Panthers cornerback Donte Jackson returned to the lineup yesterday after missing the previous few games with the toe injury that’s bothered him for most of the 2020 season. Jackson performed well, tallying thee tackles and two passes defensed.
Unfortunately, Carolina’s other defensive backs didn’t play so great. Aside from free safety Tre Boston, the Panthers secondary struggled to contain the Broncos’ receivers, especially in the second half. In the end, Denver quarterback Drew Lock threw a career-high four touchdown passes and posted a stellar 149.5 passer rating. When Jackson was asked after the game about what Lock did to give the defense trouble, Jackson instead focused on the officiating.
“The ref called some good calls for them on third down, basically. All their drives were stopped, but they got calls on third down that helped them extend plays. He did a good job of just finding guys who were open. I don’t think it was really nothing they did. It was really just us. So we just have to execute better.”
Jackson has it about half-right, here. Shawn Hochuli’s crew made some questionable, ticky-tack kind of calls against the Panthers defense, especially the roughing the passer penalty against Brian Burns and the pass interference on rookie cornerback Troy Pride.
That said, this young team has to do a better job of avoiding mistakes that could result in a flag. There are always going to be poorly-officiated games during the course of a season, but penalties have been an issue for this team all year. Only five teams have drawn more flags in 2020.
