Week 5 of the NFL season is in the books, at least with the NFC teams, and we have our first obituary of the season. That would be the Carolina Panthers.
Obituary: Panthers (1-4)
We're only 10 days into October and the Panthers' fan base is pretty much completely checked out on the season already.
There are a lot of red jerseys in the seats that were actually filled.
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And for good reason! Expectations for this team were already super low heading into the season, with Matt Rhule arguably sitting on the hottest head coaching seat in the league. But they somehow managed to disappoint even though no sane person thought they'd sniff the playoffs.
After a uncompetitive loss to the 49ers on Sunday, the Panthers are 1-4, which doesn't quite capture how bad they have looked this season, particularly on offense. Baker Mayfield has easily been the worst quarterback in the NFL. He is completing under 55 percent of his passes, almost 15 percent fewer than should be expected, according to this chart.
You never want to be the dot at bottom left corner. #Analytics.
The Panthers fired Rhule this morning.
Graveyard
Hierarchy
15) Commanders (1-4): Carson Wentz made some really good throws on Sunday, notably both touchdowns to Dyami Brown. Of course, he also had a brutal end to this game, when the Commanders had a 1st and Goal from the Titans' 2 yard line with 19 seconds to play. That sequence went, in order:
- Near INT
- Near INT
- INT
People will focus on the INT, shown here:
But Good Lord, the 1st down throwaway was one of the worst passes of this NFL season.
What the hell is that?!? Throw it into the stands! A better playmaking corner might have made that play. So in summary, there were a couple of great throws, coupled with bad decisions and a turnover in a huge moment... basically the Wentz experience in a nutshell.
Anyway, we probably could have easily killed off the Commanders here, but I have a lot to say about them and I want to go hiking today, so we'll save them for another week.
Last week: 15
14) Bears (2-3): For the first time this season, Justin Fields had a stat line that didn't look like he played for a run-heavy high school team. He went 15-for-21 for 208 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT. He also did this, even if it didn't count:
Last week: 14
13) Lions (1-4): The 2022 Detroit Lions: Fun Hard Knocks subject, still a terrible football team.
Last week: 13
12) Seahawks (2-3): Lol.
Last week: 11
11) Saints (2-3): I want to be able to make fun of Taysom Hill's 4 year, $40 million contract, but I guess I can't, huh? That's a bummer. He's pretty much the only thing the Saints have going for them right now.
He had nine carries, 112 yards, 3 TDs, and one pass attempt for 22 yards and a TD.
Last week: 12
10) Falcons (2-3): The Falcons got hosed on Sunday when Grady Jarrett was called for one of the worst roughing the passer penalties I've ever seen.
Without that penalty, the Bucs are punting and the Falcons have a chance to win that game. The penalty basically decided the outcome.
Last week: 10
9) Cardinals (2-3): As you saw on Sunday, the Eagles-Cardinals game ended on a very odd sequence by Kyler Murray and the Cards offense:
What is not noted in the above tweet is that the scoreboards on the field displayed "1st and 10." As such, Kliff Kingsbury screamed for Murray to spike it on 3rd and 1 when he thought it was 1st and 10.
But even if we're excusing Murray for the spike, his awareness on the field just isn't where it needs to be. He could have easily gotten out of bounds and likely gotten the first down if he ran toward the sideline. Honestly, getting to the sideline and stopping the clock should have been the higher priority than getting the first down by sliding in the middle of the field. But also, if you're going to slide, you absolutely cannot give yourself up short of the first down. Yes, you're a quarterback and you should avoid taking hits, but in a situation like that you have to take one for the team.
Kliff Kingsbury explained that he thought that Murray was "clearly past" the line to gain and that the officials "brought it back."
I think it was just easier for Kingsbury to say that he thought he was the victim of a bad spot than to say that he was relying on the scoreboard operator instead of the actual officials on the field.
This kind of end-of-game clock mismanagement is not new, by the way. In Week 14 last year against the Rams, the Cardinals were in a clear spike the ball situation, and they tried to run a play.
Smart teams rep the hell out of these situational moments during practice so that they don't look like a disorganized mess in the heat of moment in real games. The Cardinals don't appear to be one of those smart teams.
Last week: 9
7) Rams (2-3): The bottom five NFL teams in point differential:
- Steelers: -51
- Commanders: -38
- Rams: -36
- Lions: -30
- Panthers: -29
Yep, the Super Bowl Champs have a worse point differential than the Panthers.
Last week: 7
7) Giants (4-1): So, uh, I guess the NFC East is good again? Standings, by division, in non-divisional games:
| Division | W | L |
| NFC East | 11 | 3 |
| AFC East | 9 | 5 |
| NFC North | 6 | 6 |
| AFC West | 6 | 6 |
| NFC West | 6 | 8 |
| AFC South | 5 | 8 |
| AFC North | 5 | 9 |
| NFC South | 4 | 8 |
And yet, I still can't buy that this Giants team is good. My official Giants denial meter:
Last week: 8
6) Packers (3-2): On the opposite side of the Giants "denial meter," there's the Packers, who, uh, maybe just aren't that good? Who would have thought that trading the best wide receiver in the league might have negative consequences?
Last week: 2
5) Vikings (4-1): The "media doesn't want you to see these types of Kirk Cousins plays," lol.
That dude definitely thinks the election was stolen.
Anyway, only Kirk Cousins can complete his first 17 passes and his team almost lose the game.
Last week: 4
4) 49ers (3-2): The 49ers have not yet allowed 20 points in a game this season. Love DeMeco:
Last week: 6
3) Cowboys (4-1): The Cowboys have also not yet allowed 20 points in a game this season. Dan Quinn is going to be a bad head coaching hire by someone next offseason, isn't he?
We'll have a lot to say about Dallas this week, so let's save it for later.
Last week: 5
2) Buccaneers (3-2): You know how we showed Tom Brady trying to kick Grady Jarrett above? Well, it wasn't the first time in that game that he tried to kick him.
Last week: 3
1) Eagles (5-0): The Eagles remain the lone remaining undefeated team in the NFL. Kind of a big game next Sunday.
Last week: 1
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