Is Eric Washington in over his head as Panthers defensive coordinator?

After last night’s poor showing by the Panthers defense, the question must be asked.

Before I jump into my main points, I’m not calling for the firing of anybody. That would be a knee-jerk reaction after last night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, I am calling into question Eric Washington’s ability as a defensive coordinator, and whether he is the right guy for the Panthers moving forward. Last night illustrated a trend that is very troubling, one that could prevent the Panthers from going to the Super Bowl.

The Panthers lost 52-21. Most of us can just look at the final score and say “Wow, Carolina got beat badly.” The offense played good in stretches, but did not play a complete game. One unit of the team that did not play a complete game the was the defense. They simply looked overmatched against a Pittsburgh offense that shredded them, led by wide receivers Antonio Brown and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Every single player on that unit looked overmatched. From the secondary, to the linebackers, there was not much positive news on the defensive side of the football.

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The lack of defense reminded me of last week’s game against the Buccaneers. The lack of defense reminded me of the game in September against the Atlanta Falcons. The lack of defense reminded me of the game in October against the Giants. Noticing a trend here? Me too. There have been too many times where the offense has bailed out the defense and that is not a good thing. Thursday, the defense gave up a total of 457 yards. 390 of those came through the air. In the game against the Giants for example, they gave up 432 yards. In the Falcons game, they gave up 439 yards, including 170 on the ground.

The Panthers seemed to have lived and died by the philosophy of ”bend but don’t break.” Thursday night, it seemed as though there were certain situations where they tried to do that again. Only this time, it came back to bite them. They seemed very unprepared and unable to stop the Pittsburgh offense. The Steelers literally did whatever they wanted, making the game an uphill battle by halftime.

This leads me to my ultimate question. Is Eric Washington the right man for defensive coordinator? He did very well as the linebackers coach, and I think that success helped him gain the job of defensive coordinator. There just seems to be something lacking at this point in the season. Whether it be finishing the job defensively, or putting together a complete game defensively, there does not seem to be a situation or a game plan where this defense is “lights out.” I’m not saying that they have to be perfect every single time they step on the field. What I am saying is that games where 400 yards by the opposition seem routine is not normal.

I don’t know if there is a disconnect somewhere. Maybe there are certain schemes that are getting recognized and exploited. The defense as a unit seems to be lacking. Now, with the exception of last night, the secondary has done a decent job holding their own. That is certainly a positive to look at moving forward. Overall, they just seem to lack of the edge that successful Panthers teams in the past have had. I get that there are a few young players on the defensive side of the football. For the most part however, veterans make up the key core of the defense. Guys like Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, Eric Reid headline the defense. With the exception of Reid, there are additional guys that have been on this team for quite a while. There should be no excuse why there seems to be huge gaps in the defense at times.

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After last night, it is not a stretch to say that Eric Washington may be in over his head. It would be one thing if the defense is making minor mistakes, but they are making major mistakes that have cost them football games. Last night, they got exposed in primetime. I get that Washington is a first-year coordinator but these problems seem bigger than that.

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