4 important takeaways as Carolina Panthers turn the page on Week 8 triumph

What important takeaways must not be overlooked as the Carolina Panthers officially turn the page on their Week 8 win?

For the first time since Week 18 of the 2022 season, the Carolina Panthers have a victory to celebrate. As in New Orleans, it was the boot of kicker Eddy Piniero that secured the triumph after a walk-off field goal gave them a much-needed victory over the Houston Texans.

On a day that honored Julius Peppers and Musin Muhammed, this was not a game for the Panthers to limply fall to 0-7. What we saw from Frank Reich's men was a gritty performance and the first win hopefully of many for rookie quarterback Bryce Young.   

This was billed as a battle between the first two picks of the draft and two great friends whose relationship goes back to the eighth grade. The urgency only increased as a result, with Young securing bragging rights thanks to arguably the most impressive performance of his professional career.

But for the first time this season, let’s break down four takeaways from a Panthers win!.

Carolina Panthers QB Bryce Young answered his critics

This was the Bryce Young fans thought they were getting when the Carolina Panthers picked him No. 1 overall, attaining 235 passing yards, one touchdown, and a passer rating of 103.6. Perhaps most impressive was his final drive with the game on the line - a 15-play 86-yard masterpiece to set up an Eddy Piniero chip shot with time expiring.

This was a vital victory for Young and the Panthers. Carolina entered a stretch of winnable games with both the Indianapolis Colts and Chicago Bears also to come over the next two weeks, giving the Panthers a real opportunity to be 3-6 heading into the matchup with the Dallas Cowboys.

Young displayed to the wider NFL world why he was the No. 1 overall pick, winning the game despite taking six sacks, having no running game to lean on, and dealing with multiple drops.   

Carolina Panthers must extend Frankie Luvu

On a day that saw many Carolina Panthers legends in the house, Frankie Luvu's display was reminiscent of the glory days of Luke Kuechly and Cam Newton. This was the best performance I’ve seen from a linebacker since No. 59 was flying around the field making insane plays.   

Rightly this offseason the talk will be about the Panthers paying star edge rusher Brian Burns, but another player who should be getting a healthy contract is Luvu. Scott Fitterer has whiffed on many of his deals in the draft or free agency, but none have been better than the deal the Washington State product signed in 2021.

Against the Houston Texans - with his mother in the crowd watching him play in the NFL for the first time - the former New York Jet racked up an incredible stat line. Luvu's 12 tackles, two tackles for loss, two pass breakups, one sack, and one quarterback hit was simply phenomenal stuff from a player who is fast becoming one of the team's most dominant.

Luvu is a free agent this offseason and re-signing the player rivals the importance of extending Burns. With stalwart Shaq Thompson missing for the remainder of the season, he is the glue and at 27 years old, has a lot of good football ahead of him.  

If what we saw on Sunday from Luvu is produced throughout the remaining games, he will command a much richer contract than the two-year, $9 million deal he signed before the 2022 season began.  

Carolina Panthers have a left tackle issue

It’s getting to the point for Ikem Ekwonu that his play is so bad, things may be worse than just a sophomore slump. A torrid season so far for the former North Carolina State man culminated in a horror show on Sunday.

Matched up against 2020 third-round pick Jonathon Greenard, Ekwonu had an awful day, allowing the ex-Florida man to explode for 2.5 sacks. This almost doubled his tally for the season.  

Carolina Panthers fans can take some hope from the fact another former first-round left tackle - Andrew Thomas - struggled supremely in his second year before figuring things out. However, Ekownu’s downward trend is becoming a serious concern.

The pairing of Ekwonu and Calvin Throckmorton constantly allowed pressure. While inconsistencies are understandable from an undrafted free-agent journeyman, Ekwonu is a top-10 pick who is meant to be your franchise tackle.   

For the rest of this season, there’s no clear solution. With Brady Christensen on injured/reserve, there’s no opportunity to kick Ekwonu into the left guard spot and put the former BYU stud in his collegiate position.

Unless offensive line coach James Campen trusts Ricky Lee or David Sharpe to protect Bryce Young's blindside, Ekwonu needs to figure it out - otherwise, he may find himself in a camp battle ahead of the 2024 campaign.   

Carolina Panthers have a platform to build

It feels good to finally be writing an article about a win this season. I’m a fan of the team first and foremost - nothing irks me more than having to come and write about another depressing loss where the team gives up 40 points.   

While this was by no means a perfect performance, we saw flashes of what the Carolina Panthers could do. A defense still decimated by injury held a dynamic offense to just 13 points. While offensively it still was far from perfect, we witnessed some good play-calling from Thomas Brown.

Fans also saw growth from the likes of Jonathon Mingo, who bounced back from an early drop to put in his best performance as a pro. When the offense needed to string plays together, we saw a rookie who spent the game running for his life put together a 15-play, 86-yard drive to ice the game.  

Shoutout to Eddy Piniero, as well. Despite the nefarious antics of Tavierre Thomas, who jumped offside three times in a row to try and disrupt, the kicker stayed composed and hit the walk-off winner.

And in the words of Pineiro himself “hopefully they have a safe flight back to Houston”.   

It was great to see the post-game energy as the Panthers secured a vital first win of what has so far been a tough season. Bryce Young was understandably hyped after his first NFL win, and seeing Frank Reich get emotional giving the game ball to Brown will tug on the heartstrings of even the most hardened of Panther fans.

With a platform to build and some winnable games on the horizon, let’s hope the team can kick on.