5 big talking points from the Carolina Panthers dominant Week 10 win
By Luke Gray
Carolina Panthers coaching staff raised their game
I’d be pretty sure this was the best win of Matt Rhule’s NFL coaching career, it was certainly the most dominant. All three of the Carolina Panthers units were completely dominant over the Arizona Cardinals in a real turnup for the books.
We know that defensive coordinator Phil Snow has schemed his defense very well all season so the dominance today was of little surprise. However, Joe Brady and Matt Rhule deserve an abundance of credit.
The way they packaged both P.J. Walker and Cam Newton into the game completely fooled the Cardinals’ defense. We even saw some more adventurous play calling from Brady.
I’ll be open in the fact I’ve been openly critical of Brady and his play-calling this year. However, much of that limited calling was probably down to the ineffectiveness of Sam Darnold at quarterback.
With Newton potentially the starter moving forward, we may see a more open playbook for the remainder of the season.
We also simply cannot understate the impact Christian McCaffrey has on this team. We saw him last week although it seemed he was under a pitch count and couldn’t enhance the offense the way we usually see him do.
On Sunday, he was unstoppable. McCaffrey finished the game with 13 carries for 95 yards alongside 10 receptions for 66 yards.
A backfield duo of Newton and McCaffrey is about as dynamic as it gets and could easily propel Carolina to the playoffs.
Rhule and Brady also deserve credit for keeping McCaffrey out of the game in the fourth quarter when the game was won. Even if the All-Pro did manage to sneak on the field for a snap.