Studs and duds from Panthers’ Week 4 loss to Cardinals
Who stood out (in the right and wrong ways) throughout Sunday’s loss for the Carolina Panthers?
Let’s take a look at the studs and duds from Week 4.
Stud: LB Frankie Luvu
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Carolina scored one touchdown through the first 55 minutes of the game and it was thanks to this Uce.
Luvu, once again, put forth an eye-opening performance. Along with his 33-yard interception return for a touchdown, the fifth-year linebacker amassed a game-high (and career-high) 11 tackles.
Dud: QB Baker Mayfield
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And the Panthers could only muster up all of one touchdown until the 4:47 mark of the fourth quarter due much to the performance of Mayfield.
The former No. 1 overall pick completed 22 of his 36 attempts for 197 yards, one late touchdown to running back Christian McCaffrey and two interceptions. He’s now failed to throw for at least 250 yards or more than one score in each of the season’s first four games.
Stud: DE Brian Burns
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Like Luvu, you couldn’t watch the Panthers defense without noticing No. 53.
Burns was all over the field—piecing together seven tackles, with three coming for a loss. He also recorded the lone sack of the game for Carolina when he ran the speedy Kyler Murray out of bounds on one heck of a hustle play.
Dud: OC Ben McAdoo
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This offense is just plain broken. So we look to the man in charge of it.
That’s McAdoo—who saw his unit register just 220 total yards against what was a generous and discombobulated Arizona Cardinals defense. Seven of their 11 drives ended in five plays or fewer, they converted on just two of their ten third-down tries and held the ball for a measly total of 21 minutes and 25 seconds.
He, additionally, dialed up just two rushes over the entire second half.
Studs: Johnny Hekker and Eddy Piñeiro
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These two legs have been money through the first month of the season. (And they really have to be considering what their offense has been.)
Hekker boomed four punts for an average of 52.3 yards per attempt while pinning one of those inside the 20-yard line. And although the throw would be called back for having an ineligible man downfield, he succeeded on his first trick pass of the season to safety Sean Chandler for a 14-yard gain—even looking off his initial target and actually going through progressions.
Piñeiro was perfect again, kicking through an extra point and a season-long 54-yard field goal. He’s now converted on all eight of his field goals and all six of his extra points in 2022.
Duds: Chuba Hubbard and Shi Smith
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With Laviska Shenault Jr. succumbing to his hamstring injury, Hubbard and Smith had to take over return duties. Both men would then mishandle a pair of attempts.
They also didn’t factor into the offense. Hubbard saw zero carries while Smith chalked up zero catches over two targets.
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