Carolina Panthers growing pains rear their ugly head in Week 1 loss

Following the Carolina Panthers' disappointing Week 1 loss to the Atlanta Falcons, the newness of the roster reared its ugly head.

The Carolina Panthers entered the regular season with high hopes. There was legitimate excitement around the franchise not seen since the glory days of Cam Newton and Luke Kuechly.

They brought in a veteran coach and a great staff to go along with him. They traded up for their future franchise quarterback while adding skill players around the signal-caller to succeed early in his young career, no pun intended.

It seems pretty simple to expect improvement...if you were playing Madden 24.

A concern entering the season was the potential slow transition not only from rookie Bryce Young but for the rest of the offense overall. Outside of the offensive line, it was a relatively new group following the loss of D.J. Moore in the trade-up for the top overall draft selection.

Questions arose about the wide receiver position pertaining to who could separate themselves as the guy to be Young's go-to at the position. Some assumed it would be Adam Thielen or D.J. Chark. Others such as myself brought up third-year man, Terrace Marshall Jr.

Yet, the excitement continued around the youthful quarterback. Could he overcome the lack of top talent on the perimeter and lead Carolina to a Week 1 win, which would be the first one by a signal-caller drafted No. 1 overall since David Carr?

Narrator: he could not.

Credit should be given to the Atlanta Falcons defense coordinator Ryan Nielsen. He scripted a terrific game plan to keep Young in check for the majority of the game in the 24-10 win for his ball club.

However, there were issues that the Panthers suffered offensively that kept them out of reach and left points on the board.

There will be a transition period for Carolina Panthers offense

Young had rookie mistakes at the worst time on Sunday afternoon. He threw two interceptions into the middle of the field center in the vicinity of Jessie Bates III, who I mentioned as a potential impact player for this matchup. Young's two interceptions were thrown intended for the dig route from what looked to be tight window throws, though the coaches' film should show better clarity in the coming days.

In spite of those two picks plus the Miles Sanders fumble, there seemed to be a lot of communication, chemistry, and timing issues throughout the game. Even in garbage time, there was no sense of rhythm on offense.

This is an issue when you have a lot of new players, a new scheme, and new coaches in an organization that is looking for wins and consistency overall. This offense, in my opinion, was never going to light the world on fire with explosive plays from the jump. Although not having D.J. Chark was likely a reason for the lack of explosive plays.

Even so, everything seemed off. There is a transition period that this Panthers offense will be in for the next couple of weeks. This isn't a quick fix where the team can go out and trade or sign someone off the open market, they have to make the best of what is currently available.

Young will continue developing chemistry and timing with his receivers as the season goes along and the expectation should be that by post-bye week, this offense is in rhythm. Or, the wide receivers' inability to consistently create separation could cost Carolina from now to Week 18.

The bottom line from the offensive outcome of this game should be this: it's Week 1 and there will be a transition period throughout the first quarter of the season with Carolina's offense and the timing between Young and his wideouts. There is a lot of football to be played and it's important to note that your rookie won't be a superstar from the jump.

I sound like a broken record, but patience is going to be the key here for the Carolina Panthers. However, "new" should be the nickname of the offense following the loss to the Falcons.