INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It wasn’t perfect. Missed tackles remain an issue and the Panthers’ offense needs to find a way to improve in the red zone.
But Sunday, at the brand new SoFi Stadium, it was enough. The defense had its best performance of the season and kicker Joey Slye made all five of his field-goal attempts to lead the Panthers to Matt Rhule’s first win as an NFL head coach with a 21-16 win over the Chargers.
The victory ended Carolina’s 10-game losing streak and moved it out of the NFC South cellar, one game ahead of the 0-3 Falcons.
Carolina (1-2) forced three turnovers, including cornerback Donte Jackson’s 66-yard interception return — his second pick in two games — and had two sacks, including one strip-sack by linebacker Brian Burns, after failing to record one over the first two weeks of the season, and eight quarterback hits.
Those turnovers led to a combined 10 points for the Panthers, including the team’s only touchdown of the day. That score only came after a Chargers’ illegal formation penalty on fourth down gave the Panthers a second opportunity in the red zone, which they took advantage of with a screen pass from Teddy Bridgewater to Mike Davis that resulted in a 13-yard touchdown.
After Slye’s extra-point attempt was blocked, Jackson’s interception of Justin Herbert on the following Los Angeles drive gave the Panthers the ball at the Chargers’ 8-yard line and allowed Slye to put three more points on the board before halftime.
If not for that 10-point swing, the Panthers’ red-zone problems likely could have cost the team the game. Carolina went just 1-6 in the red zone and converted 3-of-11 third downs. The offense missed running back Christian McCaffrey, who is dealing with a high-ankle sprain and missed his first game as a professional.
But overall the Panthers showed improvement from the first two games of the season.
Last week in the Panthers’ loss to the Buccaneers, mistakes held them back. They had nine penalties at Tampa Bay, but just three in L.A. for 30 yards. After turning the ball over four times last week — including three by quarterback Teddy Bridgewater — the offense did not give away the ball once and scored on six of 10 possessions. Without starting left tackle Russell Okung — Trent Scott and Greg Little rotated at the position — Bridgewater was only sacked once.
Despite being without defensive tackle Kawann Short for a second straight game due to a foot injury, the Panthers were finally able to get into a rhythm on defense and make the Chargers’ Herbert uncomfortable. Burns played a huge role in that, along with two rookies for the Panthers — defensive tackle Derrick Brown and safety Jeremy Chinn.
Brown, coming off a penalty-ridden game last week, had five tackles against the Chargers, including three for loss. Chinn finished the game second on the team in tackles with 12 (Shaq Thompson had 13) and was all over the field, making several big plays in the second half.
The Chargers’ offense moved up and down the field and the lack of Carolina production in the red zone allowed Los Angeles to stay in the game. But the players the Panthers needed to step up, did. And that was enough for a win.
———
©2020 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Visit The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) at www.charlotteobserver.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.