The theme through 8 quarters of the NFL season has been the same for the Carolina Panthers. A dominant defense, with a lackluster offense.
The Panthers defense came to play on Monday night. They were able to contain the Saints offense for the most part outside of two explosive plays one by Chris Olave and one late in the 4th quarter by Rashid Shaheed. Frankie Luvu led the defense with 9 tackles including 2 sacks. They will have to replace one of their leaders, however, as Shaq Thompson got hurt early in this one and will be lost for the rest of the season.
As far as the offense goes it looked a lot like week 1 an inability to sustain drives (which leads to a tired Carolina Panthers defense late in games) and the receiving weapons unable to get open consistently. One head-scratcher for me is that rookie Jonathan Mingo was on the field for 98% of the snaps, while Terrace Marshall only saw 37% of the offensive snaps. It seems like they may be trying to force the issue with Mingo and might need to think about letting him develop more before they put so much on the 2nd round picks shoulders. Bryce Young finished the game 22-33 153 yards 1 TD and 1 fumble as the Panthers dropped to 0-2 after the 20-17 loss on Monday night.
The Panthers head cross country as they take on the Seattle Seahawks this upcoming week.
-Austin