(Kim Klement/US PRESSWIRE)
The Carolina Panthers looked rusty, succumbing to mistakes, despite claims that their preparation in Florida all week long would make them better focused. Crucial mishaps would spell DOOM for the Panthers, who lost their opener on the road, 16-10 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Carolina falls to 0-1 on the young season, but more importantly falling 0-1 within the NFC South.
The Panthers simply looked befuddled, never giving themselves a real chance, even though Tampa Bay left the door wide open for the Panthers to swoop in and steal this one.
The positives for Carolina came in the first half on spirited third down stops.
Carolina came up with two huge third down plays in the red zone; which setup field goals for Tampa Bay. The first was a batted pass by rookie defensive end Frank Alexander forcing the Buccaneers to kick a field goal making the score 10-0 after the first quarter. The second stop occurring on Carolina’s goal line, when linebacker Thomas Davis made two marvelous tackles on the running back on both second and third down, resulting in another Buccaneers field goal to make the halftime score 13-0.
The Panthers could have very easily been down 21-0 at the half, but those key defensive plays all but kept them in the game.
The Panthers came out of the locker room at halftime playing solid football forcing the Buccaneers to punt on their opening second half drive. Carolina would capitalize with a 70 yard touchdown drive, capped off by a 22 yard dart from quarterback Cam Newton to wide receiver Brandon LaFell.
Carolina would find a way to keep it a one position game for most of the day, but couldn’t stop from stepping all over themselves, eventually resulting in the loss.
Newton’s touchdown pass and 303 yards passing were nice, but his two interceptions proved costly; two picks both occurring in the second half on vital scoring drives for the Panthers.
The Panthers would finish the game with six penalties for 65 yards and top it all off with Buccaneers cornerback Aqib Talib blocking a Panthers punt early in the fourth quarter.
All Tampa Bay would need was one field goal in the second half, sending the Panthers home with a headache.
Carolina clearly missed running back Jonathan Stewart, who remains inactive with an ankle injury. Veteran running back DeAngelo Williams rushed for a disappointing six carries for negative one yards. While on the flip side, Carolina allowed Buccaneers rookie running back Doug Martin to look more like Hall-of-Famer Emmitt Smith, with 24 carries for 95 yards.
Take away points for the Panthers from week one should go like this.
First, it is only week one and an opening loss is not devastating. Second, Carolina needs to go home and work hard on correcting the mistakes that cost them on Sunday, (turnovers, penalties, punt blocked). Third, get Stewart healthy because the Panthers run game looked predictable and atrocious. Finally, the Panthers need to find ways to build confidence on defense by highlighting their big plays that forced Tampa Bay to kick field goals.
The Panthers will hopefully learn from this loss and move on to focus on week two. If not, then 2012 could be another long year for Panthers fans.
