Cat Scratch Reader
The soon to be 15-2 Carolina Panthers overcame uncharacteristic competence to win their home opener against the Atlanta Falcons. All jokes aside, that was the first game in years that felt good, looked good, and stayed good from start to finish. Just as the first two games were team losses, with key mistakes from across the roster, yesterday was a team win.
The offense, led by a careful Bryce Young, played mistake-free football. Special teams kicked the ball out of the park, with shout outs earned by the coverage teams and by kicker Ryan Fitzgerald. And, perhaps most surprisingly, the defense showed up big. A pick six and the team’s first shut out since 2020 are fitting accolades for the most complete performance Ejiro Evero’s unit has put together since the much maligned defensive coordinator joined the Panthers in 2023.
Bryce Young had a clean pocket most of the day and made enough of it to keep the Panthers competitive against a flailing Falcons team. The Arizona Cardinals game got off to a horrific start in large part because the line allowed free rushers in Young’s face within moments of the snap, resulting in two turnovers and ten points in the first two minutes.
It was easy to expect something similar against an ascendant Falcons defense and without Robert Hunt and Austin Corbett. Instead, Chandler Zavala and Cade Mays more than held their own in relief. Young repaid the favor by not making bone headed decisions and keeping the ball in the hands of the Panthers.
Young and the offense’s day overall was clean and efficient with only a few missed connections. There were fewer deflating drops, missed passes, and runs for negative yardage than we had seen in the past two weeks. Credit for that starts with the line stepping up. Kudos, once again, to Zavala and Mays for excellent work.
Chau Smith-Wade and Mike Jackson both got their picks. Jaycee Horn dropped a third while making several other splash pass break ups and tackles. Even the safeties stepped up, keeping Bijan Robinson in check and holding their opponent to a second consecutive game under 200 yards rushing.
Yes, we celebrate clearing low bars here.
The front seven controlled the line of scrimmage reasonably well, but applied very little pressure in the passing game and missed what felt like dozens of tackles in the running game. The secondary was able to hold everything together and still pitch the shut out. That’s incredible given what the box score looks like:
Out of six kickoffs, Fitzgerald landed one at the Falcons 12, one at their 9, two as touchbacks, one at their two, and one at their three yard line. He was also perfect kicking on the day with three extra points and field goals of 35, 41, and 57 yards.
The defense should get a lot of credit for how they performed yesterday, but there...
