.
I predicted it would be a tough day for McCoy against the Panthers but I had no idea it'd be that tough.
Since 2013, the Panthers are 30-12 when holding an opponent to under 100 total rushing yards.
We saw great gap control up front by Carolina's defensive tackles and veteran Julius Peppers (who seems to have backstroked in the fountain of youth and stepped back into 2007) made life hard for the Bills running game. Peppers also leads the team with 2.5 sacks.
2. Cam played smart
Cam Newton did play fairly smart. Rusty, certainly. Smart? Reasonably so.
At some point we have to start to wonder how long this "Cam is still shaking off the rust from the off season shoulder surgery" mantra will continue, but in the meantime, Newton is finding ways to do enough to win.
Make no mistake, Carolina's offense was largely putrid against a stout Buffalo defense this past week, but to Newton's credit, he didn't turn the ball over, which was huge.
Newton did have a couple of really bad missed throws (including an overthrow to a wide-open Christian McCaffrey in the flat on the goal line that would have immediately ended the ball game in the final quarter) but he dodged costly interceptions.
Newton quietly completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 228 yards and tucked the ball and ran five times for 27 yards.
The real problem was Newton dropped back behind an offensive line that had a horrendous day.
Newton was constantly on the run and was sacked six times-- tied for the fifth most he's taken in his career.
Even winning a game like this one is rare in franchise history. Prior to the win this past Sunday, the Panthers were a paltry 3-20 in games in which they allowed at least six sacks.
Expensive free agent tackle Matt Kalil had a very rough day and Daryl Williams did his best Mike Remmers impersonation by taking some holding penalties and getting turned around like a Scarowinds turnstile on multiple occasions.
The long story made short, Newton was smart in the sense that he didn't turn the ball over. When he was able to stand upright, he made some fine decisions, and that resulted in no disaster situations.
3. Special teams was special
Well, kicker Graham Gano did his job.
I said Gano couldn't afford to miss kicks in a game that would likely be low-scoring (which it was) and he didn't. Gano made all three of his attempts and accounted for all of the team's scoring. He also sent all of his kickoffs out of the back of the end zone.
Punter Michael Palardy will likely be icing up often this week. He was forced to punt six times and did well, averaging 41.5 yards per punt with a long of 55.
More importantly, Palardy pinned the Bills inside the 20 on two occasions. I guessed flipping field position would be a key thing to do, and that proved true.
Returns remain an enigma for this team. The Bills kicked off twice and both were touch backs but rookie Christian McCaffrey had five chances to return punts and averaged just six yards per return.
Is it time to give fellow rookie Curtis Samuel a chance? It's probably too early to say, but it's a position worth watching.
To sum it up, special teams played a big role and more importantly, didn't do anything to lose the game.
Also, former Panthers wide receiver Kaelin Clay nearly gave his former team a huge parting gift when he muffed a punt deep in Carolina territory with the coverage team bearing down him.
The ball took an unfortunate bounce right to a Bill, but Clay nearly made his biggest play for the Panthers in the stadium he played two preseason games in.
4. McCaffrey made a statement
Not exactly, but overall, I actually liked McCaffrey's game.
The rookie made a great leaping grab of a high Newton pass for a first down in the second half. He finished with four receptions for 34 yards.
On the ground, McCaffrey was held to 10 yards on eight carries. The aforementioned offensive line struggles didn't help his case-- he rarely had room to run without running head-on into the back of an offensive lineman.
I've already heard and seen a good deal of frustration toward McCaffrey and to that I'd advise patience. As we've seen already, he will get plenty of touches and it's a matter of reps in this system and confidence at this level-- give it some time.
Keep in mind, McCaffrey would have had his first NFL touchdown had it not been for Newton throwing 12 feet over his head.
5. The running game as a whole was potent
I'm not sure many parts of Carolina's offense could be described as potent against the Bills, the running game not excluded.
For perspective, the Panthers ran 12 plays in the third quarter and managed to total -15 yards. Not a typo. They lost 15 yards.
Carolina's offense was a comedy of errors against the Bills. Some of it was a predictably great game plan by Sean McDermott that featured creative blitzes (Newton's kryptonite, just ask Denver).
The rest of it was downright sloppy, undisciplined play. The offense took three delay of games and burned a couple timeouts well before the two-minute warning of the first half.
In terms of the ground game, the Panthers ran 28 times for 77 yards-- good for a paltry 2.8 yards per carry average.
Keep in mind, 27 of those rushing yards came from Newton. Jonathon Stewart and McCaffrey combined for just 50 yards-- not ideal.
Luckily, the Panthers played one of the best defensive games I've ever seen them play and it was enough to overcome an offense that couldn't get out of its own way.
Some more posts about next week's home game against the Saints and what Greg Olsen's foot injury means for the team are in the works.
Thanks for reading. I'm a journalist with a passion for writing about the Panthers. If you enjoyed, like/retweet, share with your friends. It all means a lot and I hope you enjoy my commentary as much as I enjoy delivering it. I try to post 1-2 times a week, but I always try to go for more. Cheers and please come back.
I predicted that if we woke up this morning and the Panthers had won, these five things probably happened.
How did those five things go? Well, let's just say in a very unconventional and dirty slug fest, I certainly wasn't perfect.
As always, and like I did with my final 53 roster projection which you can also read for fun on this blog, I'll review myself and see where things went wrong and what the Panthers did instead to edge the Bills 9-3 in Charlotte.
1. LeSean McCoy was bottled up
Starting off strong. Actually, yes. Bills running back LeSean McCoy was in fact very bottled up.
After racking up 110 rushing yards against the Jets, McCoy managed just nine yards on 12 carries against the stout Panthers defense.
I predicted it would be a tough day for McCoy against the Panthers but I had no idea it'd be that tough.
Since 2013, the Panthers are 30-12 when holding an opponent to under 100 total rushing yards.
We saw great gap control up front by Carolina's defensive tackles and veteran Julius Peppers (who seems to have backstroked in the fountain of youth and stepped back into 2007) made life hard for the Bills running game. Peppers also leads the team with 2.5 sacks.
2. Cam played smart
Cam Newton did play fairly smart. Rusty, certainly. Smart? Reasonably so.
At some point we have to start to wonder how long this "Cam is still shaking off the rust from the off season shoulder surgery" mantra will continue, but in the meantime, Newton is finding ways to do enough to win.
Make no mistake, Carolina's offense was largely putrid against a stout Buffalo defense this past week, but to Newton's credit, he didn't turn the ball over, which was huge.
Newton did have a couple of really bad missed throws (including an overthrow to a wide-open Christian McCaffrey in the flat on the goal line that would have immediately ended the ball game in the final quarter) but he dodged costly interceptions.
Newton quietly completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 228 yards and tucked the ball and ran five times for 27 yards.
The real problem was Newton dropped back behind an offensive line that had a horrendous day.
Newton was constantly on the run and was sacked six times-- tied for the fifth most he's taken in his career.
Even winning a game like this one is rare in franchise history. Prior to the win this past Sunday, the Panthers were a paltry 3-20 in games in which they allowed at least six sacks.
Expensive free agent tackle Matt Kalil had a very rough day and Daryl Williams did his best Mike Remmers impersonation by taking some holding penalties and getting turned around like a Scarowinds turnstile on multiple occasions.
The long story made short, Newton was smart in the sense that he didn't turn the ball over. When he was able to stand upright, he made some fine decisions, and that resulted in no disaster situations.
3. Special teams was special
Well, kicker Graham Gano did his job.
I said Gano couldn't afford to miss kicks in a game that would likely be low-scoring (which it was) and he didn't. Gano made all three of his attempts and accounted for all of the team's scoring. He also sent all of his kickoffs out of the back of the end zone.
Punter Michael Palardy will likely be icing up often this week. He was forced to punt six times and did well, averaging 41.5 yards per punt with a long of 55.
More importantly, Palardy pinned the Bills inside the 20 on two occasions. I guessed flipping field position would be a key thing to do, and that proved true.
Returns remain an enigma for this team. The Bills kicked off twice and both were touch backs but rookie Christian McCaffrey had five chances to return punts and averaged just six yards per return.
Is it time to give fellow rookie Curtis Samuel a chance? It's probably too early to say, but it's a position worth watching.
To sum it up, special teams played a big role and more importantly, didn't do anything to lose the game.
Also, former Panthers wide receiver Kaelin Clay nearly gave his former team a huge parting gift when he muffed a punt deep in Carolina territory with the coverage team bearing down him.
The ball took an unfortunate bounce right to a Bill, but Clay nearly made his biggest play for the Panthers in the stadium he played two preseason games in.
4. McCaffrey made a statement
Not exactly, but overall, I actually liked McCaffrey's game.
The rookie made a great leaping grab of a high Newton pass for a first down in the second half. He finished with four receptions for 34 yards.
On the ground, McCaffrey was held to 10 yards on eight carries. The aforementioned offensive line struggles didn't help his case-- he rarely had room to run without running head-on into the back of an offensive lineman.
I've already heard and seen a good deal of frustration toward McCaffrey and to that I'd advise patience. As we've seen already, he will get plenty of touches and it's a matter of reps in this system and confidence at this level-- give it some time.
Keep in mind, McCaffrey would have had his first NFL touchdown had it not been for Newton throwing 12 feet over his head.
5. The running game as a whole was potent
I'm not sure many parts of Carolina's offense could be described as potent against the Bills, the running game not excluded.
For perspective, the Panthers ran 12 plays in the third quarter and managed to total -15 yards. Not a typo. They lost 15 yards.
Carolina's offense was a comedy of errors against the Bills. Some of it was a predictably great game plan by Sean McDermott that featured creative blitzes (Newton's kryptonite, just ask Denver).
The rest of it was downright sloppy, undisciplined play. The offense took three delay of games and burned a couple timeouts well before the two-minute warning of the first half.
In terms of the ground game, the Panthers ran 28 times for 77 yards-- good for a paltry 2.8 yards per carry average.
Keep in mind, 27 of those rushing yards came from Newton. Jonathon Stewart and McCaffrey combined for just 50 yards-- not ideal.
Luckily, the Panthers played one of the best defensive games I've ever seen them play and it was enough to overcome an offense that couldn't get out of its own way.
Some more posts about next week's home game against the Saints and what Greg Olsen's foot injury means for the team are in the works.
Thanks for reading. I'm a journalist with a passion for writing about the Panthers. If you enjoyed, like/retweet, share with your friends. It all means a lot and I hope you enjoy my commentary as much as I enjoy delivering it. I try to post 1-2 times a week, but I always try to go for more. Cheers and please come back.
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