Cat Scratch Reader
Well, sloppy football begat a disappointing result in the season opener once again. Young was somewhere in between where he opened and where he finished the 2024 season. Whether this is his starting point or high water mark for 2025 remains to be seen.
The Panthers defense was equally as unimpressive. They came up big on a few plays and gave up many more big plays. Their pass rush, run defense, linebackers, and secondary play all left a lot to be desired on almost every play. It was, in short, not a good look.
What worked yesterday was similar to what worked at the end of last season. What didn’t was a compilation of errors from every player on the team, more reminiscent of 2023. It is possible they lean into what works and iron out the mistakes as they get more reps. It is also possible that this 53-wheel bus is going to lose too many wheels each week to drive in a straight line. We always, always, caution not to put too much stock in Week 1. We also get how hard it is to listen to that advice when Week 1 has been fairly predictive for Panthers teams over the past eight years. Deep breaths and we’ll be back to start Week 2 with a brand new Optimist tomorrow morning.
Your quarter by quarter analysis is below:
The Panthers defense had a couple of near miss big plays right out of the gate. Trevor Lawrence hit Mike Jackson in stride on the first play of the game, but he couldn’t pull it in as the Jaguars receiver turned into a defender and broke the pass up. A few plays later, Liam Coen went full aggression and went for a 4th and 1 from the Jacksonville side of the field, and Dyami Brown was able to stumble across the line for a first down. After some decent gains and penalties to wipe those away, the Panthers eventually buckled down just enough to hold the Jaguars to a short field goal.
The Panthers offense had an almost equally long and fragmented drive coming the other way. Chuba Hubbard was heavily involved and took most of his carries for respectable gains. Bruce Young picked up a third down conversion with a short scramble and then picked up another with the first ever NFL completion to Tetairoa McMillan. The drive ended when Young attempted a fadeaway pass to wide open Hunter Renfrow running a wheel route of the slot. The fluttering, underthrown ball gave the defender time to catch up and knock the pass away. Carolina had to settle for Ryan Fitzgerald’s first career field goal.
The game reached the second quarter just a couple plays into the Jaguars second possession. The Panthers blew up a couple of screen passes to actually force a real life punt.
The Panthers drive was again equally short, but in a much more cataclysmic way. Young rolled...
