Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
This was not a good game for the Panthers. Thankfully it doesn’t count.
Well, that happened. The Carolina Panthers played a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills tonight, and the Bills were clearly the more prepared team as the Panthers couldn’t seem to do anything right for the entire game. That was made evident by the final result as the Bills are leaving Charlotte with a 27-14 win that quite honestly could have been a lot worse.
This game was decidedly not fun to watch, but thankfully it’s just the preseason right? While the majority of the Panthers team played either mediocre or terrible, let’s take a look at a few specific players who stood out more than anyone else.
Winners
Taylor Heinicke: Heinicke played better than the other two quarterbacks he’s competing with for a spot on the 53-man roster. Of course, you have to add a caveat that he faced the Bills’ fourth and fifth string defenses, but he was also working with the Panthers fourth and fifth string receivers and the third string offensive line. The game was pretty much over when Heinicke entered the lineup, but he did connect with Rashad Ross for the team’s only touchdown. That’s enough to get him in the winner’s column tonight, folks.
Jordan Scarlett: After missing the preseason opener with a lower back injury, Scarlett made the most of his time tonight by showing exactly why the Panthers used one of their draft picks to acquire him. Some of his production won’t show up in the stat sheet (he officially had eight carries for 35 yards) because some of his runs were taken away from holding penalties (more on that later), but every time he touched the football he looked like he belonged out there. That’s how you make a 53-man roster, and I think Scarlett gave himself the upper hand for one of the two backup running back spots with his performance tonight.
Joey Slye: In an encore performance from the preseason opener, Slye made both of his kicks and banged another one from 50 plus yards (54 to be exact). I’m sure that Graham Gano is still penciled in as the starter, but Slye should be making this a legitimate competition at kicker based off his performances in the last two games. At the very least, he’s making himself a possible signing by another team if the Panthers do decide to part ways with him after the preseason is over.
Losers
Will Grier: Hoo boy, Grier had himself a night, didn’t he? His stat line tells us that he went 10-for-19 for 75 yards, no touchdowns and one interception, but if you watched the game he looked much worse than that. His interception was a pick-six that was thrown straight into the chest of the defender, and several of his passes were so badly overthrown that they ended up in the parking lot at Concord Mills. I’m not saying that Grier is a bust, and I’m not saying that he shouldn’t make the roster, but I am saying that he is being outplayed by Kyle Allen at the moment and there’s a good chance that he’ll begin the season as the No. 3 quarterback on the depth chart if he continues to play like he did tonight. Hopefully he can turn it around since the Panthers invested a third round pick in him with the idea that he would be Cam Newton’s primary backup for the near future.
Greg Little: The entire offensive line deserves some honorable mention in the losers section of this column, but Little stood out as the worst of the bunch by committing several holding penalties and allowing too much pressure on the Panthers’ quarterbacks. Taylor Moton and Dennis Daley also had some untimely penalties, but neither stood out as much as Little. I have confidence that he’ll figure things out eventually, but tonight was not a good game for him, so hopefully he can learn from this experience and become better because of it
Jaydon Mickens: When you’re fighting for a spot on the 53-man roster at wide receiver you have to stand out in a positive way to get noticed by the coaching staff. Mickens did not do that tonight. He was only targeted twice, but he missed both passes that should have been caught by an NFL-caliber receiver. One positive note from him was his 33-yard kickoff return, but that alone won’t be enough to earn a roster spot and it’s not enough to keep him out of the losers section of this column tonight.
Punt coverage team: If I didn’t look at the box score and you asked me how many punt return yards the Bills had tonight I would guess 273. One reason would be because Michael Palardy punted the ball seven times (!) tonight, and the other reason would be because the punt coverage unit couldn’t tackle anyone to save their lives. They only gave up 58 yards on four returns (including a 37-yarder by Andre Roberts, which is the main reason I’m writing about them) but that kind of ‘tackling’ is simply unacceptable, even in a preseason game. Am I being a little harsh? Maybe, but special teams is vital to success, and if the Panthers want to compete for a playoff spot this year, punt coverage is something they’ll need to tighten up before the games start to count.
What do you think, Panthers fans? Who were your winners and losers tonight? Share your thoughts with us!
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