New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers: Report-Card Grades for Carolina
The Carolina Panthers (3-5-1) may have blown its one chance at defeating the New Orleans Saints (4-4) this season. After spending much of the first half exchanging turnovers and punts, the Saints were able to break through the stalemate and go up 14-0 at the half.
Carolina tried answering on its first drive of the third quarter with an impressive series that netted four first downs and a touchdown, but that was the only highlight of the team's night.
The Panthers would fall 28-10.
New Orleans proved to be too much, and on the arm of Drew Brees and legs of Mark Ingram, the Saints took control of the NFC South and have a favorable schedule ahead of them. The Panthers have a favorable schedule as well, but if the team is to retain its division title, they may have to win out.
The defense continued to look good despite giving up 28 points. If anything, their performance was better than that of the offense, which looked atrocious at times and showed little signs of improvement from last week's debacle.
An 18-point deficit between the winning and losing teams may not merit high marks for the latter, but among the negatives, there were some positives. Here are the game grades from Thursday night's game.
Quarterback
1 of 10
According to the Charlotte Observer's Joe Person, this was Cam Newton's worst game as a professional quarterback. His completion percentage was 35.7 and his passer rating was a paltry 39.4. It's easy to see why his numbers were so abysmal. Newton was 10-of-28 for 151 yards and an interception. Many of his passes were bullets that either missed their marks or bounced off his intended receiver.
Such a pass resulted in an interception, as a pass intended for Brenton Bersin deflected off him and into the hands of a Saints defender. Maybe the reason for his hard-thrown passes stemmed from getting the ball out fast against the New Orleans pass rush. Newton's offensive line hasn't been good this year, and it stands to reason that he would be inclined to get rid of the ball as quickly as possible.
It doesn't negate his overall bad game.
The only bright spot of the night for Newton was his contribution to the running game. He rushed for 43 yards and scored the Panthers' only touchdown.
Whether it has to do with the offensive line's inability to protect Newton consistently or poorly thrown passes, Carolina needs to do something soon because the offense is starting to bring down the team by not putting points on the board.
Grade: D+
Running Backs
2 of 10
DeAngelo Williams made his return Thursday night but only carried the ball eight times for 20 yards. His teammate Jonathan Stewart took the bulk of the carries, and he was aided by Cam Newton, who picked up many yards on either designed plays or just by trying to avoid the pass rush.
Carolina's running game has been suspect all season long, but one could argue that the unit has been hurt by injury. That is true as the Panthers have been handcuffed in their play-calling when it comes to the running backs. Mike Tolbert is still out of action and the current stable has been mostly flat this season.
At times, it seemed as though the Saints were ready for the Panthers running game and stuffed the backs at the line of scrimmage or behind it. Much like the passing game, the offensive line gets a bit of the blame here because they are the guys responsible for opening up running lanes.
There is no way the Panthers can defend their title with their current offense. The running backs need to get better and while health may have been a factor this year, it may be time to start considering the future of the position and find new blood to take the handoffs.
Grade: D
Wide Receivers and Tight Ends
3 of 10
What if I told you the Panthers' leading receiver only had two catches for 59 yards? That honor would go to Jerricho Cotchery, who only reached that number after catching a pass for 47 yards. Tight end Greg Olsen led the team in receptions with three, and, for the second week in a row, Cam Newton seldom looked his way.
Instead, Newton was honing in on his rookie wideout. Kelvin Benjamin was targeted 10 times on Thursday night. Out of those targets, he only caught two passes.
Benjamin was targeted twice inside the end zone during the third quarter but dropped one pass that should have been a touchdown. The first pass to him resulted in an offensive pass interference penalty.
It's unknown what is going on with the passing game, but it looks like Newton is forcing too many passes and trying to thread the needle with some rockets. As a result, the receivers are overthrown or the passes bounce off their hands. The mistakes and penalties aren't helping either.
Many people talked about how bad the Carolina receiving corps was prior to the season beginning, and this game proved them right.
Grade: D+
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Offensive Line
4 of 10
The best way to describe the Carolina offensive line this year is simply as one big mess. Thursday featured a line that was missing three starters and replacements who looked good early on, but it just unraveled as the game progressed.
This became apparent when the offensive tackles, Nate Chandler and David Foucault, were overpowered by the Saints defense and allowed Cam Newton to get sacked.
The offensive line would give up three more sacks before it was over. Suffice to say, no team can win if their quarterback is constantly being pressured or put on the ground.
As noted in a previous slide, the running game has suffered from the ineffective line. After nine games into the season and based on tonight's performance, Carolina may have the worst offensive front in the league. It seems as though everyone is beating them up in the trenches.
Grade: D
Defensive Line
5 of 10
The Carolina defensive line was responsible for three of the four sacks the defense registered against the Saints. Wes Horton, Dwan Edwards and Charles Johnson all found their ways to Drew Brees Thursday night.
It was perhaps one of the bright spots of a relatively poor performance by the Panthers. Edwards not only sacked Brees, but he intercepted him as well. Antoine Cason was able to deflect a pass intended for Kenny Stills, and the ball landed in the arms of Edwards, who returned it for 24 yards.
The defensive front had its miscues though.
Kony Ealy was penalized for illegal use of hands in the first quarter. Granted, it didn't result in anything major for the Saints, but it showed that the rookie still has some growing to do as a professional. He would finish the game with one tackle.
Had the defensive line kept the New Orleans running game in check, the score may have been a bit closer. Mark Ingram ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns. He ran through and around the Carolina defensive front, who couldn't seem to find a way to slow him down.
However, one of those scores can be forgiven, as it came as a result of Cam Newton's fumble that gave the Saints starting position at the Carolina 4-yard line.
Grade: C
Linebackers
6 of 10
Luke Kuechly has defined himself as one who finds a way to get in on every play, and this is why he is able to accrue many tackles in every game. Thursday night, he seemed to be underperforming, as he only tallied eight tackles and was relatively quiet.
Thomas Davis, on the other hand, was making his presence known with some hard hits that either brought down a ball-carrier or disrupted a passing play. He was assigned to cover Jimmy Graham for much of the game, but the star tight end still caught seven passes for 83 yards and a score.
A.J. Klein had five tackles and did well filling in for the injured Chase Blackburn.
For the most part, the Carolina linebackers did alright. That doesn't negate the fact that they allowed a lot of yards to be given up on the ground and failed to stop some of the intermediate passing plays from Drew Brees.
This unit has done better against this team and such a game was needed Thursday. However, their final product wasn't good enough.
Grade: C
Secondary
7 of 10
Things looked promising early on for the Carolina secondary. Antoine Cason deflected a pass that was intercepted. Colin Jones was able to sack Drew Brees on a safety blitz. Even Josh Norman was keeping Kenny Stills from making big plays.
Despite the success experienced by the cornerbacks and safeties, it was not enough overcome Drew Brees.
Melvin White was unable to break up the passing play in the end zone that resulted in a touchdown to Jimmy Graham. Stills managed to get 72 yards receiving and five receivers had at least three receptions. It didn't help that Brees spread the ball around to eight different receivers.
Granted, this game could have been worse, and the secondary was torched. However, the early play of the Panthers defense and the contributions of the secondary kept things from getting out of hand. Losing by 18 points is still bad, but only seven of those points came as a result of the aerial attack.
Grade: B-
Special Teams
8 of 10
Special teams didn't have much of a role Thursday. Brenton Bersin and Joe Webb split kickoff returns. The duo would combine for four returns and 89 yards. Bersin was back to return punts as well, but he never got the opportunity despite New Orleans punting the ball away four times.
Speaking of punting, Brad Nortman was slightly off his game, as he averaged 42.2 yards per punt. His night was a busy one as he was on the field to kick the ball away six times. Fortunately, nothing major happened on the returns, but he probably would have preferred to stay on the sideline.
Graham Gano didn't see much action as he attempted only one field goal and made it. His kick from 31 yards put Carolina within 11 of the Saints, but that would be as close as the team would get once New Orleans started scoring.
Grade: B
Coaching
9 of 10
Ron Rivera may be getting back on the hot seat.
Sure, there are problems with this team that are well out of his hands, such as injuries and certain players being unavailable due to personal issues. However, the professional game is a business, and success is measured on a "what have you done for me lately?" mentality.
A division crown is nice, but after dropping the game against New Orleans, Rivera is now at .500 as the Panthers coach. He has the hearts and minds of his players, but this is a different team than the ones he has field the previous three years.
It's likely Mike Shula will get a lot of flak this week for some of the play-calling. Honestly, it's hard to come down on him, and what he calls when the men up front can't do anything to give the offense a chance at executing plays. The running game is horrible. The passing game is mediocre at best. Cam Newton continues to get pummeled each week.
The problem facing Shula may not be the Xs and Os of the game, but rather the quality of the personnel he has to work with when it comes to calling plays.
Sean McDermott's guys are getting better each week, and while the defense gave up 28 points, the unit did not allow Drew Brees to throw a lot of touchdowns, as they limited him to one passing score (he did have one rushing).
They were able to sack him four times and did a good job of keeping him in check early on. Allowing Mark Ingram to rush for 100 yards was not acceptable, but the run defense hasn't been nearly as good this year as many thought it would be. With the schedule becoming easier, the defense may drastically improve.
Grade: C+
Final Grade
10 of 10
Quarterback: D+
Running Backs: D
Wide Receivers and Tight Ends: D+
Offensive Line: D
Defensive Line: C
Linebackers: C
Secondary: B-
Special Teams: B
Coaching: C+
Final Grade: D+
The New Orleans Saints are a good football team—just not this year. A 4-4 record has them atop the NFC South and they entered the game as one of the worst road teams of the past two seasons. Carolina could have won this game. However, the flaws are many, and it may be too much to recover from at this point in the year.
The second half of the season gets easier (after the trip to Philadelphia), and that could go a long way in determining the Panthers' chances at a postseason berth. As of now, those prospects don't look so good. Hopefully, the extra time to prepare for the Eagles will result in a big road win for Carolina.
All player and game information courtesy of ESPN.com.
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