By Dennis Cox
-Rico Dowdle kept the Panthers in it – the biggest plays of the Panthers season came at the hands – or feet – of Rico Dowdle. Major runs of 53 and 43 yards all factored into scoring drives for the Carolina Panthers, including a one-yard TD run in the fourth quarter to put the Panthers up 20-17. The pass game for the Panthers was putrid. Tetairoa McMillan was solid early, catching six passes for 73 yards in the first half, but didn’t make a catch in the second half, though he did draw a defensive hold on the drive that led to Dowdle’s touchdown.
But 206 yards rushing by Dowdle, plus 28 yards receiving, Dowdle accounting for 56% of the total yards (234 of 418) by the Carolina Panthers. His performance was what this Panthers team needed, and Dowdle put the team on his back when called upon. Dowdle
-Bryce Young hurts the Panthers – On the first drive of the game, Bryce Young keeps the ball on a Run-Pass Option (RPO) and tries to pump fake Bradley Chubb, but the ball slips out of Young’s hand resulting in a fumble where Chubb easily was able to recover. The Dolphins marched down the field and scored to make it 10-0. Two plays after the touchdown, Young tries to find Xavier Legette deep between the hashmarks but overthrows the ball, resulting in an interception by Dolphins safety Minkah Fitzpatrick, the first INT of the season for Miami. Sure enough, the Dolphins go down the field for another touchdown, and the Panthers are down 17-0 early in the 2nd quarter. Bryce Young missed several throws, and his yardage was added by shorter throws to Rico Dowdle that resulted in longer catch & run plays. There was always a sense with Young that the next turnover was on the way. But give credit where it's due - he did make a couple nice throws on the game-winning drive. The touchdown pass to Xavier Legette was a really good throw. But Bryce Young has thrown for over 200 yards only one time this season (week 2 at Arizona). Questions still remain.
-The Panthers lack situational awareness – The Panthers scored their first points on a two-minute drill this season, a field goal by Ryan Fitzpatrick as the first half expired. It was the first time all season that the Panthers crossed the opponent’s 30-yard line in a two-minute drill all season. But during the drive, a Dowdle run put the Panthers at the Miami 31 yard line, head coach Dave Canales was slow to call a time one of their two remaining timeouts to stop the clock, resulting in a few seconds ticking away before stopping the clock with 35 seconds to play in the half. Later in the drive after the Panthers had already used their final timeout, Bryce Young attempted to call a timeout while the play lock was about to hit zero. And despite getting into the redzone, no pass was attempted into the endzone on the drive.
But the lack of awareness didn’t end there. After a 53-yard run by Dowdle on the first play of the second half, the Panthers took a delay of game penalty, and the Panthers only continued to go backwards from there. On a punt later in the third quarter, the Panthers had to take a delay of game because there were only 10 players in formation on the punt. And then early in the fourth quarter, Dave Canales had to burn a timeout because the defense had 12 players on the field, which is something you would want to keep late in the game when you’re trailing in the game.