It’s amazing what can happen when you don’t beat yourself: Outside of a Trevor Etienne muffed punt at the beginning of the game, the Panthers played a relatively clean game. Zero turnovers by Bryce Young, a couple of moments where there was an untimely penalty, such as tackle Taylor Moton committing a false start penalty on a 3rd & 2 in the second quarter that pushed the Panthers back to a 3rd & 7, which ultimately changed the play call the Panthers wanted to run and didn’t convert, where the Panthers had to settle for a 57-yard field goal by Ryan Fitzgerald. The Atlanta Falcons looked unorganized (see the delay of game penalty AFTER they called a timeout), disjointed, and Michael Penix never got comfortable. The Falcons couldn’t cleanly handle kickoffs, and were a mess.
Panthers offense was good enough: Carolina scored on their opening possession thanks to a Bryce Young scramble from four yards out, but that’s the only touchdown the Panthers scored until the 4th quarter when Rico Dowdle ran in from one-yard, and that drive was set up by a Mike Jackson INT that brought the ball back deep into Atlanta territory to the Falcons 30 yard line. That drive still took nine plays to complete. The only other touchdown in the game was a Chau Smith-Wade interception that was taken back 13 yards for touchdown early in the 4th quarter. Otherwise, the offense settled for a couple of field goals. The offense lacked explosion – the longest run was only eight yards, and there were two passes completed to Tetairoa McMillan over 20 yards – one for 23 and another for 23 – but only one other pass play went longer than ten yards, and that was a 12 yard completion to Tommy Tremble. Those were the only plays that went longer than ten yards for Carolina. Bryce Young did miss a couple of throws, including missing an open Chuba Hubbard down the left sideline, but head coach Dave Canales used him a lot on the move with play-action bootlegs to get some easy completions. And he didn’t turn the ball over, which was the key.
Young defensive players were noticeable, in a good way: Stat of the game – the Atlanta Falcons never reached the Carolina Panthers 30 yard line on offense. Nic Scourton got the start for an injured Pat Jones II, and his presence was felt early. We saw last week against the Arizona Cardinals when the Panthers were without Tershawn Wharton, Jones was used inside on passing situations when defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero would go to dime packages with six defensive backs, allowing Scourton to play on the edge. With Jones out, Scourton was used inside at times, allowing fellow rookie Princely Umanmielan more to play on the edge and get more snaps, and they disrupted the flow of Falcons QB Michael Penix Jr. early in the game and never allowed Penix to settle into the game and get comfortable. Scourton was credited with a pass defended when he hit the arm of Penix on a pass that fell incomplete. In the secondary, second-year nickel corner Chau Smith-Wade jumped a Penix pass in the left flat early in the third-quarter for an early walk-in touchdown. Plus, corner Mike Jackson came up with an interception, too. Then to close it out, rookie Lathan Ransom punched the ball loose from Nathan Carter as fellow rookie Corey Thornton was in on the tackle, and second-year safety Demani Richardson jumped on the loose ball. Statistically, the Carolina Panthers didn’t make a sack, only had two hits on the quarterback, and three tackles for loss, but like the offense, they didn’t make mistakes or give up any big plays.
- Dennis Cox