Well, sloppy football begat a disappointing result in the season opener once again. Young was somewhere in between where he opened and where he finished the 2024 season. Whether this is his starting point or high water mark for 2025 remains to be seen.
The Panthers defense was equally as unimpressive. They came up big on a few plays and gave up many more big plays. Their pass rush, run defense, linebackers, and secondary play all left a lot to be desired on almost every play. It was, in short, not a good look.
What worked yesterday was similar to what worked at the end of last season. What didn’t was a compilation of errors from every player on the team, more reminiscent of 2023. It is possible they lean into what works and iron out the mistakes as they get more reps. It is also possible that this 53-wheel bus is going to lose too many wheels each week to drive in a straight line. We always, always, caution not to put too much stock in Week 1. We also get how hard it is to listen to that advice when Week 1 has been fairly predictive for Panthers teams over the past eight years. Deep breaths and we’ll be back to start Week 2 with a brand new Optimist tomorrow morning.
Your quarter by quarter analysis is below:
First Quarter
The Panthers defense had a couple of near miss big plays right out of the gate. Trevor Lawrence hit Mike Jackson in stride on the first play of the game, but he couldn’t pull it in as the Jaguars receiver turned into a defender and broke the pass up. A few plays later, Liam Coen went full aggression and went for a 4th and 1 from the Jacksonville side of the field, and Dyami Brown was able to stumble across the line for a first down. After some decent gains and penalties to wipe those away, the Panthers eventually buckled down just enough to hold the Jaguars to a short field goal.
The Panthers offense had an almost equally long and fragmented drive coming the other way. Chuba Hubbard was heavily involved and took most of his carries for respectable gains. Bruce Young picked up a third down conversion with a short scramble and then picked up another with the first ever NFL completion to Tetairoa McMillan. The drive ended when Young attempted a fadeaway pass to wide open Hunter Renfrow running a wheel route of the slot. The fluttering, underthrown ball gave the defender time to catch up and knock the pass away. Carolina had to settle for Ryan Fitzgerald’s first career field goal.
Second Quarter
The game reached the second quarter just a couple plays into the Jaguars second possession. The Panthers blew up a couple of screen passes to actually force a real life punt.
The Panthers drive was again equally short, but in a much more cataclysmic way. Young rolled out on second down and didn’t see an on rushing safety that cut in front of his pass intended for Xavier Legette. The ball was knocked into the air and intercepted.
The defense tried to put up a little bit of resistance, but they couldn’t overcome the field position and ceded a touchdown a few game minutes later.
Before the Panthers could take the field for their attempt at an answer, the game was halted for lightning.
Young led a drive across midfield that included a long scramble to convert a 3rd and 11. He got hit on the arm by a blitzing corner to break up what was going to be a deep shot to McMillan on a later 3rd down. The Panthers punted and pinned the Jaguars inside the 10, but that only gave Travis Etienne room to break off a 71 yard run. That set up a 9 yard touchdown run on a reverse by Brian Thomas Jr. to make the score 17-3 in favor of the home team.
The Jaguars did the Panthers a favor by kicking the ball out of bounds on the ensuing kickoff, and the Panthers returned the favor repeatedly on the following drive. Young found McMillan down the left sideline, but it was called back because Austin Corbett drifted up the field. A few plays later, Young found Xavier Legette on a deep corner route, but the second year receiver inexplicably couldn’t get both of his feet down in bounds with plenty of space. Young looked a little rattled on the next two plays, first firing a fastball past his checkdown and then stumbling during a scramble and getting the ball punched out for a fumble. The Jaguars were able to move the ball into field goal range and tack on one more field goal before the half.
Third Quarter
A running heavy drive to open the half got the Panthers into the red zone largely thanks to a 26-yard pass interference penalty against McMillan. 1st & 10 from the Jacksonville 14 however turned into throw away from Young on 4th & 1 from the five after several failed running plays.
The defense held on the Jags ensuing drive, forcing a three-and-out. The Panthers rotated in Trevor Etienne and Rico Dowdle at running back and saw contributions from Hunter Renfrow before a big sack on 3rd & 2 forced the Panthers to punt after their own 6-play, 10-yard drive.
The Jaguars committed to their own sloppy football on the next drives when Lawrence, backed up by a holding penalty, threw an interception on 2nd & 24. The Panthers went nowhere from the Jacksonville 38, ending their drive with a fourth down pass intended for McMillan broken up in the end zone. Just one of a dozen “almost” plays that the Panthers were unable to connect on.
The third quarter was, ultimately, uneventful.
Fourth Quarter
The Jaguars opened the fourth quarter with a 15-play, 49-yard field goal drive that put the score to 23-3 against the Panthers and ate 8:07 off the clock. This removed any lingering doubt over the result of the game.
The Panthers finally started running an up tempo offense. focusing on McMillan, and started driving down the field. Their standard drops and miscues slowed the pace, however. Luck, as much as tempo, kept the drive alive. A penalty by the Jaguar defense erased a pick six on a fourth & 10, for example. The very next play was a 27-yard touchdown pass to Chuba Hubbard to put the score at 23-10.
With 4:47 left on the clock and down by 13 points, the Panthers tried an onside kick. Jacksonville recovered and managed a field goal while further draining the clock by about three minutes . Bobby Brown III was injured on this drive and we’re crossing just about everything we’ve got hoping it wasn’t serious. It’s one thing for the defense to be bad, it’s another for it to get actively worse. This was the lesson of 2024.
The Panthers followed with a series of check downs that was slowly matriculating the ball, pointlessly, down the field. That strategy ended with an interception off of a deflected pass. The pass was, for the record, deflected by Dowdle. That led to a Jacksonville victory formation and the end of the game.
