By CORY SPIERS
The Panthers (6-4) lost their second straight game this past Sunday, falling 20-19 at Detroit after a failed 2-point conversion in the game's final two minutes.
The loss dropped Carolina to an abysmal 1-4 on the road and in the team's lone road win of the season, it needed a 21-point fourth quarter explosion to erase a 17-0 deficit at Philadelphia.
What more do we know about the Panthers after their Motor City meltdown? Not much. We do know they're still very much in control of their own playoff destiny as it relates to wild card scenarios-- they, along with Minnesota (5-4-1) still hold serve as wild card leaders after Sunday's slate of games.
However, a slew of five and six-loss teams are nipping right at Carolina's heels and more performances like yesterday's could mean a long, lonely offseason.
There were a lot of different fingerprints on yesterday's stinker. With that said, some position groups will be required to obtain a parent signature on their report card from Detroit.
Disclaimer: I have always loved the idea of position grades, but I haven't looked at the Charlotte Observer grades on purpose as to not be swayed one way or the other. That's a different instructor, after all.
Quarterback: (B+)
From a fantasy standpoint, things look great on the stat sheet for Cam Newton, who completed 25-of-37 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns compared to one pick that came late in the first half.
Panthers offensive coordinator Norv Turner seemed hesitant to turn Newton loose on the ground and Newton seemed terrified to tuck the ball and take off-- a difference maker for him most weeks. He finished with just two rushes for two yards.
Newton orchestrated a touchdown drive with his team trailing 20-13 but promptly overthrew a wide-open Jarius Wright in the middle of the end zone on a 2-point conversion that would have given the visitors a late 1-point lead. Instead, the ball sailed harmlessly into the wall behind the end zone and the Panthers lost.
Also of note, Newton briefly left the game with a lower-body concern after taking a (late and illegal) hit to the back of his legs after getting rid of the ball and was spelled by Taylor Heinicke for one play. Heinicke zipped a nice looking pass right into Devin Funchess's hands but it was dropped (more on that soon).
Running back: (B)
It's a little difficult to grade this group as they quite frankly didn't have many chances to do much.
Typically, if Newton is throwing close to 40 passes, it means things went sour. That's the case again here.
In their first game without veteran CJ Anderson on the roster (the team waived him after the loss to Pittsburgh), things looked... actually pretty much the same.
McCaffrey was still the centerpiece of the rushing attack. He finished with 53 yards on 13 carries and chipped in six receptions for 57 yards.
Cameron Artis-Payne got one carry early in the game and managed just a yard.
Wide receiver: (C)
Funchess hurts the overall grade of a position that actually performed pretty well.
Funchess had five drops (including one in the end zone in the first quarter) and just looked lost for the entire game.
Funchess was targetted eight times but finished with just two catches for 39 yards.
Rookie DJ Moore had a career day with seven catches for 157 yards and a touchdown.
Curtis Samuel had a solid game with five catches for 55 yards and Wright had three for 40.
Offensive line: (D+)
Newton took quite a beating. The stat sheet shows just three sacks but the situation was far worse than that.
Newton rarely had time but did the most he could with what he had. The running game didn't have many big holes to work with.
For a second straight week, this group looked quite bad.
Defensive line: (F)
Through three quarters and change, the Panthers had zero sacks.
Julius Peppers changed that by slipping around the edge in the fourth quarter for a sack but that was the lone blip on the radar.
The highly-paid Carolina front four barely managed to breathe on Matt Stafford.
In particular, defensive tackles Dontari Poe and Kawann Short could do nothing as pass rushers and got blown off the ball consistently as Kerryon Johnson gashed the Panthers for 87 yards and a touchdown on just 15 carries before leaving with an injury.
Mario Addison looked invisible and the Panthers actually emptied the bench and brought in reserve ends Bryan Cox, Jr. and Marquis Haynes in an attempt to bring in some more speed off the edge. Spoiler: it didn't help.
Linebackers: (C)
Carolina's crop of speedy, talented backers looked ordinary again in Detroit.
They've looked like a shell of themselves the past couple of weeks. Luke Kuechly did have a team-high seven tackles including two for a loss but the group continues to miss tackles consistently and when was the last time Thomas Davis or Kuechly made a true game-impacting play? It's been quite a while.
Defensive backs: (C-)
Stafford had plenty of time to work on Carolina's secondary and he did so with pretty good success.
Stafford went 23-of-37 for 220 and a touchdown.
Kenny Golladay, in particular, abused the Panthers secondary, grabbing eight passes for 113 yards and a crucial score.
Bruce Ellington added six catches for 52 yards.
Special teams: (F)
Graham Gano single-handedly pulled a win from the jaws of defeat earlier this season against the Giants.
His 63-yard field goal outdoors vaulted the Panthers past a New York team that had all of the momentum at the time.
Gano's performance against Detroit single-handedly pulled a loss from the jaws of victory.
His missed chip shot field goal and missed extra point indoors cost the Panthers four crucial points on the road.
Michael Palardy punted well with an average of 44.4 yards per kick and one inside the 20. Damiere Byrd had just one punt return that he managed to lose a yard on.
Coaching: (F)
The Panthers had an extra long period to prepare for the Lions after a Thursday night loss in Pittsburgh.
It didn't look like it.
The Panthers looked poorly prepared for the Lions. Missed tackles, poor offensive line play, a lack of hands from the team's No. 1 wideout, a complete lack of pass rush... multiple position groups looked surprised that yesterday's game started at 1 p.m. and that starts with the coaching leadership.
Ron Rivera opted to keep the ball off the toe of Gano late, instead opting to try a 2-point conversion-- a decision that was probably the right one and would have worked if not for Newton overthrowing Wright by 10 vertical yards.
Eric Washington's defense once again got gashed and forced zero turnovers.
Norv Turner's offensive plan looked dazzling in a 42-point outburst at home against Tampa what feels like forever ago.
Yesterday? Not so dazzling. The Fox NFL team actually commented on a couple of occasions how simple Carolina's playbook is.
The Panthers (6-4) lost their second straight game this past Sunday, falling 20-19 at Detroit after a failed 2-point conversion in the game's final two minutes.
The loss dropped Carolina to an abysmal 1-4 on the road and in the team's lone road win of the season, it needed a 21-point fourth quarter explosion to erase a 17-0 deficit at Philadelphia.
What more do we know about the Panthers after their Motor City meltdown? Not much. We do know they're still very much in control of their own playoff destiny as it relates to wild card scenarios-- they, along with Minnesota (5-4-1) still hold serve as wild card leaders after Sunday's slate of games.
However, a slew of five and six-loss teams are nipping right at Carolina's heels and more performances like yesterday's could mean a long, lonely offseason.
There were a lot of different fingerprints on yesterday's stinker. With that said, some position groups will be required to obtain a parent signature on their report card from Detroit.
Disclaimer: I have always loved the idea of position grades, but I haven't looked at the Charlotte Observer grades on purpose as to not be swayed one way or the other. That's a different instructor, after all.
Quarterback: (B+)
From a fantasy standpoint, things look great on the stat sheet for Cam Newton, who completed 25-of-37 passes for 357 yards and three touchdowns compared to one pick that came late in the first half.
Panthers offensive coordinator Norv Turner seemed hesitant to turn Newton loose on the ground and Newton seemed terrified to tuck the ball and take off-- a difference maker for him most weeks. He finished with just two rushes for two yards.
Newton orchestrated a touchdown drive with his team trailing 20-13 but promptly overthrew a wide-open Jarius Wright in the middle of the end zone on a 2-point conversion that would have given the visitors a late 1-point lead. Instead, the ball sailed harmlessly into the wall behind the end zone and the Panthers lost.
Also of note, Newton briefly left the game with a lower-body concern after taking a (late and illegal) hit to the back of his legs after getting rid of the ball and was spelled by Taylor Heinicke for one play. Heinicke zipped a nice looking pass right into Devin Funchess's hands but it was dropped (more on that soon).
Running back: (B)
It's a little difficult to grade this group as they quite frankly didn't have many chances to do much.
Typically, if Newton is throwing close to 40 passes, it means things went sour. That's the case again here.
In their first game without veteran CJ Anderson on the roster (the team waived him after the loss to Pittsburgh), things looked... actually pretty much the same.
McCaffrey was still the centerpiece of the rushing attack. He finished with 53 yards on 13 carries and chipped in six receptions for 57 yards.
Cameron Artis-Payne got one carry early in the game and managed just a yard.
Wide receiver: (C)
Funchess hurts the overall grade of a position that actually performed pretty well.
Funchess had five drops (including one in the end zone in the first quarter) and just looked lost for the entire game.
Funchess was targetted eight times but finished with just two catches for 39 yards.
Rookie DJ Moore had a career day with seven catches for 157 yards and a touchdown.
Curtis Samuel had a solid game with five catches for 55 yards and Wright had three for 40.
Offensive line: (D+)
Newton took quite a beating. The stat sheet shows just three sacks but the situation was far worse than that.
Newton rarely had time but did the most he could with what he had. The running game didn't have many big holes to work with.
For a second straight week, this group looked quite bad.
Defensive line: (F)
Through three quarters and change, the Panthers had zero sacks.
Julius Peppers changed that by slipping around the edge in the fourth quarter for a sack but that was the lone blip on the radar.
The highly-paid Carolina front four barely managed to breathe on Matt Stafford.
In particular, defensive tackles Dontari Poe and Kawann Short could do nothing as pass rushers and got blown off the ball consistently as Kerryon Johnson gashed the Panthers for 87 yards and a touchdown on just 15 carries before leaving with an injury.
Mario Addison looked invisible and the Panthers actually emptied the bench and brought in reserve ends Bryan Cox, Jr. and Marquis Haynes in an attempt to bring in some more speed off the edge. Spoiler: it didn't help.
Linebackers: (C)
Carolina's crop of speedy, talented backers looked ordinary again in Detroit.
They've looked like a shell of themselves the past couple of weeks. Luke Kuechly did have a team-high seven tackles including two for a loss but the group continues to miss tackles consistently and when was the last time Thomas Davis or Kuechly made a true game-impacting play? It's been quite a while.
Defensive backs: (C-)
Stafford had plenty of time to work on Carolina's secondary and he did so with pretty good success.
Stafford went 23-of-37 for 220 and a touchdown.
Kenny Golladay, in particular, abused the Panthers secondary, grabbing eight passes for 113 yards and a crucial score.
Bruce Ellington added six catches for 52 yards.
Special teams: (F)
Graham Gano single-handedly pulled a win from the jaws of defeat earlier this season against the Giants.
His 63-yard field goal outdoors vaulted the Panthers past a New York team that had all of the momentum at the time.
Gano's performance against Detroit single-handedly pulled a loss from the jaws of victory.
His missed chip shot field goal and missed extra point indoors cost the Panthers four crucial points on the road.
Michael Palardy punted well with an average of 44.4 yards per kick and one inside the 20. Damiere Byrd had just one punt return that he managed to lose a yard on.
Coaching: (F)
The Panthers had an extra long period to prepare for the Lions after a Thursday night loss in Pittsburgh.
It didn't look like it.
The Panthers looked poorly prepared for the Lions. Missed tackles, poor offensive line play, a lack of hands from the team's No. 1 wideout, a complete lack of pass rush... multiple position groups looked surprised that yesterday's game started at 1 p.m. and that starts with the coaching leadership.
Ron Rivera opted to keep the ball off the toe of Gano late, instead opting to try a 2-point conversion-- a decision that was probably the right one and would have worked if not for Newton overthrowing Wright by 10 vertical yards.
Eric Washington's defense once again got gashed and forced zero turnovers.
Norv Turner's offensive plan looked dazzling in a 42-point outburst at home against Tampa what feels like forever ago.
Yesterday? Not so dazzling. The Fox NFL team actually commented on a couple of occasions how simple Carolina's playbook is.
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