There are blowouts, and then there are the kinds of losses that expose a team’s foundation. The Carolina Panthers’ collapse against the Buffalo Bills was both.
Nick Shook from NFL.com called it a “dose of reality” for a team that had won three straight and hadn’t faced a winning opponent since Week 2. But here’s the twist: Carolina needed this.
Sure, the score was ugly, but the information Carolina took from this loss was key. While the defense held Buffalo to 12 points until late in the first half, the offense looked terrible under veteran backup quarterback Andy Dalton.
Even small moments mattered. Ryan Fitzgerald missing the extra point in a blowout didn’t cost them anything. But a point after, really?
Carolina Panthers are starting to figure out who they really are
And while the second half spiraled, it gave Carolina another critical lesson: this team cannot survive playing from behind without Bryce Young. The game revealed the blueprint the Panthers must follow, and it became clear that head coach Dave Canales realized it.
One week later, the Panthers walked into Lambeau Field as two-touchdown underdogs against a 5-1-1 Green Bay Packers team and beat them in a game in which running back Rico Dowdle became the identity.
Canales told Dowdle he’d be getting the bulk of the carries. Behind an injured offensive line, he delivered 130 rushing yards, two touchdowns, and the violent, attitude-setting style that was missing a week earlier. His 19-yard run in the final minute set up the game-winner.
And Fitzgerald, the same rookie who missed an extra point against Buffalo, drilled a 49-yard game-winner.
Here’s the fun hidden part: Carolina took the ball first instead of deferring because Canales and special teams coordinator Tracy Smith wanted to ensure they would finish the game kicking with the wind.
The defense also looked transformed. After being worn down by Buffalo, Carolina made all the situational plays they failed to make a week prior: a red-zone takeaway, a fourth-down stop, disciplined coverage, and late-game composure.
Carolina is now 5-4, winners of four of their last five, and trending upward with Young being fully healthy. The Bills' loss didn’t derail momentum. Instead, it sharpened them and forced the Panthers to rediscover their run-first identity, protect their defense, and correct special teams issues that could’ve cost them another contest.
If the Panthers stay on this trajectory, this season won’t be remembered for the Buffalo meltdown. It’ll be remembered as the year Carolina finally arrived after years in the football wilderness.