I think we come away with perceptions from the original broadcast that aren’t always true. So I just took a quick look at the replay and wanted to write out the sequence where each offensive drive that didn’t end in a TD went wrong. The all-22 isn’t out yet so this is just broadcast angle so I might do a redo later this week but I have today off so wanted to take a look today.

Drive 1

1st&10: Run for 2 yards

2nd & 8: Run for 7 yards

3rd and 1: Ball batted at LOS. I’m unsure if this would have been complete as a corner was breaking on it but the intended receiver did have some separation so maybe?

Drive 2

1st & 10: Run for -8 yards

2nd & 18: 3 yard screen

3rd & 15: Ball batted at LOS. This one had a shot at being a first down as Tank was open at the sticks. At the very least would have gotten us in field goal range

Drive 3

1st & 10: Incomplete pass to Noah Brown off play action

2nd & 10: Run for 2 yards

3rd & 8: Sacked because we ended up with a running back on Brian Burns in protection which can’t happen obviously

Drive 4

1st & 10: CJ takes a sack here. He had a couple of checkdowns open but holds the ball way too long. Rookie moment from CJ here

We’re at the very end of the 1st half here and it’s 2nd & 21 after the sack so we just run a couple nothing plays to burn some Panthers timeouts.

Drive 5

1st & 10: Run for 4 yards

2nd & 6: Complete pass for what would have been a first down. Andrew Beck fumbles

Drive 6

1st & 10: Run for 1 yard

2nd & 9: Incomplete pass over the middle

3rd & 9: 5 yards to Nico Collins to set up the punt

This 3rd down from CJ was strange. There was a bit of pressure but he stared down Nico Collins here on a route that never had a chance for a first down. I don’t have the all 22 yet and more importantly I don’t know the playcall or the reads CJ is supposed to go through but this is just a weird play. Never even gave ourselves a chance on this one.

Drive 7

1st & 10: Run for 5 yards

2nd & 5: Incomplete deep to Collins

3rd & 10: After a delay of game incomplete to Tank Dell

And that was all the drives.

Offense Notes

I don’t think the whole running on first down thing is as much an issue as people think. I mean looking at these there’s only a few drives that failed because we ran the ball on first down. That would be drives 2 and 6 in my opinion. Ultimately the pass game didn’t really get off the ground either. CJ made some plays but had a couple of weird/rookie moments that killed a drive or two and wasn’t able to make up for those moments. Our bread and butter this year on offense has been passing over the middle. It feels like teams are really starting to key in on that and we’re gonna need to find some answers soon. Either with the run game or figuring out how to utilize the outside of the field more in the pass game. Also part of the offensive struggles is the lack of opportunities. Most teams get 12 possessions per game we only got 9. In part because our two TD drives took a very long time but also because the Panthers had a long drive or two.

Final note on offense is how concerning it is we weren’t really able to run the ball yesterday. The Panthers are one of the worst run defenses in football and they held us to 3.8 YPC. I don’t know how this gets fixed but this year is going to get tougher and tougher if we can’t figure it out.

Defense Notes

Not a whole lot to say here without All 22. Only thing I will say is defense played a solid game I thought. They gave up a TD and 3 field goals with one of the field goals being off of the Beck fumble on the 30 yard line. That kind of performance should be a win every time. Also both of their long drives were really helped along by the zebras.

Ref Notes

That’s a nice little segue to the last little bit which was the refs. I want to state that in no way shape or form do I blame the refs for this loss. This is 85% on the offense 10% on the defense and 5% on the refs. But on the Texans last offensive drive the refs called a delay of game that was completely ridiculous in my opinion. Anyone who watches football knows that the offense typically gets a little 1-2 second delay of game grace period. The flag is very very very rarely thrown as soon as the clock hits 0. The Texans snapped the ball within a half second of the play clock hitting zero and the refs blew it dead. That call pushed us out of field goal range and gave the Panthers the ability to win it with a field goal and not a TD. In all fairness it is technically a penalty but again anyone who watches football knows that offenses are given a small grace period. To call that when the snap was within a half second of the clock running out is very out of the ordinary and it’s frustrating that something that silly had such a huge impact.