4 primary factors behind the Panthers demise in Week 1 vs. Browns

Carolina Panthers underused their dynamic weapons

Baker Mayfield and the coaching staff both deserve some blame for a game plan that resulted in only 10 carries for Christian McCaffrey and three catches for D.J. Moore. Your best two playmakers have to be more heavily involved or you’re going to be in trouble quickly as the Carolina Panthers were against a motivated Cleveland Browns defense.

Part of the reason McCaffrey’s carries were lessened was due to how quickly the Carolina offense fell behind. There is also a need to keep the star running back healthy after recent injury problems.

McCaffrey has been unable to stay on the field consistently for two years. Both times he came back, Matt Rhule made the mistake of instantly giving him a huge workload that helped result in further complications.

This time, however, Rhule overcorrected the problem by not allowing McCaffrey to put his stamp on this game. The offense needed to allow the All-Pro to do what he does best, putting the back outside and allowing him to create space on the perimeter and outrun the defense.

Simple runs up the middle are part of his game. But they only work if the offensive line is consistently opening up lanes.

Moore and Mayfield are still building chemistry and both deserve a small amount of blame for the wide receiver’s lack of impact. The Maryland product is an elite receiver capable of carrying an offense, but the Panthers must enhance their creativeness in pursuit of putting him in better positions moving forward.