On a week where the Panthers desperately needed a win to galvanize the team’s playoff hopes, the team fell to the Seattle and dropped their third straight game, putting their chances of advancing to the playoffs in back-to-back years on life support. After blowing out Baltimore and Tampa Bay in consecutive weeks, who would’ve thought that the Carolina would’ve been in this situation just three weeks later? Now in desperate need of help from the teams around them, Carolina sits in 8th in the current NFC standings and 6-5, tied with Washington and Seattle, but unfortunately the Panthers lost to both of those squads and don’t hold the tiebreaker against either of them. Five days after witnessing the Panthers’ first home loss of 2018, the sting has yet to go away, and the mantra “missed opportunities” is still fresh on the brain as the thought of missing the playoffs and ending the year with a losing record clouds any hope that the Panthers can cling to for the next five weeks.

So, how did the Panthers lose this incredibly winnable game against Seattle? It starts in the red zone. On their first offensive drive of the game, Carolina started with the ball at their own 25 and proceeded to shred the Seattle defense, working their way to the opposing 13 yard line in just six plays. However, this is where the drive ends up stalling, and the Panthers walk away without a point. Norv Turner has been quite the breath of fresh air after dealing with Mike Shula for the past few seasons, and his creativity on offense has been something that Panthers fans and national NFL writers have lauded all season. On this drive, that creativity went out the window once Carolina reached the red zone. Cam Newton has been a fire-breathing dragon in the red zone all season, completing almost 70% of his passes (more than anyone with over 40 attempts), throwing 17 touchdowns and only one interception, while also adding four rushing touchdowns on top of that. I’m no expert, but taking the ball out of the best red zone weapon in maybe the history of the NFL seems like a bad idea. Here’s a look at this first red zone drive and where Carolina went wrong.

1st & 10 at SEA 13 (9:14 – 1st) C. McCaffrey left tackle to SEA 8 for 5 yards (S. Stephen)

Carolina starts of in 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end), and sends Curtis Samuel in jet motion across the formation. Samuel has had a myriad of success on rushing plays in the red zone this season, and Turner tries to bait the defense by shifting their focus to the right side of the formation and running a toss play back left.

A bad pitch from Newton and Seattle defensive end Frank Clark’s explosion off the edge (#55) almost doom this play before it even has the chance to get started, but McCaffrey isn’t from this planet and somehow snags the pitch with one hand and weaves his way through traffic for a six-yard-gain.

This article is critical of Norv Turner’s red zone play-calling on these first two drives, but I have no qualms with this play. Getting one of the best play-makers in football out in space is usually a good decision, and McCaffrey’s other-worldly talent makes up for some poor execution from Cam and the offensive line.

2nd & 5 at SEA 8 (8:34 – 1st). C. McCaffrey right tackle to SEA 7 for 1 yard (S. Stephen; B Wagner)

Again in 11 personnel, Carolina spreads the field wide this time and tries a power run over the right tackle behind a pulling Ryan Kalil and Trai Turner. Any red zone play where Carolina completely takes the ball out of Cam Newton’s hands is questionable, and this one without any pre-play motion or dressing is a tough one in my book.

As you can see in the first image, Taylor Moton completely whiffs on his block of Nazair Jones (#92), and in the second image you can see Greg Olsen was unable to hold contain of the right side, getting absolutely bullied by Dion Jordan (#92). I understand the desire to keep a defense honest by running the ball, but if we learned anything from the incredible Rams vs. Chiefs Monday Night Football game, it’s not 100% necessary. When you have playmakers like Cam Newton, CMC, Curtis Samuel and DJ Moore, the offense is way more effective when you get these players moving east to west and stretching the defense horizontally so that Cam Newton can take advantage vertically after a series of fakes. The field is shrunk in the red zone as there is less yardage to work with, and running a play directly into the back of an admittedly weak offensive line without any confusion for the defense is offensive malpractice when you have a quarterback like Cam Newton.

3rd & 4 at SEA 7 (8:06 – 1st) (Shotgun) C. Newton up the middle to SEA 5 for 2 yards (J. Coleman; B. Wagner)

The QB power has been a Panthers staple during the Cam Newton era, and it’s normally a good decision. However, Newton has never had this level of speed and skill around him, and it seems a little unimaginative after they’ve already tried and mostly failed on back to back run plays.

Left Guard Greg Van Roten pulled on the play, and throws a great block on Bruce Irvin (#51), which should’ve opened up a hole for Cam. However, All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner (#54) read the play really well and snuffed out the hole and takes down Newton before he had the chance to accelerate to the end zone, taking down Newton at the two.

4th & 2 at SEA 5 (7:23 – 1st) (Shotgun) C. Newton right guard to SEA 4 for 1 yard (B. Wagner; A. Calitro) Carolina challenged the short of the line to gain ruling, and the play was upheld. The ruling of the field stands. (Time-out #1 at 07:15)

*sighs*

Is there any question what’s going to happen on this play? Carolina motions Chris Manhertz across the formation and overloads the right side. Right off the snap Cam Newton runs *again* behind a pulling guard, into a defense that is expecting nothing else. Again, normally I’m team “give Cam the ball and let him run through a brick wall,” but running essentially the same play twice seems like the definition of insanity – trying the same thing multiple times expecting a different result. The right arm of Cam Newton has essentially been a blow torch to opposing defense in the red zone all season, and poor play-calling left points on the board right at the beginning of the game that could’ve completely changed the course of the next 52 minutes of the game.

Conservative play-calling doomed Carolina in this game. On their next possession I Carolina waltzed their way within the Seattle 15 yard line again, and three straight run plays for a total of 5 yards led to a Gano field goal. After scoring a touchdown on their next drive, the Panthers found their way into the red zone right after the two minute warning on a chunk play from McCaffrey, but their offense stalled again and they were forced to kick another field goal. On four drives in the first that made their way to the red zone, Carolina only managed 13 points, good for 3.25 points per trip. Throughout the season, Carolina has scored a touchdown on their red zone trips 68.3% of the time. If they had at least played to their average on the season against Seattle, they may have walked out of Bank of America Stadium in pole position for a playoff spot. The red zone wasn’t the only time the conservatism reared it’ ugly head, though. On their final offensive possession, Carolina took over with just over two minutes left in the game at the Seattle 40 yard line, gained six yards on three plays, and settled for a long field goal with a kicker who has been shaky all season. Between the poor and conservative play calling on offense, and the inability to make up for the loss of Donte Jackson on defense, Carolina wasn’t able to overcome themselves and Seattle this past Sunday.

Missed opportunities has become a phrase that has been the rallying call of the Rivera regime. At what point does that phrase turn into, “opportunities not taken,” because the spine of this coaching staff and front office is weak, and if Carolina wastes a vintage Cam Newton season and doesn’t make the playoffs this season, it may be time for Tepper to reevaluate what we have in our coaching staff.