Is Firing Their DC Going to Fix What’s Ailing the 3-4 Carolina Panthers???

The Carolina Panthers lost to Green Bay 27-19, spent the postgame talking about their defense, and woke up the next morning without a defensive coordinator. Rich isn't convinced that fixes what he watched.

"Their quarterback who looked like a first overall pick quarterback blossoming now looks like a guy that can get run over," Rich said on The Rich Eisen Show. The formula against Bryce Young, as he described it, has become simple: "Just pin him in the pocket. Make him try to see over the trees in front of him. And knock him out."

Rich acknowledged the obvious. "We all understand his stature. He's not a tall guy. He looked small the last two games." Since Young's big game with Tetairoa McMillan against Detroit, and the gutsy win in Philadelphia, Tampa and Green Bay have absolutely destroyed Carolina. The tackles were "absolutely harassed," and Jalen Coker was erased from the equation until he ran one in on a remarkable catch and run, leaving Rich to wonder how that was only his first or second touch of the night. Chuba Hubbard had a heck of a game, with 81 yards on the ground, 38 in the air and a touchdown, but that was about all Carolina had.

And yet the conversation coming out of the game was about defense. Dave Canales said early on that Green Bay had "a lot of success in some third and longer types of situations," and that he'd love to see his unit "get off the field in those moments" after owning the run game on first and second down.

The next day, the Panthers fired defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, who had been there for almost 60 games and had been in the mix for head coaching jobs in recent years. The passing game coordinator is gone too.

Rich laid out the numbers that drove the move. Through seven games, Carolina's defense ranks 30th against the run, ninth against the pass and 23rd overall. The Bears "damn near put 60 on them" in Week 1. Tampa ran for 258 yards two weeks ago, with Bucky Irving gashing them, while Baker Mayfield threw for just 64. That's 80 points allowed over the last two weeks.

"I understand defensively they wanted to make a move," Rich said. "Whatever, I'm not in the building." His real concern is the schedule. "If you think that Tampa and Green Bay were tough for them to handle, here comes Denver coming at you. That's the problem."

Young sounded like a quarterback who knew it. "We got to finish better," he said after the loss. "That's our calling card and we didn't get that done today. That's not acceptable."

The good news for Carolina is that the NFC South is wide open. After Denver, the Panthers head to New Orleans, which gained a half game on its bye week. The Bucs host the Falcons this weekend, and Rich pointed out that a Tampa win would leave both teams 3-5, a half game in front of the Saints and a half game behind the Panthers. Suddenly, teams that looked buried can win the division.

That led to a what's more likely question: which division is more likely to produce an 8-9 champion, the NFC East or the South? Rich didn't hesitate. "Oh, the South," he said, adding that nobody should disrespect the Giants, who sit 4-2-1.