That game was awful.

[zhangzk]

Let’s just get that out of the way to start with. The Panthers played a better team on a short week and got exposed. Nine straight quarters of dominance by the Panthers came to a screeching halt in Pittsburgh and took a little wind out of their sails. Carolina is still 6-3 and still technically has control over its own destiny. As bad as this loss was www.authenticscarolinapanthers.com , it was still only one loss. That said, this team learned some hard truths yesterday and has a long way to go before they can be considered a contender again.We have ten days before the Panthers take the field again, this time against the Lions, and we will spend much of it discussing just how bad last night was. Let’s talk about Cam Newton, Christian McCaffrey, and the future of this offense. The rest we can file, for now, under the aged wisdom provided by Ron Rivera during last night’s presser Carolina Panthers T-Shirt ,Cam Newton, under significant pressure all night, threw a pick-six and took five sacks. He still posted a 100.3 passer rating. One of those things is simply not like the other. Cam’s interception was one bad mistake in an otherwise exceptional night. The few plays were the offensive line blocked well enough for Cam to complete his drop backs were positive and often constituted scoring drives. The rest were impossible for anybody and Cam even turned a few of those into first downs.Something has to change on the offensive line. The Panthers went into Pittsburgh facing an absurdly low number of blitzes compared to the rest of the league. I’m honestly baffled that nobody thought to try a more blitz happy approach before given the relative inexperience and lack of successful history that are currently starting at left guard and left tackle. I’m similarly baffled that Norv Turner didn’t make a greater effort to provide more help than a clearly overmatched McCaffrey to pick up the Steelers’ blitzes. Turner must not have watched Super Bowl 50.To his credit, pass protection was the only part of McCaffrey’s game that wasn’t on fire last night. He was effective in the running game and the passing game as a quick outlet and a scoring threat for Newton.The offense, when it worked, went through Cam and McCaffrey and it looked good doing so. Whether it was due to a short week, an inability to actually protect against creative pass rush designs, or anything else Carolina Panthers Hats , the Panthers offensive line has only had one really bad game this season. We need to see them fail like this at least once more before we can say the sky is falling. Maybe Matt Kalil is once again finally healthy and ready to contribute. Maybe Amini Silatolu is actually the answer after all this time. Stranger things have happened.Right now, the Panthers know they have problems. They have the time to figure out how to address those problems. They might even have the personnel. It is too early to count this offense out given the way Cam and McCaffrey are playing. The defense might be another story, but the offense still has the potential to hang with most of the league. They aren’t functioning on the level of the Saints, either, but there is still a chance the Panthers get there.The offense is going to be the story of the season and the defense is going to be on the field sometimes. It’s almost impossible to beat a good team in the NFL anymore without surrendering 30+ points. The Steelers’ 52 was excessive, to be sure, but that total likely would have been lower if the Panthers had been able to stay on the field and score more often than they did.The Steelers and the Panthers combined last night for one more point (73) than the Patriots and the Eagles did in the Super Bowl to end last season (72). The most important thing in this league is the ability to score points. The Panthers have the skill position players to do that so long as Newton can be protected for even a second. I’m still excited to see what they can do about that.Can Ian Thomas become the first productive tight end the Panthers have ever drafted? The Carolina Panthers have never drafted a productive receiving tight end in franchise history. Let’s hope Ian Thomas can reverse the curse. With data taken from Football Reference, here are the abysmal receiving stats for the nine tight ends Carolina has drafted prior to selecting Thomas in the fourth round this year.Career receiving yards of tight ends drafted by the PanthersYearRoundPlayerGamesReceptionsRec YdsRec/GRec Yds/GTDYearRoundPlayerGamesReceptionsRec YdsRec/GRec Yds/GTDBelieve it or not Carolina Panthers Hoodie , but the Panthers have never drafted a tight end who went on to average at least 1.5 receptions or 20 receiving yards per game throughout his career. Gary Barnidge is the most productive receiving tight end Carolina has ever drafted, but he’s an oddity because nearly half of his career yards came in his improbable 2015 Pro Bowl season when he registered 1,043 of his total 2,258 yards. He was 30, playing for the Browns, and entering his eighth NFL season. His previous career high before his 1,000-plus yard campaign was just 242 yards. Can we get a 30 for 30 or an Outside the Lines on Gary Barnidge’s miraculous 2015 Pro Bowl season, please? While the nine tight ends drafted since the Carolina’s founding in 1995 might seem like a low number Youth Customized Carolina Panthers Jerseys , it’s right in line with the rest of the NFC South. In that same time frame the Saints have drafted six tight ends, the Falcons have drafted eight,and the Buccaneers have drafted 13, but seven of them were sixth- and seventh-round picks. Carolina’s history using tight endsThe lack of production from tight ends the Panthers have drafted shouldn’t be viewed as some sort of team bias against featuring the position in the passing game. Wesley Walls joined the Panthers in 1996 after six years with the 49ers and Saints. Walls went on to play seven seasons in Carolina (1996-2002) and make five Pro Bowl teams. During his seven seasons in Carolina his 3,902 receiving yards trailed only Shannon Sharpe, Tony Gonzalez, and Frank Wycheck among tight ends, per Football Reference. We all know how dominant Greg Olsen has been as a receiver since joining the Panthers from the Bears in 2011. No need to explain further. While Walls and Olsen have been among the NFL’s most productive tight ends in their respective eras www.panthersauthorizedshops.com , neither of them was drafted by the Panthers. The hope for Ian ThomasAs CSR’s Billy Marshall highlighted after the draft, Ian Thomas is raw and athletic. In his two seasons at Indiana he caught a total of 28 passes for 404 yards and five touchdowns so the Panthers are clearly gambling on his upside. Despite his lack of college production the rookie earned praise from Luke Kuechly for his effort at training camp:In the Panthers first preseason game against the Bills he recorded just one reception for two yards. He had the opportunity for a longer reception but couldn’t get both feet down before going out of bounds, which shouldn’t be surprising in light of his limited experience. The good news for Thomas and the Panthers is he won’t be expected to contribute immediately while playing behind Greg Olsen. Ian will have plenty of time to learn from one of the all-time greats over the next few years. But at some point in the future Olsen will retire (or get injured, knock on wood) and the Panthers will need Ian Thomas to step in and step up. Let’s hope he can become the first productive tight end the Panthers have ever drafted.