Unser Chat » The Panthers offense left a lot to be desired in 2018 thanks

to some unfortunate injuries DJ Moore Men Jersey , but also benefited from the rise of Christian McCaffrey into a bona fide superstar."WhiteFanposts Fanshots Sections Keep Sounding PodcastPanthers 2019 NFL DraftCSR Film RoomPanthers 2018 season review: The Panthers offense New,12commentsThe Panthers offense left a lot to be desired in 2018 thanks to some unfortunate injuries, but also benefited from the rise of Christian McCaffrey into a bona fide superstar. ESTShareTweetShareSharePanthers 2018 season review: The Panthers offense The Carolina Panthers hired veteran offensive guru Norv Turner to be their coordinator with the hope that he would help them ‘evolve’ the team’s offense from the 1970s style of football under Mike Shula’s guidance. For the most part, the offense at least looked different than it has in years past, but unfortunately the team’s evolution didn’t produce wins. The Panthers went 1-7 in the second half of the season and limped to a 7-9 final record to finish third in the NFC South.Coaching isn’t even most of the story of the 2018 Panthers’ offense, however. This season was more about injuries, new superstars, and rookies making a name for themselves.So what happened to the Panthers’ offense in 2018? Let’s take a look.Those stupid dadgum injuriesThe Panthers lost both starting offensive tackles before the season even began. Both Daryl Williams and Matt Kalil suffered season-ending injuries before Week 1 was over. Jeremiah Sirles—who was signed to bolster the depth on the offensive line—was hurt in the preseason and waived before the regular season began. Fozzy Whittaker was placed on injured reserve before the season began. Curtis Samuel missed the first three weeks of the season with a heart condition. Torrey Smith missed four straight games in the middle of the year with a knee injury. Greg Olsen missed three of the first four games and ended the year on injured reserve. tl;dr - The Panthers had a lot of injuries in 2018.And we haven’t even gotten to the biggest one...Cam Newton’s shoulderFranchise quarterback Cam Newton suffered from a sore shoulder throughout the year, but after a vicious hit from Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt on Thursday Night Football he was never the same. The Panthers lost six straight games while Cam struggled to throw the football more than 20 yards downfield, and eventually the team wisely shut him down for the season. Taylor Heinicke, Kyle Allen and Garrett Gilbert all saw time at quarterback for those final two games as the Panthers limped to a 7-9 finish.The rise of Christian McCaffreyThe Panthers relied heavily on Christian McCaffrey in 2018 Color Rush DJ Moore Jersey , so much that he came close to being the third player in NFL history to have 1000 rushing and receiving yards in the same season (he finished with 1098 rushingyards and 867 receiving yards). I’m not sure any of us want to imagine what the Panthers’ offense would have looked like in 2018 without McCaffrey on the roster. Let’s just say that we’re lucky we don’t have to think about it and leave it at that.The emergence of D.J. Moore and Ian ThomasThe Panthers selected D.J. Moore with the No. 24 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft because they wanted to add someone with dynamic play-making ability at the wide receiver position. The move paid off in spades, as Moore showed his versatility with 788 receiving yards and 172 rushing yards with two touchdowns in his rookie campaign.Ian Thomas was a fourth round pick who was supposed to be the No. 2 tight end behind Greg Olsen to allow him time to learn on the job before eventually taking over. Another foot injury to Olsen forced Thomas to take over the No. 1 tight end role sooner than expected, and he made the most of his opportunity with 36 receptions for 333 yards and two touchdowns.Both made their share of rookie mistakes that led to often costly turnovers, but that was far from the end of the world in a season that was lost over much bigger issues than the yips. With those out of the way, these are two young playmakers poised to become household names in the Carolinas.What about the rest?There’s a lot more to the 2018 Panthers offense than I’ve covered today. So much that it will take more than one column to dive into all the details. Here at CSR we’re going to spend this week taking a closer look at what made the offense tick (or not tick) in 2018, and we’re going to provide some intricate details on each position group during the next few days. If that’s something that interests you, stay tuned! CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP)Panthers coach Ron Rivera sent a clear message to his players Monday: Forget about Atlanta. Rivera took only a couple questions during his press conference about his team’s uninspiring performance in a 22-10 loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday before saying he was done talking about it. Rather than allow a bad New Year’s Day football hangover to linger, the two-time NFL Coach of the Year told his players it is time to move on and turn their attention to next Sunday’s NFC wild card game at New Orleans. ”The big thing that we need to do more than anything else is to move forward and get past the game we just played,” Rivera said. ”Right now that game isn’t going to do anything for us.” The Panthers had plenty of momentum entering the regular season finale having won seven of their previous eight games. Had Carolina beat Atlanta, they would have won the NFC South and had a home playoff game. Now they’re limping into the postseason and likely will have to win three in a row on the road to reach the Super Bowl. Cam Newton’s struggles in one of the worst games of his career could be cause for concern entering the postseason. Newton missed on his first eight passes against Atlanta DJ Moore Jersey Boys , his throws often sailing high and wide of his intended targets and could never get on track. It hasn’t helped that the Panthers wide receiver position has been besieged by injuries, leaving Newton with a cast of no-name players . One thing is for certain: Newton and the offense will need to be on its game Sunday against the Saints. The Panthers (11-5) don’t appear to match up well with the Saints (11-5), particularly on defense where they’ve been unable to slow drew Brees and the NFC South champions. New Orleans clobbered Carolina 34-13 in Charlotte in September, then beat them again 31-21 on Dec. 3 at the Superdome to take control of the NFC South. Panthers coordinator Steve Wilks, who said he has already received interview requests for head coaching vacancies with the Giants, Colts and Lions, wants to stop the Saints running game first. Mark Ingram and Alvin Kamara found gaping holes against the Panthers, helping the Saints average 148.5 yards per game on the ground along with four touchdowns in those two games. They struggled with wrapping up Kamara and getting him to the ground. ”Their running game right now is dynamic,” Wilks said. ”That is the most important thing we have to stop.” He also said the Panthers need to be physical at the line of scrimmage with the Saints receivers to throw off Brees’ timing. Brees has had a field day against Carolina too, completing 74.6 percent of his passes (47 of 63) for 465 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Panthers defensive end Mario Addison points to self-inflicted mistakes in the wo previous losses to New Orleans. ”It really ain’t what they’re doing, it’s really what we’re doing Cheap DJ Moore Jersey ,” Addison said. ”It’s hard to play against a team and beat yourself at the same time. That’s what we did the first two times – we beat ourselves. It ain’t that they outplayed us, because they didn’t. We just made too many mistakes.” As for the it’s-hard-to-beat-a-team-three-times theory, well, that doesn’t hold much water in the NFL. Since 1970, there have been 20 teams that went 2-0 against an opponent during the regular season before facing them again in the postseason. Thirteen times those teams completed the sweep by winning the playoff game. However, Addison said losing to Saints twice benefits the Panthers. ”We can’t let them beat us three times,” Addison said. ”You have to come out swinging and throw everything at them, including the kitchen sink.” Some help could be on the way for Carolina. Rivera said he’s optimistic that safety Kurt Coleman will be back after missing Sunday’s game with an ankle injury and running back Jonathan Stewart should return after sitting out against the Falcons with a stiff back. Also, guard Trai Turner could return if he clears the NFL concussion protocol. Turner has missed the last three games. —