Panthers considered drafting Justin Herbert, but Teddy Bridgewater outplayed him in LA
Teddy Bridgewater outplayed rookie Justin Herbert Sunday, and that helped the Carolina Panthers win their first game in the Matt Rhule era.
Carolina’s nail-biting, 21-16 road win over the Los Angeles Chargers was notable partly for the first planned start by the rookie Herbert, who might have been drafted by the Panthers had he been available with the No. 7 overall pick in the 2020 draft.
Herbert, while obviously a talent, made the sort of mistakes Bridgewater avoided all afternoon. Bridgewater couldn’t get the team into the end zone often enough and he took a late sack, but he also never made a turnover and finished 22-for-28 for 235 yards and one touchdown.
Herbert had two early turnovers — one interception and one fumble on a sack. He still had a good chance to win the game, taking over with 1:46 left, no timeouts and 99 yards to go.
But the game’s final play, a beautifully designed hook-and-lateral, was mistimed by the Chargers. It would have worked had the lateral from Keenan Allen to Austin Ekeler had been completed, but it wasn’t, and that was that. The Panthers had broken a 10-game losing streak dating back to last November and are now 1-2 on the season.
“I felt relief,” Rhule said. “And I’m just so happy for the guys ... Today was the best example we have had of playing as a team.”
Bridgewater said he had been part of a team meeting earlier this week where part of his message was that the team needed to get to know each other better so as to understand each person’s “Why.”
“We really spent some time getting to know each other,” Bridgewater said. “Now all of the guys on the field understand each other’s purpose and their why.”
▪ I am not fond of the “Curtis Samuel at running back” experiment going forward.
Even without Christian McCaffrey, the Panthers had two pretty efficient and traditional running backs Sunday in Mike Davis and Reggie Bonnafon. Let them have the carries while McCaffrey is out (at least another two weeks).
With Samuel, they keep looking for the big play, but he’s not as strong as the other two and needs some space to get going.
In other words, Samuel is a fast wide receiver who should be getting the ball sometimes on a reverse or jet sweep. But that’s about it. He had four carries for seven yards Sunday, but he caught the ball nicely, with four receptions on four targets for 45 yards.
▪ The Panthers got some good production out of several of their rookie draft picks Sunday. Defensive tackle Derrick Brown played especially well against the run. Safety Jeremy Chinn continues to impress, including a blitz that rattled Justin Herbert and made the Chargers use a timeout. And Troy Pride Jr. played some cornerback and also made a nice open-field tackle on special teams.
▪ Panthers long snapper J.J. Jansen made one of the best plays of his NFL career by downing a punt at the Los Angeles 1-yard line with 1:46 to go. That meant Herbert and the Chargers would need to go 99 yards instead of 80 for a potential game-winning TD; they nearly did. “That should be a highlight of his career,” Bridgewater said.
▪ Shades of Todd Sauerbrun: Joey Slye delivered a big hit on a first-quarter kickoff. Sauerbrun, a similarly bulked-up kicker, did that a few times in his Carolina career. Slye also went 5-for-5 on field goals — all of them less than 40 yards. He did have an extra point blocked.
▪ How do the Atlanta Falcons manage to melt down, week after week? It’s like ever since they lost that 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl, the ghosts were unleashed.
▪ Watching Pharoh Cooper return kicks is becoming one of my favorite things about the Panthers. He’s always interesting.
▪ It’s hard to cause a fumble primarily with your thigh, but Panthers linebacker Shaq Thompson did just that in the second quarter.
▪ Tre Boston’s third-quarter pass breakup was really more of a drop, as he made a great break on the ball and had 80 yards of daylight in front of him had he held on. But Boston also had a tremendous play yet, knocking away a potential TD pass.
▪ Two neutral-zone infractions on Joey Bosa, the Chargers’ star defensive end, were big plays. Bridgewater kept fooling Bosa with a hard count, although Bosa got a big sack late.
This story was originally published September 27, 2020 at 7:19 PM with the headline "Panthers considered drafting Justin Herbert, but Teddy Bridgewater outplayed him in LA."
