Week 16 - Carolina Panthers

20-24 vs Dallas

Up 10-0 early, Carolina’s offense didn’t do much to earn their lead except take advantage of two single coverage mismatches down the field. They only had 13 yards rushing in the first quarter; as the the Cowboys were loading up the box and Carolina kept running right into them. The two big plays they did hit were on first down pass plays.

On the 69 yarder to Proehl that set up Carolina’s first 3 points, it was 1st and 10 from the 20 after a Cowboys punt went for a touchback. Carolina ran playaction against what looked to be 0 coverage deep and the inside linebacker that was assigned to Proehl in the slot took one step in on the play fake and was never able to recover.

The Panthers first touchdown of the game was also Drew Carter’s first career score. The 6-3, second year wide out lined up against the 5-8 Aaron Glenn on the play. Off the line of scrimmage, Carter did a good job of running Glenn off for the first 10 yards and then made a nice break into his post pattern. But from there on he relied too much on his height to get the ball out of the air. He did not attack the ball in the air, nor shield the defender away and even though this particular result turned out well for him, if Glenn was 5′10 instead of 5′8, that play gets knocked incomplete.

Interestingly enough, half way through the third quarter, Delhomme threw Carter a pass deep down the sideline that the receiver glided into the path of- much in the way one would do casually in practice. Carter didn’t use his big frame to box the DB out, he did nothing special at all to finish his route, and the pass was knocked away by Reeves. Such is life as an inexperienced wide receiver. The Panthers were able to cut Rod Gardener because they felt Carter was ready to contribute, but the former Buckeye still has some work to do before he moves up the depth chart.

Looking ahead to week 17, the Panthers need a win against the Falcons to get into the playoffs. The last time they faced Atlanta, they used rookie LB/SS Thomas Davis to spy Michael Vick. Normally, teams can’t spy Vick with just one person, but Davis has that rare size/speed combination that makes it work. The Falcons will also be without top CB DeAngelo Hall and they still can’t stop the run.

TARGETS(catches):
Carter- 11(3)
Proehl- 4(2)
Magnum- 4(3)
Colbert- 3(0)
Goings- 3(2)
Smith- 2(1)
Foster- 2(2)
Hoover- 2(1)