With Greg Olsen and Thomas Davis having played a combined 16 snaps in the first four games of the 2018 season, albeit for different reasons – Olsen suffered a rebreak of his fractured fifth metatarsal in the first half of Week 1 and Thomas Davis was suspended four games during the offseason for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs – one might expect Ron Rivera and the Panthers coaching staff to ease them both in slowly – Rivera even commented this week that he doesn’t excel at easing players in, getting excited about his “shiny new toys” and overusing them.
Turns out the two Panthers players, one of whom is the franchise’s all time leading tackler and the other is the top tight end from a yardage and receptions perspective, didn’t need to be eased back in as Olsen played every offensive snap but one and Davis had six tackles to go along with a key fourth-down pass defense – after the Redskins turned the ball over, the Panthers kicked a field goal to pull within one score in the third quarter.
“It’s really just getting back into the feel of understanding what’s going on around you and understanding what teams are trying to do to you,” said Davis, who has made the Pro Bowl each of the past three seasons. “That’s one of the things you just really have to get back into, the groove of playing football.”
Olsen, who ran for the first time since Week 1 last week, said that he felt good after recording four catches for 48 yards, including a sliding catch over the middle for 18 yards just ahead of the two minute warning as the Panthers attempted to put together a game-winning drive that had the look of dozens of Newton-to-Olsen connections over the past seven seasons.
“We thought we were going to score,” said Olsen. “I mean, they hadn’t stopped us. In the second half, we were really rolling pretty good. We went right down the field [and] then we went right down the field again.”
But like he’s done his entire career, Olsen expressed his frustration with certain nuances of his game, certain routes he could have run better, certain catches he could have made – even his one-handed catch along the sidelines on the final drive in which he couldn’t get both feet inbounds, the kind of catch most tight ends couldn’t have even come close to making but Olsen was only a half-shoe away from a catch that people would have watching on repeat for the next week.
But there was one sentiment that Olsen, who could certainly be forgiven for thinking his performance was adequate after returning just five weeks after suffering the re-fracture, continually repeated after the game.
“I’ll be better.”
Both players were present in the middle of the field for the coin toss, even though Davis isn’t technically a captain – Luke Kuechly gave up his spot among the captains to Davis in his “season opener” – while Davis brings a lot on the field, including helping the defense to produce three sacks and multiple quarterback pressures on Alex Smith that forced incompletions, it might be the intangibles that are even more important.
“He definitely adds some fire and some emotion to that defense,” said defensive end Wes Horton, who had four tackles and multiple pressures. “He got us fired up before the game, so having him out on the field with us gives us an extra boost of confidence.”
