The current lead narrative among the (many) issues facing the Carolina Panthers is their inability to stretch the field vertically on offense. That is certainly a problem, but the Panthers defense is conceding too many explosive plays (completed passes over 20 yards). Through five games, they have allowed 21 passes over 20 yards.

After watching these plays, there are three takeaways that contribute to the current problems.

Pass rush

Ron Rivera points out that last three years #Panthers have been at same number of sacks through this point in the year and then finished towards top of #NFL — Nick Carboni (@NickCarboniWCNC) October 15, 2018

The issue isn’t getting sacks. Sure, they’re great and I would prefer them over what’s currently happening. However, the overall pressures aren’t affecting the quarterback. As a result, the quarterback gets an opportunity to seek scrambling lanes. This causes many issues for the secondary as they can’t hold up for too long in coverage.

The Panthers only allowed one explosive play to the Cowboys, but the cause of that play was a lack of pressure. Dak Prescott is allowed to scan, step up, scramble, and then find an open receiver in the middle of the field.

They were worse against the Bengals.

The defensive line partially gets pressure on Andy Dalton, but it’s not enough as he works toward the sideline before zipping a fantastic throw across his body for a touchdown.

Later in the game, Carolina nearly sacks Dalton but he escapes. The secondary loses contain of Tyler Boyd and the result is another long gain.

The Washington game was hardly different.

This play really irked me because of the situation the Washington offense was facing. It was third and long, but Carolina calls a zone dog blitz which means Mario Addison has to drop into coverage. I don’t usually mind dropping pass rushers into coverage because it can create unpredictability, but dropping the best one on the team on third down is inexcusable. Washington’s offense picks up the blitz, Alex Smith finds a lane to step into, and finds the receiver running across the field.

Defending corner routes

Carolina’s defense has been susceptible to corner routes on different coverages. The blame is varied, but the secondary and linebackers have to pattern match their assignments so there aren’t open receivers finding the corner.

Rookie Donte Jackson has had a decent start to his professional career, but he’s making mistakes in zone. On this play, the Panthers drop into a cover 4 shell. Jackson has to carry the vertical route and allow the linebacker to match the underneath receiver. In addition, the situation of this play also dictates Jackson not to allow anything over the top. Atlanta is operating in their 2 min drill before the half.

The Falcons do an excellent job on this play-action concept. The heavy personnel and tight formation gets the linebackers to bite on the play-action. The Panthers drop into a cover 3. James Bradberry, correctly, carries the vertical route of the wide receiver. Linebacker Shaq Thompson not only bites on the play-action, but he’s too slow to match to the tight end.

Jackson isn’t culpable for this blown assignment. Captain Munnerlyn is put in a difficult situation, but with the running back taking a delayed approach into his route, Munnerlyn should match with the corner route.

The Panthers drop into a cover 3. Jackson initially matches with the receiver across from him. The receiver takes an inside stem to his route, which should have given Jackson the cue to pass off the route to the safety. As a result, Alex Smith has a sizable window to target the tight end on the corner.

Special plays by the wide receiver

This may sound like a cop out, but the Panthers have actually played sound coverage at times. The issue is they’ve faced some top tier wide receivers who have made special catches. This might not happen in the coming weeks, so this area should improve.

The Philadelphia Eagles are up next. The reigning Super Bowl champions are lacking in explosive plays this season, but they were one of the best at generating them last year. The Falcons couldn’t score in the red zone until playing against Carolina, the Giants couldn’t do anything, and Washington didn’t have any healthy receivers. The Panthers don’t want to be responsible for helping yet another team iron out their issues this season.