The Carolina Panthers, the last winless team in the NFL, remained that way on Sunday. A 42-21 loss at the high-flying Miami Dolphins was the team’s most lopsided defeat in a year full of them. Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa and receiver Tyreek Hill were their usual destructive selves in the passing game – they combined for 163 yards and a touchdown – and tailback Raheem Mostert added 115 yards and two scores on the ground. This year’s No 1 overall pick, Bryce Young, hung in gamely at quarterback but could not come close to keeping pace. Losing to the Dolphins is no disgrace – Miami have the best offense in the NFL and are 5-1 this season – but it emphasized how far Carolina are from being relevant. Besides, it’s the overall picture of the season that is depressing for Carolina fans: their team have a 0-6 record, the first time they’ve reached that low since 1998.
The Panthers’ 2023 season is already lost, but that doesn’t begin to cover the predicament the franchise has created for itself. If they remain on their trajectory as the league’s worst team, the Panthers will earn the first overall pick in April’s draft, but it will go to the Chicago Bears, who netted it in the return for the pick that Carolina used last April on Young. Reinforcements are not readily available. A creative front office could dig out of that hole, but it’s unclear how much latitude the Panthers staff have to fix the team. For Carolina fans’ sake, the answer is hopefully “more than it appears.”
Sunday’s rout was typical of the Panthers’ problems to date. The defense had allowed 4.9 yards per rush entering the weekend, fifth-worst in the NFL, and was a sieve against Mostert, who put up 6.8 yards per carry. Young, a small QB who missed Carolina’s third game with an ankle injury, was under frequent duress and needed 38 pass attempts to reach just 217 yards. The Dolphins sacked him four times. The Panthers didn’t sack Tagovailoa once, and the one big splash the defense did make – a 61-yard Salvon Ahmed pick six return – came against Miami’s backup quarterback, Mike White, when the game was long decided.
Young is an enticing prospect, and amid the misery of his first weeks in the league, he has shown flashes of promise. But the Houston Texans’ CJ Stroud, who they picked at No 2 and didn’t need to give up any draft capital for, looks a more accomplished quarterback at this early stage of his career. One of Young’s highlights on Sunday came on his sublimely threaded touchdown pass to veteran wideout Adam Thielen. But Thielen is 33 and no longer the premier target he was in his prime, which he spent on loaded units with the Minnesota Vikings. The Panthers’ traded their best receiver, DJ Moore, to the Bears in the deal that got them Young. No one on the depth chart is an especially scary presence for opposing defensive coordinators. Young has one of the league’s lesser protection units on the offensive line, where 2022 first-round pick Ikem Ekwonu has yet to develop into a quality left tackle. And none of these problems are addressable at the top of the 2024 draft, as the Bears hold Carolina’s pick.
David Tepper, who bought the team in 2018, has long been regarded as one of the league’s more hands-on or (less charitably) meddlesome owners. It may be the latter, judging by the remarks head coach Frank Reich gave about his boss at a press conference last week. Reich called his meetings with Tepper “a really good experience” but added: “It hasn’t been fun. It’s not fun. Those meetings, I wouldn’t characterize them as fun meetings. But those meetings make me better, and I trust they make us better.”
Perhaps those meetings do make the Panthers better, but it’s not clear how. Under his ownership, the Panthers have yet to record a winning season, gave a seven-year, fully guaranteed $62m contract to head coach Matt Rhule then fired him a few years later and gave up possibly too much draft capital for Young. Tepper’s expertise, and the source of the wealth that got him the Panthers, are in finance. And should any members of the club’s front office need advice on market dynamics, Tepper would no doubt be of great use. On football matters, Tepper’s team would be better served if he invested more passively.
MVP of the week
Kyren Williams, running back, Los Angeles Rams. Williams, a second-year back out of Notre Dame, was the Rams’ No 2 option to open the season. But he rapidly outperformed the more experienced Cam Akers, so much so that the Rams dealt Akers two weeks into the season and handed the reins to Williams. He rewarded their faith with his first career 100-yard outing in a win two weeks ago over Indianapolis, and he was even better on Sunday: 20 carries for 158 yards and a score in a 26-9 win over the Arizona Cardinals. Williams will be Sean McVay’s favored rusher going forward for a Rams team who are a lot more competitive than many expected this season.
Video of the week
Aaron Rodgers wasn’t wearing pads, and there were no defenders on the field. But Fox’s television cameras caught the injured New York Jets quarterback throwing on the sideline before the team’s shock 20-14 win against the previously unbeaten Philadelphia Eagles. An injury like Rodgers’s torn achilles is usually season-ending, but the four-time MVP insists he aims to play again this year. Silly as it sounds, he appears serious. Now another question is whether the Jets would bench Zach Wilson, who’s had a surprising revival in the past few weeks, if Rodgers were to return. (That’s not serious, but it may not be less serious than the notion of Rodgers returning. We’ll see.) Whoever plays at quarterback for the Jets, they have a brilliant defense they can rely on. They picked off Jalen Hurts three times on Sunday, a feat that is even more impressive given that the Jets were missing four cornerbacks on Sunday, including starters Sauce Gardner and DJ Reed.
.@AaronRodgers12 just having a little catch 👀
— New York Jets (@nyjets) October 15, 2023
Watch Pregame Central live ➜ https://t.co/lKhdDNHiyt#PHIvsNYJ on FOX at 4:25 pm pic.twitter.com/TaVcJ9406k
Stat of the week
177. That’s how many passes CJ Stroud threw without an interception, the longest run in NFL history to start a player’s career. Stroud surpassed a different quarterback in Texas: the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott, who began his own career with 162 pick-less passes. On Sunday, Stroud chose a good time to throw his first one; New Orleans Saints linebacker Zack Baun, who caught the pass, fumbled it right back to the Texans on his counterattack. Stroud, granted a reprieve, threw a touchdown pass to tight end Dalton Schultz six plays later. Houston went on to win by a touchdown, improving to 3-3 under first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans.
Elsewhere around the league
• The juggernaut San Francisco 49ers, who had mostly steamrolled the opposition during a 5-0 start, met their first adversity in a 19-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns, who were led by backup PJ Walker. The Niners lost in painful fashion, as kicker Jake Moody sent what would have been a winning field-goal wide right in the final seconds. More concerning than the loss were the injuries to Christian McCaffrey and receiver Deebo Samuel, who both left the game and did not return. Without them, Brock Purdy had the ugliest game of his young career, pausing a magic carpet ride that began more or less the moment he took over the job late last season. Purdy completed 12 of 27 passes for 125 yards, a touchdown, and an interception. The Browns proved once again, they have a formidable defense. At 3-2 they are firmly in the hunt in an open AFC North, especially if Deshaun Watson can play like a league-average quarterback (or better) upon his return from injury.
• The cameras cut to a distraught Damar Hamlin when his Bills teammate Damien Harris was taken off the field during Buffalo’s nervy 14-9 victory over the Giants, which came down to the final play of the game with New York on their opponents’ one-yard line. Thankfully, the running back was reported to have movement in his arms and legs and gave a thumbs up as he was lifted into the ambulance. Even so, it was a painful reminder of Hamlin’s on-field cardiac arrest last season.
• The New England Patriots slipped further into what was already well-established sadness. Visiting the Las Vegas Raiders, the Patriots knocked their former quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo out of action, but they couldn’t get over the hump against a different ex-New Englander, Brian Hoyer, in a 21-17 loss. The Patriots’ defense hung tough and gave the ball to Mac Jones for a potential game-winning drive, but the quarterback took a safety in his own end zone to seal defeat and drop the Patriots to an ugly 1-5. With forthcoming games against the Buffalo Bills and Dolphins, more pain is likely inbound.
• The Detroit Lions remain one of the most refreshing stories in the NFL. They waltzed into the heart of Florida and ground up the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-6, to move to 5-1. Jared Goff and his favorite target, Amon-Ra St Brown, carried the Lions’ offense on a day when the team totaled just 40 rushing yards. The defense ensured that didn’t matter; the Bucs ran for just 46 and got nothing like Goff’s production from their own quarterback, Baker Mayfield. Goff and Mayfield are former No 1 overall picks who, at different points, have been thought to be immense disappointments. But it’s Goff, who turned 29 on Saturday, who is enjoying the more effective second act. Losses by the Eagles and 49ers mean his team are tied for the best record in the NFL.
• The Chicago Bears, who had joined the Panthers as the league’s worst team over the season’s first month, got a real flicker of hope last week when they trounced the Washington Commanders on the road. The Bears carried a slight patina of optimism into Week 6, when they hosted a Vikings side with an identical 1-4 record. Those good vibes, however faint they were, are surely extinguished now. The Vikings won a 19-13 decision, and Chicago QB Justin Fields left the game with an injury to his right hand. That’s the one that throws the ball.
• Anthony Richardson has looked like a dangerous quarterback when he has managed to stay on the field this season. But there are reports his rookie season may end early with shoulder surgery. Everyone’s favorite backup, Gardner Minshew, will replace him but he threw three interceptions in Sunday’s 37-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Jags (4-2) now lead a tight AFC South over the Texans and Colts, who are 3-3.
