If the Panthers had been able to eke out a victory over the Seahawks – if the 52-yard Graham Gano field goal had been his 42nd consecutive make instead of sailing wide right, if the 43-yard lob to Tyler Lockett had fallen harmlessly incomplete, if Corn Elder gets his head around and breaks up the fourth-and-three 35-yard touchdown pass to David Moore, there are a lot of storylines we’d be highlighting. Christian McCaffrey’s record day, Cam Newton being kept clean all day with zero quarterback hits, or perhaps DJ Moore’s continued ascendance with eight more catches – a career high – for 91 more yards and the highest two-game total for a rookie in franchise history.
Winning hides a lot of warts, but losing erases a lot of highlights.
When you lose, as the Panthers did, furthering their struggles against Russell Wilson over the years – they’re now 1-5 against the Seahawks in the Newton/Rivera/Carroll/Wilson era – the questions focus turns from the positive to the negative – and the negatives, of which there were many – Russell Wilson picking apart the secondary in the second half to the tune of 220 yards and two scores, the Gano missed field goal, the five fumbles that all were somehow miraculously recovered by the Panthers – started on the Panthers very first drive of the game.
After winning the toss and deferring their choice until the second half, the Panthers, who had only one sack in each of the past two games, picked up their first of two on Wilson’s first pass attempt of the game, forcing a punt and the Panthers offense went to work – for the third game in a row, Newton and the Panthers started hot, this time utilizing a mix of Cam and Christian to get inside the Seahawks’ 10-yard line; with the team facing a fourth-and-2, it wasn’t a surprise to see Rivera elect to go for it.
Newton crashed over right guard in the traditional QB Power play that we’ve seen him pick up conversions on throughout his career, but the officials marked him less than a yard short – first the measurement showed it. And then a failed Rivera challenge confirmed it.
“I felt as if I got the first down, but I didn’t get it,” said Newton. “So therefore I didn’t get it.”
Whether it was a turning point for the Panthers, it sure felt like one to the Seahawks.
“It was a huge stop,” said Seahawks coach Pete Carroll. “A fantastic finish on the drive by the guys – the other stuff didn’t look very good, but when we got down to the hard knocks and stuff, our guys really came through and did a fine job.”
The Panthers red zone struggles would continue throughout the afternoon, with the first seven plays run inside the red zone being rushes – the first pass would actually result in a Curtis Samuel touchdown after the total sum of seven rushes produced only three points. After scoring touchdowns on 18 of their previous 20 red zone trips and 73.53% of the time over the course of the season, the Panthers would only score on three of their seven trips inside the Seahawks’ 20. On a day when you only punt once and every one of your drives but one goes for 45 yards or more, there’s only one way to describe a loss where you set your season-high for yardage.
“That is frustrating,” said tight end Chris Manhertz, who was the target on a third-quarter interception by Cam Newton – one of two red zone trips that would result in no points for the Panthers. “To come up short like that, I’d be lying if it wasn’t frustrating. We just have to dig down and find things that we need to get better at.”
“There’s a lot of things that we need to improve on.”
Three touchdowns in the red zone is a good day at the office when you win, but when you lose, the four trips where you came away with six points total are the focus.
“Losing makes it sting; I don’t think you qualify it by certain things because you could have a game where everybody else does what they’re supposed to and somebody else doesn’t. That’s just the nature of the game,” Ron Rivera said after the game. “Losing hurts – that’s just the way it is.”
