In the game that officially eliminated the Panthers from the playoffs, the team turned – at least in some part – to some of their youth to see what they’ve got on the bottom half of the roster, giving players like Rashaan Gaulden (12) and Jermaine Carter, Jr (23) some run on the defensive side of the ball; but on the defensive line, it was essentially business as usual – aside from Kawann Short missing his first game due to injury of his career. Kyle Love (34) played his highest percentage since joining the team and rewarded the Panthers with a strip-sack and third fumble recovery of the season; Love played the most snaps of any defensive tackle with Dontari Poe (27), Wes Horton (26) and Vernon Butler (21) taking the rest of the reps. Young defensive ends like Efe Obada (9) and Bryan Cox, Jr. (12) saw the same type of playtime they’ve had all season – both have played just under 20% of the defensive snaps in 2018.

Carter, in particular, caught Ron Rivera’s eye as he started in place of Shaq Thompson – although he thought the young linebacker left some plays out on the field.

“I thought he did some really good things – he had a couple of plays that I’d like to see him make,” said Rivera. “One, in particular, was a little swing to the fullback – he was in great position on that and he was waiting for the ball to come to him. He’s got to realize he’s not the intended receiver [and] he’s got to go after the ball and make plays. He’s got that kind of skillset that you like.”

“You see the glimpses of what he’s capable of as a football player.”

On offense, the wide receiver snaps continued to be dominated by the up-and-comers with rookie DJ Moore (86) and Curtis Samuel (78) playing most snaps and Jarius Wright (57), Devin Funchess (22) and Torrey Smith (9) taking a backseat – with Taylor Heinicke (82) leaving with an elbow injury, Kyle Allen (9) took the first snaps of his rookie season in relief. Chris Clark was eschewed at left tackle as Marshall Newhouse (91) took every snap at left tackle, with Clark (2) playing the role of extra lineman in the jumbo package. Christian McCaffrey took his first snaps off since the Panthers were blown out in Pittsburgh to start this losing streak, giving way to Cameron Artis-Payne (4) and Kenjon Barner (6) on the final two drives.

With Trai Turner (48) getting banged up with an ankle injury, Tyler Larsen (43) played at right guard in his stead. Check out the full snap counts below.

 

PlayerPositionOffensive SnapsPercentageDefensive SnapsPercentageSpecial Teams SnapsPercentage
M NewhouseT91100%29%
G Van RotenG91100%29%
T MotonT91100%29%
R KalilC91100%
D MooreWR8695%
T HeinickeQB8290%
C McCaffreyRB8290%
C SamuelWR7886%
I ThomasTE7684%523%
J WrightWR5763%
T TurnerG4853%
T LarsenG4347%29%
C ManhertzTE2527%29%
D FunchessWR2224%
T SmithWR910%
K AllenQB910%
A ArmahRB89%836%
K BarnerRB67%1673%
C Artis-PayneRB44%1150%
C ClarkT22%
D JacksonCB48100%941%
L KuechlyLB48100%418%
T DavisLB48100%418%
J BradberryCB4798%941%
E ReidSS4390%
M AdamsFS4185%418%
M AddisonDE4083%
K LoveNT3471%418%
D PoeNT2756%29%
W HortonDE2654%418%
C MunnerlynCB2552%
J CarterLB2348%1568%
J PeppersDE2348%418%
V ButlerDT2144%418%
R GauldenFS1225%1359%
B CoxDE1225%941%
E ObadaDE919%29%
D MayoLB12%2091%
C JonesSS2091%
B JacobsLB1673%
C ElderCB1673%
A SmithLB1673%
J JansenLS523%
C CatanzaroK523%
Josh Klein on Twitter
Josh Klein
Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report
Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.