Off Topic » They did forget the part, as they have so often this season

For a low scoring game with very high stakes http://www.authenticscarolinapanthers.com/cheap-mario-addison-jersey , last nights’ game was immensely entertaining if you didn’t expect to walk away with a win. Weird turnovers, funny scores, and impressive individual performances combined to create one of the best games the Panthers have put on television all season. where they were supposed to win the one-possession game when the got the ball at the end of the second half. But, I’m not about to let little details like that spoil an otherwise great night. That said, here are your two winners and three losers from last night’s loss to the Saints.WinnersDonte Jackson: After disappearing from the highlight reel down the stretch, rookie Donte Jackson came back with a vengeance. He flew across the field in coverage all day before showing that his speed was unmatched last night. The Saints scored their only touchdown late in the third quarter and then attempted a two point conversion. Success would have made it a seven-point game. Instead Color Rush Torrey Smith Jersey , Brees made an ill-advised decision, throwing into traffic in the end zone, and saw Jackson undercut the route of his intended receiver. The result was two points for the Panthers . Jackson kept the game within reach with one play.Ron Rivera: The defense as a whole played miles better than it has all season. That they did so against one of the best offenses in the league and one of the Panthers’ biggest rivals makes the unit’s turn around flat out impressive. All credit goes to Rivera, who has received a lot of flak this year for the defensive performance. This is his baby and he proved last night that it still has potential, despite it being a little too long in the tooth for training wheels.LosersCam Newton: You could make an argument for Cam Newton fans being in the Winners column. The debate over his shoulder has finally been laid to rest and we can stop worrying about it. Cam isn’t right. He could barely throw the ball five yards down the field. Newton isn’t in this column because he was bad last night. He’s here because he wasn’t capable of being good. For the sake of next season and any season after that, the Panthers need to shut Cam down for the rest of the year. Let him get as right as he can for 2019 so that they can evaluate what his future can look like.My tie fantasy: It was so close! The Panthers had a very narrow path to the playoffs overall. But, more excitingly, they had an even more narrow path to the playoffs if they finished the regular season 6-7-3. I can’t imagine a better way this team could have salvaged this season than to slide into the playoffs running on the fumes of the most ridiculous stretch of games in NFL history. No team has ever had more than two ties in a season Color Rush Greg Van Roten Jersey , let alone three in a row. The Panthers got the ball with 1:44 left in the fourth quarter. That should have been plenty of time to get into field goal range and force overtime. From there, the path was almost destined. There had already been four ten minute stretches in that game without a score. We were so close. Alas.Devin Funchess: From the ashes of a promising season, the Panthers nominal number one wide out has raised an impressive stretch of lack luster tape during this losing streak. Drops, bad routes, and a visible lack of effort are not what we used to associate with Funchess. Newton’s end zone interception was not a great throw, but Funchess made no effort to break up the pass and wasn’t in a position to make a play on the ball because he got pushed off his route by Eli Apple. Your effort gets questioned when you get bullied by somebody who looks like a sixth grader standing next to you. I didn’t want to say it last week, but this week I don’t have much choice. It looks like Kelvin Benjamin’s style was contagious and Funchess has developed a bad case of it.The Panthers defense looks to right the ship after a disappointing performance in Atlanta After an encouraging outing against the Cowboys in week 1, the Panthers defense laid an absolute stinker in Atlanta. The Falcons sliced and diced Eric Washington’s unit to the tune of 7.4 yards per play http://www.authenticscarolinapanthers.com/cheap-daryl-williams-jersey , the highest offensive output against the Panthers since that time Cam Newton forgot to bring an extra tie on a road trip. That game was late in the 2016 season, a season in which the Panthers defense was a total mess. Still, they responded to that drubbing with a five sack, five turnover, one safety performance against the Chargers. They’ll look for a similar bounce back when the Bengals come to Bank of America Stadium on Sunday.The Bengals enter the week as one of the least talked about 2-0 teams in the NFL. Despite ranking just 19th in total yards per game, the Bengals sit 3rd in the league in scoring, averaging 34 points per game. They rank 4th in the league in points per drive and 5th in the league in drive success rate, according to Football Outsiders. All that is to say their offense is good. It’s not all sunshine and roses for the Bengals though. They’ll be without running back Joe Mixon this week as he recovers from an arthroscopic procedure on his knee. The sophomore sensation accounted for 236 yards and a touchdown through the first two weeks. The equally versatile Giovani Bernard will fill the void left by Mixon Color Rush Christian McCaffrey Jersey , so the Panthers aren’t completely out of the woods there. That brings us to our defensive keys:Don’t let another backup running back gash you. Tevin Coleman was the first running back to go over 100 yards rushing against the Panthers since December 4th, 2016. The offender on that date? Thomas Rawls, another backup running back. Giovani Bernard has been a change of pace back his entire career, but he has topped 80 yards in four of the last five games in which he’s received at least 15 carries. Also the Bengals just signed Thomas Rawls on Wednesday, apparently aware of his kryptonite-like effect on the Panthers. Keep James Bradberry on A.J. Green as much as possible. Last week we saw Bradberry hold Julio Jones to a reasonable 64 yards on 9 targets, with 30 of those yards coming on a circus catch in which Bradberry could do little about. The Panthers face a similarly talented wideout in Green, who sits atop the NFL with 4 receiving touchdowns to his name thus far. Green has been spending some time in the slot this season, so some coverage duties will fall to Captain Munnerlyn and the linebackers Youth DJ Moore Jersey , but in an ideal world Bradberry will always be on the same side of the field as the Bengals top target. Disrupt the passing game. This is obviously easier said than done, but it’s important to note. Andy Dalton has been sacked on just 2.78% of his drop backs, the sixth lowest mark in the league. The lack of pressure has resulted in fewer mistakes for the eighth year pro, as he’s currently sporting the best interception rate of his career. The Panthers front line struggled to get any sort of pressure on Matt Ryan last week and are in for a similarly tough task. However, Dalton is much more susceptible to mistakes under pressure than Ryan is, so the Panthers shouldn’t be afraid to be more aggressive with their blitzing. After one strong performance and one weak one, the Panthers defense currently sits right in the middle of the league in terms of yards and points. This home match-up against a strong Bengals offense will be a great litmus test for the defense heading into the week 4 bye.