Carolina Panthers' offseason hope evaporates after depressingly familiar start

An offseason full of hope and expectation enveloped the Carolina Panthers following more wholesale changes across the board. Fans were expectant with a new head coach and some perceived improvements to the playing personnel from general manager Dan Morgan. After all, things couldn't get much worse after a 2023 season that descended into embarrassment quickly.

This hope was evaporated in the blink of an eye.

The Panthers got off to the worst possible start in Week 1 at the New Orleans Saints. They were 17-0 behind after just one quarter, which was more points than Dennis Allen's team accomplished throughout their first regular-season contest last time around.

Carolina Panthers got into a depressingly familiar hole at the Saints

It might be a refreshing staff, but the same problems remained. Blown assignments on defense, missed tackles aplenty, miscommunication at the line of scrimmage, and an interception from second-year quarterback Bryce Young were the primary catalysts behind their demise. Dave Canales is a positive guy, but not even the head coach could have found anything to shout about early in the contest.

Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the Panthers. Nobody was expecting things to be perfect in the first game after Canales didn't play his starters much during the preseason. But this was a rude awakening for the former Tampa Bay Buccaneers offensive coordinator about the hard work ahead for this dejected squad.

There was a sense of nervousness. The Panthers looked like a rabbit in the headlights and almost unprepared for the inevitable barrage coming their way. It was lackluster and uninspired, which was exactly what got Carolina into such a mess during the previous campaign.

The Panthers should have come out and started as they meant to go on. Getting in such a hole in a typically hostile environment so early was unacceptable. It was also depressingly familiar to anyone who's followed the Panthers closely over the last five years.

It's very early days and miracles were not going to happen overnight. But this was a reminder of how precarious things are for the Panthers entering yet another new era.

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