4 critical observations from disastrous Carolina Panthers loss in Week 4

Ben McAdoo is coaching himself out of a job

When Joe Brady was fired in 2021, Matt Rhule admitted he had gone out of his comfort zone to hire the former LSU passing game coordinator. During the offseason, a report from Jay Glazer stated the owner David Tepper wanted a “rockstar offensive coordinator”, but after four games Ben McAdoo couldn’t be further from this.

Fans had leveled questions at the former New York Giants head coach for his vanilla playcalling in the first three weeks of the season. What we saw from the Carolina Panthers on Sunday was the worst so far.

Going up against an Arizona Cardinals defense that had struggled, the Panthers mustered just 220 yards of total offense. After establishing the run through the early part of the season, Carolina mustered 40 yards on the ground in Week 4, and after running the ball twice to start the second half they did not attempt a run for the rest of the game.

The Panthers’ refusal to utilize D’Onta Foreman is drawing the ire of fans. Early in the game, Carolina decided to go for it on fourth and one, which was the perfect opportunity put Foreman in the game. Instead, they went for Christian McCaffrey who was inevitably stopped short.

While it’s fair to say the quarterback play has been subpar, the playcalling from McAdoo has been below what is expected at this level. Frankly, it’s fair to say Brady was fired for less as he was dealing with a much weaker offensive line, arguably a worse signal caller, and an offense without its star weapon in McCaffrey.