By Dennis Cox
The stars on defense shined: Let’s call a spade a spade. The Jets are a terrible football team and were playing without their No. 1 WR in Garrett Wilson. It’s the kind of situation where you’d want your defense – and their stars, in particular – to be dominant. And that’s exactly what took place. Six sacks, two interceptions, only 220 yards allowed, and the Jets benching Justin Fields. Dominance.
It was the stars who led the way. Defensive lineman Derrick Brown, a former top ten pick and one of the highest paid players in his position in the NFL finished with two sacks, seven tackles, and knocked down three passes at the line. Cornerback Jaycee Horn, another former top ten pick who is one of the highest paid players at his position in the NFL finished with two interceptions, including one in the endzone to take away a potential touchdown. Safety Tre’Von Moehrig, who was one of the top free agent signings in the offseason for general manager Dan Morgan, finished with a sack, six tackles, including a tackle for loss. Rookie outside linebacker Nic Scourton, a second round pick out of Texas A&M, collected 1.5 sacks and a TFL, while fellow rookie OLB Princely Umanmielen added a half-sack. Plus, A’Shawn Robinson, one of the bigger free agent signings in the 2024 offseason added a sack and a TFL, too.
All of those players were brought in to be impactful on a week-to-week basis, and they all made major impacts in a game where the team needed to be carried by the defense.
What are the Panthers offensively if the run game isn’t cooking? This is a question I posed on X (formerly Twitter) during the game, and it’s still a major question through seven weeks for the Panthers offensively. The last two weeks saw the Panthers explode offensively to the tune of running back Rico Dowdle, which included a 206 yard rushing performance against the Miami Dolphins that tied for the second highest single-game rushing total in Panthers history, and a 239 total yard game against the Dallas Cowboys, which was the most yards from scrimmage by a Panthers running back in franchise history. Carolina won each of those games by three points.
Asking for a 200-plus yards performance from your running back each week is not sustainable as an offense. Eventually, the Carolina Panthers will need to lean on former No. 1 overall pick in quarterback Bryce Young to carry the load, but that just hasn’t happened. With the return of running back Chuba Hubbard from a calf injury, head coach Dave Canales used Hubbard and Dowdle on every other series (more on that in a bit), and overall the running game was less than stellar with just 123 yards on 34 carries after you take out two kneel-downs by backup QB Andy Dalton. That’s an average of 3.6 yards per carry. Part of that was missing starting LG Damian Lewis.
But before leaving the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury, Bryce Young was 15 of 25 passing (60%) for 138 yards (5.5 yards per attempt) and one touchdown. He didn’t turn the ball over, but also didn’t do much to elevate the team around him in the absence of a run game. Young underthrew a pass to Xavier Legette in the endzone on the first drive of the game on third down that should’ve been a touchdown, but instead the Panthers settled for a field goal. Young also missed a pass to Jimmy Horn Jr. downfield that was a bit overthrown, but you’d like to see Horn Jr., come down with a catch. On the next play, Young underthrows a corner route to Jalen Coker.
I’ve seen plenty of people comment on Panthers Playbook (check out the latest episode) that the Jets have a good defense. But the numbers say otherwise.
Here is where the New York Jets ranked defensively going into Sunday’s game:
-28.3 points per game allowed – 28th in the NFL
-59.1% redzone TD allowed – 18th in the NFL
-4.3 yards per attempt rushing – 16th in the NFL
-7.3 yards per attempt passing – 11th in the NFL
-4.5% sack percentage – 25th in the NFL
-13.5% pressure rate – 30th in the NFL
-0 interceptions on the season – 32nd in the NFL
-1.5% of drives ending in a turnover by the opponent – 32nd in the NFL
-49.2% of drives ending in an offensive score (TD or FG) – 29th in the NFL
I think you get the picture by this point. Thirteen points on a consistent basis won’t cut it. It can work against a winless opponent like the Jets, but the Panthers have the Buffalo Bills and Green Bay Packers over the next two weeks, and Bryce Young and the passing game need to play a higher level.
Xavier Legette deserves a shoutout. Nine catches for 92 yards and a TD. Statistically his best game ever.
Rico Dowdle needs to start at running back: That’s it. Nothing more.