Charles and Co. disappoint during 2018 campagin

by Crimsion | 8 years ago | 0 Comments

In the mind of the Carolina Panthers and fans alike, the 2018 season was nothing short of a disappointment for the club. Coming off a NFC South title and an 11-win season the Panthers looked to build upon a successful year, but took a couple steps back instead.

Carolina took off out of the gate to kick things off, defeating Cleveland, Philadelphia and Cincinnati before their bye week. They capitalized on their bye and came out firing on all cylinders by defeating the New Orleans Saints, but that's where things went sideways. 

One of the SFL's most decorated linebackers had gone down and Coach Charles was left to scramble. Luke Kuechly had suffered a torn pectoral and to this day is still recovering from surgery.

Without their quarterback on defense the Panthers looked elsewhere, moving Shaq Thompson to MLB and having Jeremy Cash placed in as the starter on the right side. Unfortunately for the Panthers this move just couldn't make up for the lack of a playmaker like Kuechly, although Thompson did record the second most tackles on the team with 73 and Cash was able to pick up 2.5 sacks along with a pair of interceptions.

Usually where there's a dark spot there's a bright light to follow, and this season on the defensive end Carolina's bright light came in the form of Trey Beriault. The 2nd year defensive end out of LSU racked up a team high 8.5 sacks and his first career interception. Himself and defensive tackle Kawann Short complied 16.5 of Carolina's 29.5 sacks on the year. 

Although they have some work to do on the defensive end, and it seems as if it could be cured with some depth at linebacker and a new man alongside Beriault (assuming Charles Johnson retires) the Panthers have A LOT of work to do when it comes to moving the ball down field.

The leader of this hungry ground was once again their human highlight reel in Cam Newton under center, but Newton didn't end up on many highlghts for the right reasons. The 8-year veteran recorded a career best in passing yards this year (5,104) but found the endzone only 25 times, his worst output since the 2014 season.

Newton's struggles could have come from the lack of stellar lineplay infront of him as defenders got to the Auburn product a career high 47 times, or it could be the lack of playmakers Carolina possesses. 

In an effort to balance out any air attack a team must be able to run the ball successfully, and once again for the Carolina Panthers that just wasn't in the cards. Cameron Artis-Payne was the teams leading rusher with 358 yards on the year (an average of 32.5 per game) and 3 touchdowns. 

At first glance it looks like the Panthers took a commity approach to things, but the starting role was at first captured by Kevin Barnard, only to be lost and then gained once again via injury. Barnard carried the ball a total of 108 times to Artis-Payne's 103, but found himself struggling for the second straight season, rushing for only 317 yards. The man out of Harvard has yet to make a name for himself in this league, logging a career total of 694 yards in two seasons. 

Carolina has some holes to fill this upcoming off-season on the offensive end as the decline of Tedd Ginn Jr becomes apart, the run game non existant and the pass rush slacks, but it seems as if GM Charles has targeted his needs and will do anything to get his Panthers back to the post-season, if not back atop the NFC South.