5 big talking points from the Panthers’ disappointing Week 5 loss

The Carolina Panthers staff must do a better job

Phil Snow is exempt here we’ve already discussed the excellent job the Carolina Panthers defense did.

The same praise certainly can’t be extended to Matt Rhule and Joe Brady. This will go down as one of the worst losses for the head coach as the Panthers somehow found a way to lose this one.

Rhule started the bad decisions before the game even started. With starting left tackle Cam Erving out most fans were excited to see the debut of college standout Brady Christensen, who Zach Wilson so well at BYU.

However, coach Rhule had other plans, moving Taylor Moton across to the blindside and starting Christensen at the right tackle spot. So the Panthers started with both tackles playing on the side in which they’d rarely played throughout high school, college, and in Moton’s case, the NFL.

The decision at the end of the first half to not go for it on 4th-and-2 in favor of punting and allowing the Eagles to march down the field and hit a 58 yarder to end the half was also baffling.

Brady also had his struggles with play-calling. The most worrying came on a third and short with running back Chuba Hubbard nearing 100 yards rushing.

The ball was handed off to Royce Freeman who ended the game with just three carries and the Panthers were stuffed.

Something also needs to be done about the Panthers’ third-quarter offense. Once again Carolina completely stalled after the interval, going scoreless despite the defense getting two takeaways.

To make matters worse, the Panthers have been outscored 35-7 in the third quarter so far in 2021, which is something Rhule and his staff must rectify urgently.

We also saw more special teams’ woes. Despite a solid performance from kicker Zane Gonzalez who was 3/3 from 40+ yards, a blocked punt saw the Eagles with a short field and then scoring the go-ahead touchdown.