Sunday’s game was a harsh fallback to reality for what has been a poor last few seasons for the Carolina Panthers and head coach Matt Rhule. Thoughts of revenge and enthusiasm were dusted and downed as quickly as they came up, with the team imploding far too early on in the afternoon.
There were a lot of lessons to be learned from this loss. And while there were certainly a lot of failures to be had, there were also some bright points on both sides of the ball.
Here is some of the good, as well as the bad, from Week 1 defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Browns.
Stud and Dud: Ikem Ekwonu
This is a little bit of a cheat listing Ekwonu as both. But the youngster truly did have moments of brilliance and disaster during his first start.
It was a tad lofty to expect the rookie left tackle to take on one of, if not the best edge defender in the NFL. Because no matter who you are, you’re not going to fend off Myles Garrett for long.
Ekwonu was beat early and often by Garrett’s blinding speed off the edge. The All-Pro defender quickly recognized the rookie’s inexperience and deficiencies to spring on him—particularly whenever Ekwonu overset or kicked inside quickly to adjust. This ultimately led to Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield being sacked twice by his former teammate.
The good news is that there was a clear improvement and adaptability on Ekwonu’s part as the game progressed. Part of the offense’s spike in production during the fourth quarter was a promising sign that Ekwonu is going to quickly develop into a productive tackle for Carolina.
Stud: Ian Thomas
This offseason, the Panthers re-signed tight end Ian Thomas to a somewhat scrutinized contract extension. There were questions about his value as a receiver, a somewhat inconsistent blocker and what he brought to the table for that money.
This Sunday showed a good flash of just what Thomas can achieve with more growth.
His most notable play of the game was a quick run up the seem for a 50-yard catch and run that helped jumpstart the Panthers offense late in the second half. He looked speedy, athletic and like he could be a real weapon for this unit.
His blocking was also notably improved. He was used in a number of positions to create a lane for ball carriers and ended up bulldozing a few defenders, particularly on a couple of carries from running back Christian McCaffrey.
Dud: Pat Elflein
There has been a lot of blowback on the decision to start Pat Elflein over new free-agent signee Bradley Bozeman at center. And unfortunately, this loss did not help ease those thoughts.
Elflein had issues with pass blocking as well as securing snaps with Mayfield, which resulted in four fumbles. Elflein will need to massively improve his play at the position or will need to be quickly replaced, as these mistakes will continue to weigh on the offense’s search for a rhythm.
Stud: Christian McCaffery
It was good to see No. 22 out there and back to his usual self. Though his overall load was noticeably managed, as he was rotated in and out more than he usually would be, he made a large difference just by existing on the field as a healthy player.
McCaffrey helped give the offense two huge jolts of life— one on a diving touchdown run at the 1-yard line and the other on a game-saving (at least to that point) fumble recovery that morphed into an explosive 32-yard run. He once again became Carolina’s best offensive weapon, easing the coverage down the field to allow receivers to see single coverage deep and take advantage.
It will be exciting to see more usage from McCaffrey going forward, as he reworks himself into being a top-tier weapon in the NFL. He really just needs to stay healthy.
Dud: Matt Rhule
It’s hard to put into words how frustrating it was for fans to watch such a sluggish first half from both sides of the ball. It was also hard to understand how the team seemed so underprepared for a game they had more than a month to be ready for.
They knew what was going to come at them in terms of the running game and outside zones, but there was seemingly no adjustment to it for three whole quarters. There was little adjustment on offense in the first half as well, with only five touches from the team’s best offensive player and no answer for Garrett.
Fundamentals were also notably lacking from the team—with a heap of whiffed tackles, multiple players simply not being in the correct position and fumbled snaps that came off as completely inexcusable. Part of this has to be pinned on the head coach, who waffled in training camp between quarterbacks and centers—making it difficult to create any cohesion between these players.
It goes without saying that a lack of fundamentals and failure to execute comes back to coaching, and there it becomes easy to point a finger. It seemed like Rhule was outcoached by Kevin Stefanksi on every step, including a mind game in which Carolina was baited into taking a timeout to adjust to a 4th & 7 call as opposed to letting the play happen or forcing Cleveland to take the timeout.
Not all was bad with Rhule, however, as there was clearly a different team on the field in the second half. There were some good adjustments to the pass rush and zone runs that plagued Carolina previously.
But the fundamentals came back to bite Rhule into a 0-1 start. He will need to turn this team around in future weeks if he hopes to maintain his status as the head coach of the Panthers.
