You know, Chris, I never thought we’d be at the point where it’s the defense, the defense or the Panthers offense, the issue has to absolutely play perfect for them to have a chance in this game in any game it seems like is it scheme or is it players, the players answer that? Let’s get this sucker started. GD Panthers fans P comes in in depth. Look at your team exclusive interviews, locker room in sight. Let’s huddle up, let’s just do it. Ok. For Panthers Playbook driven by Carolina Ford Dealers here are your hosts, Dennis Cox and Chris Lee. Welcome back to another episode of the Panthers Playbook. That’s Chris Lee. Dennis Cox here with you. We just touched tips, Paul. Now here’s the thing before we get started. Leave your comments on this game in the comments section below, but also while you’re at it, hit the like and subscribe button if you haven’t done so already. Carolina Ford Dealers is your sponsor here of Panthers Playbook with the Ford F 150 on your team. It’s game on see your Carolina Ford Dealer today. 38 to 20. Chris. And uh outside of you take away the, the opening drive for the Falcons, they went three and out and the final series air quote series of the game, they just kneel down and they turn over it’s one turnover. They scored on seven of eight drives or 7 to 97 to 9 drives. You get it, you just take away the Neil downs at the end. They scored on seven of nine drives today. And the defense, it’s a problem. It’s just call what it is. We talk about it earlier this week on Panthers playbook about the defensive scheme, which we’ll hear from Claude and Cheli, as well as JC Horn, we asked them the questions of, hey, is it scheme or is it personnel? We’ll hear those answers here in a sec but Chris, this defense, let’s call it what it is. Ain’t good. This has 11 drives by the way, uh, right here. So, uh, so I, I guess maybe nine. but yeah, no, it’s, it’s, it’s horrible for, uh, for the Carolina Panthers right now. And that’s the part where like, and this is, this was an exact question in the locker room, but like for the last few years, it was always, and if the offense can just catch up, the defense is doing their job, the Panthers can like, maybe either be in these games or maybe even win these games and we’re not seeing it. It’s just not the case right now. And of course, there’s a lot of people, you, you kind of wonder what it is, right? Is it the player, is it the, the scheme because you do have all these, uh, folks, uh who are injured guys who are not playing and, uh, you have guys who are done for the season, you have, uh, Jadeveon Clowney who didn’t play. Uh, you have Josey Jewel who’s still out with an injury. Um, and, and so many different things like that, but also it feels as if like once when you’re watching these other teams, this was happening also against the Bengals. Other teams running backs are going 4567 yards deep before being touched, right? And so forget about injuries, man versus man NFL, player versus NFL player. You’re not getting the run game taken care of 100 and 98 yards and, and it should have been over 200. Yeah, because you have four yards lost on Neil downs at the end of the game and you look at Tyler Algier had 100 and five yards. Bijon Robinson had 95 yards. That’s 5.2 yards to carry. And obviously those four Neil downs at the end brings down your average. Like that’s the, that’s the discouraging part because like we’re watching again, we, we have to go back, we have to go back to the injuries, there are injuries, but even with the injuries, you still have these guys who are NFL players who should be able to at least stop the run. This is where I’m kind of wondering what is going on with the defense because it’s not even just that, it’s also all the blown and missed assignments that we saw too in the passing game. Yes, like for example, there was a time where you, you mentioned it, it was second quarter. Hey, the defense got to get off the field right on midfield for Darnell Mooney wide open, like on the left side line gets like a 12 yard pickup. Troy Hill ran with another guy. It was man to man coverage. Two guys were on one. Mooney’s wide open. Kyle Pitts getting wide open. 52 yard reception. Xavier Woods jumped up on a guy on the underneath round for, you know, Kyle Pitts is wide open deep behind you. Those are starters like those are starters. We’re talking about starters at this point. This isn’t talking about like, and then Jason Horn gets beat for a touchdown as well by Drake London just gets beat inside. Those are starters that are getting this and then you obviously, you look up front, the front seven is not getting a job done. You’re not tracked it during the course of the game. Uh, talking about row’s scheme. Um How many times did the Panthers blitz and how many times did their defensive front, their defensive line run some sort of stunt or twist up until the game got out of hand. I had seven blitzes, I’m sorry, eight blitzes and one stunt. And even that stunt, we weren’t sure of. And even that one was the, it was his eyes in the backfield and he knew it, you know, he just like, all right, let me just try to go around this way. That’s it. And guess what? My, here’s, here’s my point of view is on this. If it ain’t working, you gotta try something different, you gotta try something different because right now it ain’t working and it hasn’t been working. Dennis, that’s a good friend of Dave Canalis who currently finds himself without a job. Um Maybe he’s been looking at some real estate in the Charlotte area. We’ve been talking about this for a week now. But like, I’m, I’m not an advocate for anybody losing their job, right? Like I love when people are working to be able to take care of their families and pay some bills, but let’s just call it what it is. It’s not working for the pains on defense right now and, and, and it’s not like they don’t have the guys who can do it. And I’m not saying that like the guys who are on the field right now are just world beaters and, you know, pro bowlers and things like that. But you, you have guys who have a track record of success, we should, there should at least be like the Falcons are gonna be the Falcons. Right. They’re gonna, they’re gonna move the ball down the field, they’re gonna get their points. But, boy, if you could just get off the field three times even twice in this game, right. It’s still bad. Right. Like it’s still bad because they would have still scored on most of their possessions. Get off the field two times, three times or whatever. This is a very different game and the Carolina Panthers on defense just can’t do it. And it’s too much to ask an offense that has a patched up offensive line right now. A backup quarterback and young wide receivers because your veteran wide receiver is out with an injury right now. It’s too much to ask for them to be perfect and yet they still look so much better and I’ll say this, maybe we can get to this later. Ok, Dave Canal still has some growing to do when it comes down to how many runs that hover gets. Yeah, we get to that. Is that 18? Only 18? We’ll talk about that in a second though. I don’t want to get off topic right now. It’s about the defense. Claude and Cheli, let’s get to him first. Chris, we spoke to him first. He was asked about, hey, is it players or is it skiing? Here’s his answer. I would say it’s not a scheme thing because I mean, every scheme has good players around the league, every team in this league. Has made good plays in their scheme. So you can’t blame the scheme. Um It’s all the above really. I mean, we, as players got up for us, I was accountable and, you know, just execute, you know, I, I always say to me first, I point the finger at myself first. Um So I mean, yeah, that’s what it comes down to. All right. So that’s Claude Chairs. He’s one of those guys that’s replacement filling in Chris. But let’s actually get to one of the starters. I asked him a question. Hey, JC, is it skiing scheme? It ain’t about the scheme. It’s about the players, players make plays. So our defensive player is gonna be better myself included. All right, Chris, very interesting answers from JC right there from JC and lightly calling out his, his teammates. But somebody needs to, yeah, someone, someone has to because, hey, it’s on us to get the job done is, is what he’s saying. Now you had a chance also to talk to, uh to JC. You were in there as well and the conversation about, does the offense have to be perfect, Chris, when you, you guys asked that question, does the offense gotta be perfect? Here’s what JC had to say. That’s the most frustrating part to me just here the last years. There’s always been like, oh, if we had an offense, we could do this, we could do that. And now, like I said, they’re doing more than enough every week for us to win. And, you know, we haven’t went out there and had that dominating performance yet as a defense. Like, I feel like we owe it to them guys. Uh ch have been running the ball great, you know, Andy be Dian, um Deonte been balling. This is a defense and we ain’t, we ain’t even quite put it together yet. And I think that’s the most frustrating part because it’s been, every year has been, defense has been good and offense been struggling and I was like, flipped on his head, so I don’t know, we’ll figure it out. So the guys are saying the right things, they’re saying the right things and we’ll actually hear from Deonte Johnson. We asked him that same question as well. Do you have to be perfect? And it feels like the answer is yes. It, it feels like the answer is yes. And that is a ton of pressure because it felt like last season, the defense, even though they weren’t perfect last year had to get stops on every single drive in order for the offense to be in things. And this year it’s a complete flip. It’s a complete 180 it’s hard to find answers when the answers just aren’t there. I mean, here’s the thing. If you look at offense, offense didn’t have a bad day, they’re really a tick behind, uh Atlanta for most of it besides yards, like Atlanta exploded on the yards but a lot of that has to do with the, with the run game not stopping the run. Right. But, um, total drives, you know, this, you know, of course that’s gonna be close, but like 21 1st downs for the Panthers, 25 1st downs, uh, for the Falcons, it’s ok. So just a tick behind, uh, passing 2, 21 to 2, 25 just a tick behind, right. Like it’s really the run game where it’s at. And also the other part was the penalties. Like we saw where, like Iki Kwu had two early penalties. Zavala had a false penalty and had a, had one there too and, and, you know, so those are things that I think the Panthers have to clean up. But again, it’s, it’s kind of unfair right now, um, to, to ask that offense to be perfect and we saw perfection against the Raiders. Um, you know, it’s, I don’t know if you’re gonna see that all season, uh, uh, for this team. So that’s the part where it’s like, now there’s some soul searching to do on the defensive side. And I, you know, hey, I think play calling could help out too. We talked about, uh, you know, I was talking about it a little bit, but like that last before and Dalton threw his first interception. It was 2820 early fourth quarter. There was four straight runs by Chuba, which ended up getting, like, just moving the stick down, moving the sticks on those. Right. And, and just, just doing an amazing job. But if it weren’t for that, he’d only have 14 carries in this game because then after the interception, you’re behind and you’re buying two touchdowns. So now you have to throw it. So then if you don’t do that right, then you’re talking about Tua Hubbard only having, uh, 14 carries. that’s not good enough. And what have I said here before? Minimum 20 carries for him? That to me, that has to be the sweet spot. And if he would have had two more, he would have been over 100 yards and you’re maybe talking about a little bit different of the game. It feels as if there’s too many times where like he has everything rolling and then all of a sudden we try to play that there’s no need to play. And like, one of the things about that drive before the interception that I liked is the run was working. So we kept going back to the run back. There were times, uh, when he had that, uh, I think it was what, second quarter or first quarter, he had a 19 yard run and then I was like the quarters coming to the end zone, like run it again. Instead it was a, a pass play and I think they ended up, uh, some negative yardage and they started getting behind the sticks after that. And so it’s like, you know, that’s where, where I hope Dave Canal starts taking a step up as a play caller. Like, don’t try to take too much, uh, at certain points. Like, if they’re not stopping to run themselves. Right, because he’s getting five yards per carry here, 5.1 if he’s not, if they’re not stopping to run themselves, like, let’s use Cuba, let’s eat that clock and, and keep the ball out of the offensive, uh, the Atlanta’s offensive hands and that’s something that I think the Panthers could do better on offense. And it’s not like the 5.1 that he’s getting is inflated by like, oh, he had a big 70 yard run and everything else is like just two or three yards. Eddie Solid. Exactly. It was consistency, consistency and that’s what this offensive line has brought for. The most part is consist consistency in the run game. Cuba Hubbard is just turning out yard after yard after yard, just getting first downs moving the change. And you mentioned that the drive board, Andy Dalton through that interception to, uh, AJ Terrell. First of all, Ian Thomas, um, know your personnel. But second of all was that they actually, after he brained those four times, they went to play action, then they got a first down with Deonte Johnson. It’s like, ok, let’s keep the thing moving because I said to you, I said you only had 14 carries up to that point. Dude’s gotta be fresh at this point. And even Dave Canal said in the postgame, hey, we were wearing down their defense. I was like, well, they keep running it like you needed six, you needed six. I know Andy Dalton threw a bad interception. He knows it. We all know it. We all domingo was open underneath. Exactly. He’s got to go underneath there. That’s on Dalton. He can’t make that throw. I know, uh, Mark Sanchez on the broadcast said, like, you know, Ian Thomas has got flatten that out a little bit, but Ian Thomas isn’t known for his pass catching or his route running. He’s not known for that. He’s known for his blocking. So again, Andy Dalton can’t throw that play and that completely flipped everything, uh, because it felt like Carolina at that point, Chris, we’re moving down the field early fourth quarter, you get a touchdown and a two point, we’re tied, we’re tied game completely different game. It changes the complexion of the game for sure. It becomes a fight down the stretch to see what Atlanta has. And instead I think any time for the Carolina Panthers, like right now you’re not the team that can air it out. Now, we did see, um, a good two minute drive under two minutes left at the end of the first highlight of that. That was really a big time highlight. Of course, it ends with uh Xavier Le getting that touchdown right here, right here, right here, right here. Right here. It was literally right here. It was literally right here right there. It was right there. And of course, you know, he wrote Dollar Bill. He did, which was cool, he wrote. Um, and so, but this offense isn’t the offense to, to do that yet. Right. So you really have to control clock and you have to get that defense tired and that’s the part where I think the, the Carolina Panthers are missing, they’re not stressing defenses out. Now, go back to what I said after that 19 yard run and then you go back to a pass play. You played defense, you played, uh, defense line. Uh, and, and so if you just had a team run at you for 19 yards and you’re a little tired and we go, get back up to the line right back at you, coming right back at you. If they’re passing it, that’s almost maybe a little bit of a break for you. You know, I mean, you know, depending on what they’re, but the Panthers aren’t the Chiefs, right? The Panthers aren’t, you know, even the Vikings right now, you know what I’m saying? Um, so run it again, run it at those guys who just had to like rustle down, uh, a 220 pounds of Hubbard who is running straight at them have forced them to do it again. And, and that’s the one thing that I think is a big critique on the offense that I think the offense can do better is just that like, let’s, let’s wear these defenses down a little bit more uh, final thing on this. I think this is something that Dave Canals really just have to look at in terms of that running game. You might just have to do a ball control style game. Like, yeah, you can run the two minute, what that two minute drive was awesome by the way, that was run to perfection. It went 76 yards and eight plays in a minute, 35 with zero time mouse. So, you know, you have it in you. But you know, if your defense can’t stop anybody shorten the game. This is shorten the game. This is where I wonder like what happens when Jonathan Brooks comes in because it’s clear and, and I said this, uh, next to you too right now, you probably third best receiver is, is Miles Sanders probably. So I like when you use him out wide in the slide out of the backfield or whatever you have to do for that. That’s cool. Let’s not run him too much. They didn’t run him too much today. Uh, he had three attempts for a yard. There you go. Ok. Use them in the passing game when Jonathan Brooks gets here. Maybe you can do a little bit more with that running game and become a ball control type of offense, uh, to do that. Uh, but also like to see a different variety of runs. I don’t really see them stretching the edges too much either. And we’ve talked about that before. So there’s just a few things I think that, uh, that things need to be, to, to be tweaked for the offense to be a little bit better. But still at the end of the day, it’s sad that the Carolina Panthers have flipped the last few years, the offense gave no help to this team. None. The defense was keeping them in it. And this year it’s the defense and the offense is, is helping them out just a little bit and defense just can’t stop anybody and get off the field. Like, and we said it once, once the Falcons cross the 50 they’re scoring. Oh yeah. And that’s what happened every time. That’s what it is. But hey, you know what things to learn, it was close. It was a competitive game today and I think we expected going into the year more, a lot of games like this, but it doesn’t mean the losses ain’t frustrating because it’s like you still right kind of right there kind of right there, but it feels like they have to play. You mentioned it, you said it on, on, on Twitter and mentioned mobile times Panthers have to play mistake free in order to have a chance to win games. That’s just kind of how, that’s just where this team is. That’s just where this team in this franchise is right now. You have to play mistake free to have yourself a chance. That’s where we are. Do you think they’ll play mistake free? No. May. Maybe in Germany though, against the, the Giants? No, no, you gotta stop text wards. That’s what you gotta do. And it’s a Brian burns revenge game as well. Leave your, leave your thoughts here on the tonight’s game here in the comments section here on Panthers playbook again, like and subscribe as well. That’s something that we need you to do. Carolina for dealers. Your sponsor here at Panthers Playbook with the Ford F 150 on your team. It’s game on, see your Carolina Ford dealer today. He’s riding down the bill.

Source: wralsportsfan.com