5 things that went wrong for the Carolina Panthers in Week 12 loss

New Christian McCaffrey injury

It’s not often that running back Christian McCaffrey has a bad game but he was almost non-existent in this one, partly due to bad quarterback play and getting injured. He had 10 carries for 35 yards and no receptions for the first time in his career.

Then, McCaffrey seemingly rolled his ankle in the second quarter and was on the sidelines for a bit. It took a while for the Carolina Panthers to even reveal that he was injured and it was just a mess of a situation.

After that, McCaffrey was on and off the field and didn’t look the same.

This might be a minor injury. But it’s just a reminder that the Panthers are paying tons of money for a running back who has proven to be injury-prone the past two years.

The Carolina Panthers defense is regressing in a big way

All season, the Panthers’ defense was the one aspect of the team that could be relied on in most games. Last week, Phil Snow’s unit played awful against the Washington Football Team and they were even worse against the Miami Dolphins.

The Dolphins rushed for 111 yards against Carolina, scored a touchdown in three of their four red-zone trips, and totaled 315 offensive yards. Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, wide receiver Jaylen Waddle, and running back Myles Gaskin all had big days for Miami.

The Panthers continued to pile up penalties, with Haason Reddick being the latest to rack up a few on Sunday, and the defense just doesn’t seem as reliable as they did early in the year.

There were visible cracks early in the year but the wheels are falling off now.