Panthers Offensive Preview: Assessing Strengths and Weaknesses

Bryce Young needs to play decisively and confidently. Bryce has obvious physical limitations that get a lot of attention when people discuss his shortcomings, but the bigger problem seems to be what's going on inside his head rather than how high it is off the ground.

Once in a blue moon, Young comes out firing, planting his foot at the top of his drop and hitting receivers down the field. More often, he floats back to the top of his drop, hops around a bit, and then either hurries a throw he clearly doesn't trust, checks it down, or throws the ball away.

We saw a lot of the latter in the early parts of the season, but we saw the good version of Bryce in two of the last three weeks. If we want to be optimistic, the bye week gives Young two weeks to marinate in the confidence of his low volume but highly effective outing against the Rams.

If he can do that against the Rams, he can do that against the Bucs and Saints. If he does, it doesn't even matter what happens against the Seahawks. Ride the hot hand on the ground. Rico Dowdle gave life to the Panthers offense when he took over as the starter while Chuba Hubbard was out with injury.

The pop has started to wear off from Dowdle's early season performances though. Against the Rams, Hubbard looked like the much more effective and explosive back. Dave Canales and the offensive coaching staff have preferred to have a pretty clear delineation between the first and second back for a lot of the season.

Recent weeks would suggest they'd be better served to give both players an equal split of the carries early on and then ride the hot hand or feet if one establishes himself as the better back on the day.

That'll keep both fresh, and at least one is bound to find a groove most weeks. More Jalen Coker. Coker had his breakout performance of the season against the Rams, and that should be the start of more looks for the second-year pro.

Tetairoa McMillan has gotten by far the biggest piece of the Panthers passing pie, and he needs someone to take some attention from him. Xavier Legette has started to have more moments here and there, but the offense still needs more of a threat in the middle of the field.

JaTavion Sanders has not improved upon a decent rookie season, and the other tight ends aren't real runaway threats. Coker should get a lot more looks in the middle of the field as the new Adam Thielen to help move the chains and keep defenses honest.