Grading the Carolina Panthers in their win over the Washington Football Team
In what was dubbed the “Ron Rivera revenge game,” there was no revenge.
The Carolina Panthers beat the Rivera-led Washington Football Team on Sunday at FedExField, 20-13. The meeting between the Panthers and their former coach came a little more than a year after the Panthers fired the longtime head coach.
Rivera has Washington (6-9) in contention for the NFC East title. But the Panthers (5-10) were the better team Sunday.
Here is this week’s report card:
Passing offense
C: Panthers quarterback Teddy Bridgewater wasn’t great, but he wasn’t bad either. He made enough throws to win Sunday’s game.
In the second quarter, Bridgewater threw a nice 44-yard pass to Curtis Samuel at the Washington 17-yard line. Three plays later, Bridgewater found Robby Anderson for a 14-yard touchdown pass. It was Bridgewater’s first touchdown pass in three games.
The Panthers’ offensive line held up early but struggled when backup left tackle Trent Scott went down with a shoulder injury in the second quarter. Offensive lineman Michael Schofield replaced him and gave up two big plays, including a sack and a quarterback hit that caused an interception.
Bridgewater completed 19-of-28 passes for 197 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Rushing offense
B-minus: For the first time in a while, the Panthers established their running game. They ran it often and early. In the first half, they had a 10-play, 80-yard drive that ended in a touchdown. All 10 plays were runs.
Mike Davis got the start for Christian McCaffrey again, who missed his 12th game due to injury. McCaffrey suffered a quad injury during the bye week and hasn’t played since Week 9.
Samuel got into the action, too. He had a 45-yard gain in the first half, which set up the Panthers’ second touchdown of the day.
He finished with 52 yards on seven carries. Davis had 14 carries for 28 yards and a touchdown.
Passing defense
A-minus: The Panthers did just about everything right against Washington’s passing game. They pressured Washington quarterback Dwayne Haskins, they tipped passes at the line of scrimmage and forced turnovers. The Panthers forced four turnovers, all in the first half.
Three of those turnovers came against the pass. The first was a strip-sack by defensive end Marquis Haynes, which was scooped up by linebacker Jermaine Carter. The other two came via interceptions — one from linebacker Tahir Whitehead and the other from safety Tre Boston.
Haskins passed for 36 yards in the first half and had the three turnovers. The Panthers pressured him and disguised their looks on defense.
The Panthers were happy to have Brian Burns, whose status for Sunday’s game was in question after he injured his knee last week. He did not start or play his normal snaps, but he played a key role in pressuring Haskins.
Haskins was benched early in the fourth quarter in favor of former Panthers backup Taylor Heinicke. He finished Sunday’s game 14 of 28 for 158 yards and two interceptions.
The only minus on Carolina’s resume was a late 29-yard touchdown pass from Heinicke to running back J.D. McKissic.
Rushing defense
C: The only success Washington had on offense was in the run game. Fortunately for Carolina, Washington needed to abandon it to play catch-up.
Washington rookie running back Antonio Gibson had success finding holes. He rushed for 61 yards on 10 carries, for a 6.1 yards per carry average.
Before Sunday’s game, Gibson had rushed for 11 touchdowns. But Washington never gave him that opportunity. Gibson, a dual threat, was also held to two catches for 1 yard.
Special teams
B: There was good and there was bad among the special teams.
The good happened in the first quarter when Washington’s Steven Sims muffed a punt deep in Washington territory. The ball squirted to the end zone, and receiver Brandon Zylstra landed on it for a touchdown.
That score gave the Panthers a 6-0 lead in the first quarter.
The bad was when Joey Slye missed the extra-point attempt. The missed extra didn’t carry over or have an effect on the game.
Slye made two more extra points, and the Panthers won fairly easily.
Coaching
B: Hindsight is 20-20, but the decision in the first quarter to go for it on fourth-and-6 from the Washington 34 was the wrong one. The Panthers should have attempted a 52-yard field goal with Slye.
Instead, Bridgewater couldn’t find any open receivers and was sacked for a 9-yard loss. At that point, it was only the Panthers’ first drive.
But after that, Panthers coach Matt Rhule out-coached Washington’s Rivera.
Carolina’s defense had Haskins confused all game. And the offense made enough plays to seal the deal. Washington entered Sunday with the fourth-best pass defense in the NFL. Carolina took note of that, and on one drive ran it 10 consecutive times before plunging it in with Mike Davis for a 1-yard score.
The Panthers snapped a three-game losing streak with the victory..
