Carolina Panthers veteran makes inexplicable admission over Week 6 blunder

The Carolina Panthers cannot keep shooting themselves in the foot. For every positive that emerged from their Week 6 loss against the Atlanta Falcons, there were two or three negatives. Perhaps the most frustrating thing from head coach Dave Canales' standpoint was the poor situational football and lack of discipline in pursuit of turning the tide.

Canales remains adamant that this team isn't far away from being competitive despite languishing at 1-5 in the standings. Fixing the fundamentals can only assist, but their situation remains perilous until further notice.

It also doesn't help when one of the team's longest-serving players shows his complete lack of awareness. This came at the worst possible moment for the Panthers and centered around quarterback Andy Dalton's interception when Carolina's offense was running the football so effectively.

Ian Thomas' revelation typifies Carolina Panthers' awareness problem

Veteran tight end Ian Thomas, who was making his first appearance since recovering from a calf issue, stated following the contest that he didn't know cornerback A.J. Terrell was fast enough to jump his route and secure the interception that was so devastating to Carolina's chances of making a fight of things. As expected, this drew the ire of fans on social media following a post from Mike Kaye of the Charlotte Observer.

"I kind of felt (AJ Terrell) on my inside, but I didn't think he was that fast to like jump it like that. Kudos to him for that, but he made a great play on the ball, and yeah so, he just got that one. It was an over route. He was outside leverage on me from the jump. And I kind of stemmed him vertical, just to get across. And he (expletive) took off, and them two steps turned into zero steps right away. The two steps ahead of him turned to zero."

- Ian Thomas via X

So to recap, Thomas had no clue that one of the league's best shutdown cornerbacks and most explosive wasn't 'that fast'. That Terrell was almost incapable of making up a couple of steps while Dalton's throw was making its way to the former fourth-round pick.

This is another fine example of why it's so important to keep some things to yourself. Terrell ran a 4.42-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine with a 1.49-second 10-yard split. That seems pretty fast enough to me.

Either Thomas lacked sufficient awareness, or he was dangerously unprepared. Neither is a great look, which led to calls from fans to send the Indiana product to the sidelines permanently when Tommy Tremble clears the NFL's concussion protocol.

It's also a microcosm of what continues to go wrong with the Panthers. Silly errors of judgment in critical periods. One can blame the constant stream of injury issues regarding key personnel and their talent deficiency, but until they get the mental errors out of the picture, the same problems will remain.

Thomas is old enough to know better. And it cost the Panthers in the worst way imaginable.

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