Gerber: Panthers earn moral victories (plural!) in most recent defeat

By Clark Gerber, WRAL Sports contributor

Charlotte, N.C. — "You are what your record says you are."

That's the old saying, and after their 33-30 loss to Green Bay, the Carolina Panthers are now just 2-13.

They are a bad football team. But you already knew that.

Instead, I'd rather focus on another NFL cliche this week -- "There's no such thing as a moral victory."

See, I think that saying only applies to playoff contenders, because losses count the same in the standings no matter what.

But for a team like the Panthers, who've been out of the postseason picture for months (and doesn't even own their first-round pick), moral victories do exist.

Obviously, there are still some major flaws that lost them the game. But you know what they say. Once you wade through the mud, the silver lining is greener at the other side of the rainbow.

Or something like that.

I think I got my cliches mixed up. Let's get to it.

Flaw #1: The Panthers keep falling behind

Of all the shocking stats in this miserable season, these two may take the cake.

• In the last 323:27 of game time, the Panthers have held the lead for 10 seconds.
• The Panthers have never had the lead in the fourth quarter this season. Ever.

The obvious caveat here is that Carolina does have two wins thanks to walk-off field goals, but the point remains.

The Panthers rank 29th in the league with just 37 first quarter points this season. And keep in mind that 14 of those points came on a pick-six against Minnesota and a punt return touchdown at Chicago.

They've also failed to score on their opening drive in 13 out of 15 games. The only exceptions came on a pair of field goals back in Week 2 and Week 3.

This team keeps digging themselves into early holes, which is catastrophic considering they already have a below-average roster in terms of talent, and aren't exactly built to play from behind.

Moral victory: This was their best 4th quarter of the season

The Packers scored their fourth touchdown to open the 4th quarter last week. From that point on, it was all Panthers as they erased a 14-point deficit to get back in the game.

The defense forced two three-and-outs and would have gotten a third if not for a controversial ruling on a 34-yard completion to Romeo Doubs.

On the other side of the ball, Bryce Young was spectacular on back-to-back touchdown drives that spanned 60 and 70 yards respectively.

The rookie completed 11 of his last 13 passes for 155 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a dime on the run to DJ Chark that helped tie the game.

Young and the Panthers absolutely played well enough to complete an epic fourth quarter comeback, they just ran out of time.

Flaw #2: The defense is weak against the run

One of the things that allowed Green Bay to control the first half was their rushing attack. Aaron Jones went through the Panther defense like a hot knife through butter on multiple occasions, on his way to a 127-yard performance.

Run defense has been a big problem for Carolina all season.

They're in the bottom half of the league, allowing more than 120 yards per game. They're also dead last in terms of rushing touchdowns allowed (the Packers added two more on Sunday to bring the total to 23).

In general, the front seven has been doing a better job of late, but they really should be better. Especially with a menace like Derrick Brown patrolling the middle.

No doubt injuries have played a role in the Panthers' deficiency against the run, but it's still a glaring weakness that they must improve heading into the offseason.

Moral victory: They're also elite at limiting opposing QBs

It's hard to quantify how much of this is because opposing offenses are playing with the lead the whole game, but the numbers really are amazing.

The Panthers are allowing just 175.9 passing yards per game to rank 4th in the NFL. Only the Browns, Jets and Chiefs are ahead of them.

Since the bye in Week 7, that number has dipped to 161.3 passing yards allowed (second only to the Jets). In that time frame, Jordan Love was the first quarterback to pass for at least 210 yards against Carolina...and he only got there because of the aforementioned Doubs call.

Perhaps even wilder is the fact that opposing quarterbacks have totaled 21 rushing yards against the Panthers, by far the lowest in the league.

So what does this all mean?

I don't really know for sure because of all the negative game scripts, but it's definitely not a bad thing.

Stopping the pass is the hardest thing for a defense to do in today's NFL. At the very least, the Panthers have assembled an above-average secondary that's not going to get shredded.

Two-win season or not, that's something to build on.

Flaw #3: Miles Sanders is a complete bust

Miles Sanders was a prized free agent signing who was supposed to be an upgrade to D'Onta Foreman and help the Panthers establish a physical, two-headed rushing attack.

Saying that "it hasn't worked out" would be an understatement.

The 5-year veteran is having the worst season of his career by far and has been a complete non-factor for this Panthers offense.

Sanders gained just 3 yards on 3 carries Sunday. It's the fifth time this season he's been held to less than 20 yards, and the eighth time he's averaged under 3 yards per carry.

He ranks as one of the most inefficient backs in the league and has more fumbles (2) than touchdowns (1).

It's a complete disaster and, unfortunately, Carolina is probably on the hook for at least one more season of his 4-year contract.

If Sanders can't turn it around in the offseason, he could find himself out of the league before long.

Moral victory: Hubbard is carrying the load, Smith-Marsette is emerging

Chuba Hubbard did not have his best game against the Packers. Far from it as he gained just 43 yards on 16 carries.

I'm admittedly making excuses here, but Hubbard was dealing with a very poor performance from his interior offensive line, all of whom graded below a 50 per PFF this week.

Also, given Hubbard's heavy workload in recent weeks (288 yards on 70 carries in his three previous games), I'm willing to give him a pass. He still runs really hard and should certainly be in the Panthers' backfield plans next year.

Meanwhile, Ihmir-Smith Marsette was a very pleasant surprise as he stepped into the Laviska Shenault role very admirably.

He only got three touches total, but all of them went for at least 13 yards, including a downright impressive touchdown run on an end around.

I'll admit that I never expected much from Smith-Marsette as he struggled to find a team early in his career. But if he can continue to be an effective gadget player over the last two games, that could be a nice boost to a Panthers offense that needs all the playmakers it can get.

Flaw #4: The offense is not a threat to go deep

I know. News flash, right?

But until the Panthers find a way to stretch opposing defenses vertically, they're going to struggle to consistently move the ball.

When the defense doesn't have to worry about getting beat deep, they can play overly aggressive, jump every underneath route and create turnovers. It's a pretty basic point, but it's true.

Bryce Young went 1-for-3 Sunday on throws at least 20 yards downfield (and that completion went for 22 yards, which means it was barely over the threshold).

For the season, Young has only one game with more than one 20-plus yard completion. That was the win over Houston in Week 8. He is 8-of-30 on all 20-plus yard throws, a success rate of just 27%.

Of all the things Young needs to improve in his first full offseason as a pro, dialing in the deep ball should be near the top of the list.

Moral victory: Bryce Young is heating up on intermediate throws

Now here's where things get exciting.

Bryce Young may not have the true deep ball in his bag just yet, but his intermediate game is definitely trending up.

With Frank Reich as the head coach, Young threw almost everything short, with enough bubble screens to make your eyes bleed. In 10 games, he had 13 attempts of at least 10 air yards only once.

Since Reich's departure, Young he's had at least 13 downfield pass attempts in three out of four games (with the only outlier coming in a rain storm).

It wasn't pretty at first, but Young is starting to cook in the intermediate game. In the last two weeks, he's 16-of-24 for 275 yards, 2 touchdowns and no interceptions on throws between 10 and 20 yards.

Does that sound good? Because it is.

This season has only ever been about developing Young into a franchise quarterback. Finally, in back-to-back games, the Panthers are starting to make strides in that area and provide a little hope for next season.

Yes, "you play to win the game," (I'm back in my cliche bag again, can you tell?) but having your rookie quarterback lead a 14-point comeback and notch his first 300-yard passing game has got to be the next thing.

If that's not a moral victory, then I don't know what to tell you.