There were plenty of things I wanted to see change with the Panthers offense this season, but one of the biggest was pretty simple. I wanted to see some plays where it didn't feel like Carolina had to fight for every single yard. Last year, there were way too many times when it felt like the Panthers needed almost everything to go right just to put together a scoring drive.
Apparently, Dave Canales felt the same way. Around this time last season, he talked about Carolina's "lack of big plays" and the need to create more of them in both the running and passing game. I remembered Carolina having that problem, but I didn't realize how much it had changed until I started looking at the numbers from this season.
Through four games, the Panthers have an explosive-play rate of 10.9%, which ranks sixth in the NFL. They were at 8.8% last season and ranked 23rd. Going from the bottom third of the league to the top six is a pretty big change, even if we're only four games into the season.
Maybe This Offense Doesn't Have to Work So Hard Anymore
The Detroit game was probably the best example we've seen so far. Carolina put up 445 yards in the 32-26 win, and 11.4% of its plays were explosive. It felt like every time Detroit started getting comfortable, somebody on Carolina's offense made a play.
Tetairoa McMillan caught 14 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. Bryce Young threw for 329 yards, and Chuba Hubbard ran for 122 yards and scored twice. We've talked about all three of those guys plenty already, but when you put what they're doing together, you start to see why the explosive-play numbers have changed so much.
That's probably what feels the most different to me. Last season, one holding penalty or one sack could put Carolina in a spot where I didn't know how they were going to get out of it. When you're constantly asking an offense to put together long drives, eventually something is going to go wrong.
This year, there are more ways to make up for it. McMillan can make a play downfield, Hubbard can break a run and suddenly Carolina is on the other side of the field, and Young has been more willing to push the ball when the opportunity is there. Carolina doesn't have to be perfect for 10 or 12 plays anymore just to get into scoring position.
I wondered if maybe Detroit was making these numbers look better than they really were. It wasn't. Carolina's explosive-play rate was 12.9% against Chicago, 10.2% against Atlanta, and 9.5% against Cleveland. The Panthers have been above last season's 8.8% mark in every game they've played.
Four games is still four games, so I'm not ready to say this offense has everything figured out. We've seen it stall, and there are still times when Carolina makes things harder on itself than it needs to. But explosive plays were something Canales specifically wanted more of last season, and so far, he's getting them.
Last year, the Panthers were searching for big plays.
This year, they're finally expecting them.
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