During the first six weeks of the season, the Panthers were allowing 23.3 points per game. On Sunday, that number rose a full three points in the span of a three hour drubbing as their defense would give up the second-highest point total in franchise history to the San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Not only were the Panthers down 24 points at halftime, they ultimately were steamrolled 51-13 – one of the most lopsided point differentials in team history. From start to finish, the 49ers used tons of screens and misdirection to keep an aggressive Carolina defense off balance. And after Eric Reid said this week that the Panthers “pride themselves on stopping the run,” San Francisco – who leads the league in both rushing attempts and yards per game – was also able to have success running the football.
The 49ers rushed for 232 yards.
Tevin Coleman recorded a season-high 105 yards on the ground and three touchdowns on the ground, adding another score as a receiver and a late touchdown from Raheem Mostert featured shoddy tackling and what appeared to be a lack of effort from certain players with the Panthers already down by more than 30 points. Despite having two weeks to prepare for the 49ers, the Panthers certainly didn’t look like a team that was ready to play one of the best teams in the league, and head coach Ron Rivera placed the blame squarely on himself after Sunday’s game.
“Well, we were getting out of our creases, and they were blocking us out of our creases. It’s just one of those things,” Rivera said. “I’m going to take a look at the tape and we will go from there. But I’m not going to sit here and criticize. I will take the blame here.”
“We got beat by a better football team today. And that’s on me, as a head coach, to make sure we do things the right way. Whatever happened on that football field will be corrected, and that’s all we can do. I’m not going to look back and put the blame on anyone but myself.”
Entering Sunday, the Panthers defense had a lot of success forcing turnovers, including intercepting Jameis Winston five times in their last game in London. But against the 49ers, the Panthers were only able to secure one turnover, a Luke Kuechly interception, which led to a first-half field goal. Outside of that turnover, the 49ers offense was able to do pretty much what they wanted for the entire game. Carolina has also been known to get to the quarterback so far this season, entering the game leading the league in sacks. Still, the 49ers were able to neutralize their pass rush outside of a Bruce Irvin safety on quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
“I think that the more you move on offense, the more it gives the defense to look at,” Kuechly said. “We do a good job every week of practicing and preparing, and the coaches do a good job of giving us looks. We have to do a better job of seeing it, talking about it, and reacting during the game.”
Not only were the Panthers confused by the playcalling and misdirection of coach Kyle Shanahan, but they also failed to stop arguably the best tight end in football. George Kittle dominated the Panthers as he registered six receptions for 86 yards. Although Kittle didn’t score a touchdown, he helped set up both of Garoppolo’s touchdowns.
“They knew what we were in,” Tre Boston said. “They knew the schemes and how they wanted to get to us – our hats go off to them. They played exceptionally well, and we will evaluate it heavily, and then we’ll throw it away because we have to. No one is going to feel sorry for us, and we are not going to feel sorry for ourselves. This is one game. We are going to learn from it, we are going to get ready for our next opponent, and we are going to come out and play ball.”
It wasn’t a lack of preparation – it was a lack of execution that cost the Panthers in San Francisco. Missed gap assignments and players being too slow to react to cutbacks ultimately led to huge holes to run through and wide-open receivers as the 49ers rolled; the Panthers only forced one punt in the first half and were down by three scores at halftime.
“I don’t think it caught us off guard,” said Ross Cockrell, who started on the outside at cornerback and was utilized in what appeared to be a matchup rotation with Donte Jackson. “We prepared for it. We prepared for the misdirection. We prepared for the zone running scheme -we prepared for everything that they did.”
“We didn’t play well enough to stop it.”
