4 Panthers players who disappointed most vs. Broncos in Week 14
By Dean Jones
John Miller – Carolina Panthers OG
John Miller is another who won’t look back on his performance with any sense of pride. The Carolina Panthers struggled with their interior protection and he needs to shoulder plenty of responsibility for this.
There were some nice moments from Miller – particularly on running downs – but the fact of the matter is the guard simply isn’t up to scratch and it’s not going to be a great shock to see his $4 million on the salary cap put to better use in 2021.
Miller was only expected to be a short-term fix for the Panthers after the front office coveted him heavily during free agency. The former third-round pick made an eye-catching contribution early on but things are tailing off rapidly for the veteran.
It didn’t take long for the Broncos to figure out where they could get joy in their pursuit of getting in the backfield. Their scheme focused almost entirely on roughing up the middle with multiple players -especially during critical moments – and this is something that Miller and Chris Reed were simply unable to cope with.
Matt Rhule was critical of the protection overall after the game and the head coach is probably already looking at alternative options as he looks to make strides in his second season.