The Carolina Panthers have become masters of taking any positive momentum and sandblasting it away. With Bryce Young out and Andy Dalton in, the Panthers were smacked 40-9 in a game that somehow was not as close as that scoreline would indicate.
As if it wasn't bad enough for Dave Canales and the Panthers to put together such a putrid effort against a team that could be viewed as a measuring stick for how far along Carolina has come, things went from bad to worse due to some childish skirmishes after the game.
According to Bills tackle Dion Dawkins, emotions boiled over when shaking hands at the end of the game, specifically as it pertained to Panthers defensive tackle A'Shawn Robinson. To hear Dawkins tell it, Robinson seems very irritated at his team's lackluster performance.
Dawkins claimed that he looked up at the scoreboard and said "40-9" when he was trying to shake hands with Robinson. With Robinson seemingly taking this as a personal slight, a brawl started that no one seemed to win, but the Panthers very clearly came out of it losers.
Panthers DT A'Shawn Robinson involved in fight after Week 8 loss to Bills
While Young hasn't been lighting the world on fire as a quarterback, Dalton's performance against a Bills team that had some major letdowns in the last few weeks showed that there should be no competition when both are healthy. Dalton is showing his age at the end of his terrific career.
Robinson and the defensive line were perhaps the worst overall unit in this game, as James Cook ran for over 200 yards and 11 yards per carry. Allen didn't put together his best game, but it was not needed against a Panthers defense that was punched in the mouth convincingly.
Adding to the embarrassment by getting involved in a bout of pugilism that is beneath this organization is not going to convince a skeptical fanbase that they have turned the fanbase and didn't beat up on a collection of worse teams that were spinning their tires.
The Panthers are assuredly not this bad, but Buffalo showed just how much more up the proverbial mountain they need to climb before the rest of the league takes them seriously as a playoff team. Losing your temper like this is only going to add an extra stain on what was a complete mess of a game for everyone involved.