Panthers vs. Cowboys game review: Just not built for it

After a couple of close games, the fun ended quickly for the Carolina Panthers as the team realized there is still a long way to go.

Odd as it may seem, the Carolina Panthers team that had only won 3 games in 13 games needed to be humbled. Even while on a three game losing streak, the Panthers had managed to garner some love from the national media and even their own perpetually pessimistic fan base was buying into the direction the team.

So, of course, the weight of even slightly elevated expectations turned out to be more than enough to break the camel’s back. The Dallas Cowboys came to Bank of America Stadium, pulled the mask off the Panthers face and revealed a team that is still not built to consistently compete in the NFL.

The Cowboys did exactly what they needed to do, they took the game to the Panthers by forcing early turnovers, taking the lead, then relentlessly rushing the passer and running the ball down their throats until the game ended. It’s really not more complicated than that.

The Panthers, as scrappy as they may have seemed the last month, just aren’t built to overcome a poor game script. Jalen Coker’s 83 yard touchdown reception was a thing of beauty, but it was the only play above 20 yards they had in the entire game. On the other 49 plays, the Panthers managed a measly 3.1 yards per play.

There is plenty of blame to go around for the unsuccessful offense. Some belongs to the head coach and play caller who abandoned the running game in the first half and forced the ball to a receivers not built to generate explosive plays. Another chunk of blame belongs to the quarterback whose inability to properly slide left him open to being stripped, among other costly errors. Those include: another fumble, a missed read turned interception and a misplaced pass that had a sure touchdown become another interception. Of course, since Bryce Young was going to cosplay as the 2023 version of himself, so did his offensive line. The starting left tackle, left guard and right tackle all had a PFF pass blocking grades under 31.0.

Since the offense failed to get anything done, the defense wasn’t in the position to do a whole lot to help the situation. The Panthers allowed the Cowboys to do whatever they wanted to do, powerless to stop them. Their main receiving threat, CeeDee Lamb, only had to worry about the Panthers top pass defender Jaycee Horn for 2 of his 13 targets. The rest of the afternoon he was able to garner another 11 targets against the likes of linebacker Josey Jewell, Safety Jordan Fuller and two undersized nickelbacks in Chau Smith-Wade and Dane Jackson. The Panthers allowed the Cowboys to force them into unfavorable match-ups all day, and that was just the passing game.

The most consistently concerning portion of the Panthers defense remains their inability to stop the running game. Once again, they allowed the opposing team to rush for more than 200 yards – the 5th such time this season. Also, the 10th time they’ve allowed over 160 rushing yards.

What do you have when you have a team that can’t stop the run, can’t handle a pass-rush, and can’t hold onto the ball? You get Sunday’s debacle. While the Panthers have certainly had positive moments this season, it’s obvious that there is still a long way to go until the roster itself is built to withstand some adversity. But right now, the margin of victory is just too small, and the game against the Cowboy’s showed exactly why.

That’s it for this week’s game review, Panthers fans. Thanks for reading and I’ll be back next week to discuss the clash against the Arizona Cardinals. Until next time, keep pounding.