Is Cam’s Deep Ball Really Still There?
As has already been mentioned, Cam Newton didn’t have one of his best games against the Rams.
He wasn’t horrible, but the Panthers will likely be hoping that he is a lot better throughout the rest of the season. Now, there are a number of potential explanations for Cam’s poor performance – his lack of deep attempts in particular – for a start, he barely played in the preseason and has missed a decent amount of practice over the past couple of weeks with a foot injury. Second, Panthers fans should remember from the 2017 season, when in a similar situation Cam had some ugly misses to start the season but came into form as the season went on. Third, the lack of deep attempts in particular could have been a game plan for the Rams, as given the potency of their pass rush and the unproven nature of the offensive line, it did make some sense to look to get the ball out early. All of these are valid excuses, but there is also the other option – the one that Panthers fans don’t want to be true.
Now, it would be foolish to make too much of one game’s worth of throws, especially against a team with a great pass rush, but if Cam continues to fail to go deep or fails to connect when he does, it’s going to be hard to come to any other conclusion than his shoulder just isn’t right. Of course, Cam can dismiss any such talk very easily against the Bucs, and if the Panthers can get their deep passing game going on Thursday night, that should not only help enormously in coming away with a win, but should also go a long way to answering concerns about Cam’s health.
Every Cam miss shouldn’t be answered with tears, this should be about the bigger picture, but the longer Cam goes without hitting a deep shot, the more the background noise is going to grow.
Make The Most Of Winston’s Mistakes
If history is any indication – and at this point of his career, it probably should be – Jameis Winston is not going to efficiently nickel-and-dime the ball down the field drive after drive. He is going to hold the ball longer than he probably should and he is going to try and force the ball down the field – these are things the Panthers need to take advantage of. The Panthers manage to generate a decent pass rush at times against a good Rams offensive line, but against what is – frankly – quite a poor Bucs offensive line, they should expect to get fairly consistent pressure, which should only help to force Winston into even more mistakes.
The other part of this is when Winston does try and force the ball into tight windows, or even just throws it straight to a defender, the Panthers need to be able to turn those chances into turnovers. The Panthers did manage one interception against the Rams, but Bradberry had another chance that he wasn’t able to come up with and there were a number of Goff attempts that fell just out of reach. When the Panthers have been at their best defensively under Ron Rivera, they have allowed chunk plays here and there but defended well in the red zone and forced turnovers through pressure.
Holding the Rams to 30 despite three turnovers, two of which put their offense in the red zone, was a pretty good start, but the Panthers need to be able to dominate weaker defenses, not just hold up against the top ones.
If there is any team in the NFL that gives you a chance to come away with sacks and interceptions it’s probably the Bucs, the Panthers need to take advantage.
Other Offensive Skill Players Need To Step Up
Christian McCaffrey is really, really good – the Panthers shouldn’t be afraid to make him the focal point of the offense. However, McCaffrey can’t be the whole offense, and with Greg Olsen at the very least limited with a back injury, that means the Panthers’ young playmakers need to play a larger part than they did against the Rams.
Despite the fumble, DJ Moore had a really nice game against the Rams, but he and Curtis Samuel really didn’t see the number of targets they should going forward, and while some of that – again – could be due to the specific gameplan against the Rams, the Bucs’ pass rush and corners really shouldn’t offer the same level of resistance. Even if the Panthers are hitting with the deep ball, they need this pair to be a much larger part of the offense on short and intermediate throws.
Similarly, if Greg Olsen is limited, the Panthers need to get Ian Thomas involved as he would likely be the tight end who takes over most of Olsen’s snaps. Thomas looked good as a rookie, but unless McCaffrey is going to hit 3,000 yards of total offense this season, they need players like Thomas to step up.
Finally, the Panthers need to trust somebody else to run the ball at some point. While McCaffrey has been remarkably durable to this point, you can’t give a player 30 touches a game week after week and expect nothing to go wrong. If McCaffrey misses even one game, it’s really unclear where the Panthers offensive production is going to come from without putting everything at Cam’s door.
This will be especially relevant if the Panthers are able to go into the final quarter with a handsome lead, as there is no point putting more on McCaffrey’s plate than they really have to; letting somebody else churn out yardage to wind down the clock is a prime example of how they can shift some of his workload onto somebody else.
The Panthers really should beat the Bucs, especially at home, as there will be much harder tests to come later in the season – but they need to treat them with the respect that every NFL opponent deserves, especially in a divisional game. This is a prime chance for the Panthers to get back on track before they head to Arizona, but as short as the NFL season is, they also can’t miss out on these chances without concerns starting to mount.
