What areas must Carolina Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield improve in Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals at Bank of America Stadium?
Confidence is building within the Carolina Panthers after picking up their first win in ten games last Sunday against the New Orleans Saints. However, for Baker Mayfield and the offense, there is still a significant amount of work ahead and not a lot of time to get things right.
Things just aren’t going to plan for a multitude of reasons. Mayfield‘s inaccuracy is a problem and Ben McAdoo’s scheme is easily figured out by opposing defenses, offering little in the way of creativity.
Carolina’s defense and special teams got them over the line in Week 3. But relying on these areas to score points consistently isn’t a recipe for success and Mayfield must avoid becoming a weak link with Sam Darnold’s return on the horizon.
With that being said, here are four key areas that Mayfield must improve next weekend versus the Arizona Cardinals.
Improvement No. 1
Baker Mayfield must trust his OL
It was another outstanding performance from the Carolina Panthers’ offensive line in Week 3. This unit is finally coming of age and looks like an area of real strength, which is a remarkable turnaround after some inept consistency over the last two seasons.
Despite this exceptional production, Mayfield just doesn’t seem to trust it. The signal-caller is hesitant in the pocket and is too willing to escape somehow rather than maintain pocket presence and go through his reads effectively.
The offensive line is no longer an issue. And the sooner Mayfield realizes this, the better his chances will be.
Baker Mayfield must have more conviction
Having Baker Mayfield participate in a quarterback competition with Sam Darnold throughout training camp was a gamble that’s not paid off for the Carolina Panthers. While head coach Matt Rhule wanted everyone to earn their spots, this method has impacted chemistry, familiarity, and scheme cohesion over the first three weeks despite what the former Baylor man tells you.
Mayfield joined the franchise just a short period before camp, which made this complication even worse and something that could have been avoided. However, the time for improvements has arrived, so the former Oklahoma standout must show conviction when distributing the football and perform better than the flashes we’ve seen over the opening three weeks.
If anything, Mayfield’s production regressed against the New Orleans Saints. Laviska Shenault Jr.’s long touchdown padded what were some dismal stats, which won’t go unnoticed by the Arizona Cardinals and their impressive defensive front seven ahead of Sunday’s clash.
This all comes down to confidence. Mayfield integrated well in a short space of time this summer, but there are obvious limitations within the system that need addressing as a matter of urgency.
Picking the right read and delivering the football with conviction would be a great place to start for Mayfield. If he can accomplish this more effectively, then Arizona’s defensive backs outside of stud safety Budda Baker are suspect enough to expose.
Baker Mayfield must get D.J. Moore the football
A recent article from Joe Person of The Athletic centering on wide receiver D.J. Moore’s supposed inability to get open was not taken well by Carolina Panthers fans on social media. This criticism of someone that’s gone over 1,000 receiving yards for three straight seasons despite no quarterback consistency was harsh and something that was also labeled at Odell Beckham Jr. during his stint on the Cleveland Browns with Baker Mayfield.
While Mayfield might be the common denominator in all this, he is far from the only problem.
Carolina’s offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo has to shoulder a large part of the blame for an ineffective offense that isn’t translating to the modern-day NFL. Whether alterations can be made before Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals is another matter entirely.
In fairness to McAdoo, the running game is firing thanks in no small part to Christian McCaffrey and the offensive line’s blocking concepts are working out well. But this will count for nothing if Mayfield can not get on the same page with his primary playmakers in the passing game.
This also counts for Robbie Anderson and McCaffrey as well as Moore. Getting the football in their hands and allowing them to create yards after the catch – something they do best – is of critical importance next Sunday and beyond.
McAdoo has to do better. But Mayfield must also improve accuracy in pursuit of finally getting this offense back on track.
Baker Mayfield must improve 3rd down efficiency
Staying on the field has been a problem for the Carolina Panthers on offense. Third-down efficiency has been an ongoing frustration throughout Matt Rhule’s tenure as head coach and this doesn’t appear to be improving with Baker Mayfield under center.
Again, this is down to Ben McAdoo’s scheme more than anything. Although there is plenty of blame to go around based on their first three games of the campaign.
The Panthers are converting just 27.03 percent of their third downs, which is ranked No. 31 across the league. Unless this changes in the coming weeks, it’s going to make life extremely difficult in the face of some stern opposition.
Bad play-calling, no invention, and poor execution have all played their part. But at the end of the day, Mayfield was not brought into the fold for the same complications we witnessed under Sam Darnold to emerge.
Hopefully, this gets better with familiarity for all parties involved. However, Mayfield is now almost a month into the regular season, so it’s time to put up or shut up.
The Heisman Trophy winner was the first to admit that his performance levels haven’t been good enough. Becoming effective on third downs would go a long to turning Mayfield’s situation around.