Carolina Panthers: Offensive playcalling needs to be better

The Carolina Panthers need to do a better job of calling plays.

We are all still definitely licking our wounds from Thursday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. If nothing else, it has become apparent that the Carolina Panthers have a lot of work to do. Now 0-2, this makes their next contest against the Arizona Cardinals even more important.

It’s interesting to read about some of the theories in regards to what the struggles have been for the Carolina Panthers. Honestly, it feels like it is a little bit of everything. However, one of the things the Carolina Panthers website mentioned that I agree with is the questionable playcalling.

More from Cat Crave

We all saw it on display Thursday when that infamous fourth-and-one play occurred. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one scratching my head at that play. It seemed like a pretty sophisticated play call for such a short amount of yards. I would have perhaps initiated a quarterback sneak with Cam Newton. However, maybe the lack of doing so acknowledges the fact that Newton isn’t 100% yet. However, that is a topic for another day.

The lack of success in regards to short-yardage plays signals to me a couple of things. First, I feel like the playcalling is too cute at times. Norv Turner is a great offensive coordinator, but I feel like he tries to go for the fancy play, not the simple one. It’s almost like he gets in his own head too much. Instead of the end-around trick play, the Carolina Panthers should have gone with a straight run up the middle with McCaffrey or used Newton. Instead, they made a questionable fourth-and-one call that looked bad quite frankly.

Secondly, the lack of success in short-yardage situations tells me that defenses will be ready when they play the Carolina Panthers. Defenses will know what is coming. If the ball doesn’t go to Christian McCaffrey, there is going to be some trickery involved. As of right now, it is not going to Newton so that takes him out of the equation pretty much. This handicaps Carolina terribly. Short-yardage situations are difficult enough. Now, the Panthers have made it easier for defenses to read them.

Heading into this week’s game against Arizona, the Carolina Panthers playcalling has to be better. They cannot afford to take risks, they have to begin to play it safe. Normally, I would advise against playing it safe. However, the Panthers need to do whatever it takes to win. There needs to be an offensive game plan that both plays to the strengths of the offense while getting the ball in the end zone. For what it’s worth, the game plan against the Rams was a bit better. However, there is no denying that so far, the offense leaves a lot to be desired.

Home/Carolina Panthers News