Carolina Panthers: A Tale of Two Halves

The Carolina Panthers are one step closer to reaching the 2016 Super Bowl. As they prepare for their matchup against the Arizona Cardinals, there’s one trend that developed in the regular season that has followed the organization into the post season. After gaining a 31-0 lead going into halftime, the Panthers needed to hold off the Seattle Seahawks that scored 24 straight points. To win a title the Panthers need to effectively close out games, which has been a weakness throughout this entire season.

The Panthers put together a 15-1 regular season. During this run the Panthers were the highest scoring offense with 31.3 points per game. The Cardinals were in second place with an average of 30.6 points. An interesting aspect to this story is that the flip side of the coin shows the Panthers allowed 19.3 points per game while the Cardinals allowed an average of 19.6. Two very close and very similar situations for the teams meeting in the NFC Championship game on Sunday.

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However, there’s one compelling issue that is a glaring sore spot for the Panthers. In many of these games the Panthers struggled to keep the momentum from the first half going. For example, the New York Giants outscored the Panthers 28-17 in the second half, after the Panthers went into halftime with a 21-7 lead. The Indianapolis Colts scored 20 second half points to Carolina’s 12 in what broke down to an overtime win for the Panthers.

This is an issue that the Panthers must overcome if they are to defeat the Cardinals and reach the championship game. Arizona is a powerful offense that is built to match the output that Cam Newton and his unit produced all year. However, both sides of the ball play a vital role in correcting the problem.

For example, the Panthers completed 3 drives of 50 or more yards that resulted in a touchdown during last week’s playoff win; all of which came during the first half. Four of the five first half possessions ended in a score, while Carolina was forced to punt only once. The second half was the complete opposite as four of five possession ended in a punt. None of which were drives longer than 32 yards. This speaks to an inability to properly execute that was clearly present during the first half of the game.

The defense seems to be afflicted by a similar problem. In this win over the Seahawks the Panthers were able to force three turnovers, two punts and one missed field goal. The moment the Seahawks switched to a no huddle offense Carolina struggled to stop any sustained drives.

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It will be interesting to see if the Cardinals will adopt any of these tactics at any point against the Panthers on Sunday. Getting out to a quick start isn’t enough to consistently win these late season games. If Carolina is to complete what has been a surprise season, then this unit needs to find a way to play well on both sides of the ball for a complete sixty minutes.

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