Yes, I know, second down usually comes after first, but on a scale from best to worst, the third downs were probably the lesser of the two evils. Yes, they did go 0-for-5 and allowed a pair of sacks, but they actually got positive yardage on the other three occasions and on a couple of occasions at least put themselves in a position to sensibly attempt a fourth-down conversion. Let’s start with the sacks.

On the first, the play where Newton got hurt, the Panthers were somewhat doomed by circumstance. Facing a six man blitz on 3rd-and-10, the Panthers were forced to either try and just get the ball out quickly and likely settle for a gain short of the sticks or try, as they did, to keep the running back in to protect and give Cam enough time to make the long throw.

In reality, the Panthers did a decent job of picking up the initial pressure, but Paradis gets driven back by Hightower into Newton’s face, forcing him to drop his eyes and from that point on it’s just a matter of postponing disaster. Similarly, on the Allen sack to end the Panthers’ offensive first-half performance, a questionable playcall by regular-season standards leads to nobody being open early, and with the pocket compressing, when Paradis gets beaten by Bennett, there is nowhere for Allen to go but down:

It’s hard to be too annoyed about either of these plays as while Newton really should have just gotten rid of the ball and Paradis getting beaten isn’t exactly encouraging, teams aren’t generally expected to convert long third downs – not to mention that if the Panthers did have a handful of plays they think are real winners in these situations, they probably wouldn’t want to put them on tape in the preseason. These plays aren’t good, but when you’re not converting third and longs, you need to be more worried about why you were in those situations than anything else.

Similarly, McCaffrey’s thirteen yard run on 3rd-and-15 was an impressive attempt to convert a third down that really had no right to be converted.

The two more frustrating failed third downs were the two more manageable ones. The first of which, with Newton still under center, was on a concept the Panthers have run a lot under Turner, with the two drag routes over the middle designed to create a natural pick, but the Patriots appear to be waiting for it and the safety is able to come down to make the stop short of the line.

On the second such play, Allen just misses the throw. Samuel has a step on the defender and if the ball is to the outside and at a decent height, he almost certainly has space to turn upfield for the first down. This is just a matter of a backup failing to execute:

The third downs clearly weren’t a positive for the Panthers, but with only one third down shorter than seven yards and three of ten yards or more, the Panthers weren’t exactly put in a position to succeed, especially with a limited preseason playbook most likely lacking the key plays typically used in such situations. So given they did quite well on first down, why did they end up in such situations?

Up Next: Second Downs Should Be Concerning

Vincent Richardson

Managing Editor at Riot Report

Fan of zone coverage, knee bend and running backs running routes. Twitter: @vrichardson444