Kelvin Benjamin earns PFF top grade for Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers earned much better grades from Pro Football Focus in their victory over the New England Patriots in Week 4, led by wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin.
The Carolina Panthers left their Week 3 loss against the New Orleans Saints hoping that Kelvin Benjamin’s knee injury wasn’t too serious. Thankfully it wasn’t as the Panthers’ top wide receiver had one of his best games in a long time.
Benjamin caught all four of his targets against the New England Patriots, racking up 104 receiving yards, including a 43-yard reception. His performance on Sunday was enough to earn the top grade from Pro Football Focus for the Carolina Panthers with an overall grade of 84.8.
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This was actually Benjamin’s fifth career 100-yard performance however it was his first since Week 2 of last year against the San Francisco 49ers.
The Panthers wide receiver just beat out middle linebacker Luke Kuechly for the top spot. Kuechly finished Week 4 with the second highest grade from PFF, with an overall grade of 84.6. He was followed by defensive tackle Kyle Love (83.9), right tackle Daryl Williams (83.1) and left guard Andrew Norwell (82.0).
The one name that is surprising to not end up in the Top 5 for the Panthers is Cam Newton. The team’s quarterback had one of the best games of his career but earned an overall grade of only 79.9. PFF wrote about the quarterback’s performance:
"QB CAM NEWTON, 79.9 OVERALL GRADERecovering from a poor early interception, that saw him sail a pass too far downfield allowing for the easy takeaway, Newton settled in as the game went on, and delivered several key throws before leading the Panthers into position for the game winning field goal. When the Patriots didn’t get pressure on him, which was on nine of his 33 dropbacks, Newton completed 82.6 percent of his passes, tossed three touchdowns and produced an passer rating of 140.2."
Next: Panthers' top takeaways from Week 4
The Carolina Panthers hope that this performance against the Patriots will carry over to next week when they travel to Detroit to take on the Lions.