Thursday night’s Carolina Panthers-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game hinged on two 4th-down plays for the Panthers. In both cases, the Panthers called terrible plays that blew up on them in their 20-14 loss.
The Panthers turned the ball over on downs three times in the game, including twice in their final three drives. All three came on 4th-and-1 plays.
The first one of the two fourth quarter plays came on a 4th-and-1 from the Tampa Bay 45 down 17-14. Carolina called a pass from the shotgun, and under pressure, Cam Newton hoisted a ball in the air that was not close enough to Curtis Samuel and fell incomplete. The second one came with a minute and a half left and the ball at the Tampa Bay two. Carolina called a trick play that involved a direct snap to Christian McCaffrey, who faked a handoff and rushed on a sweep. He was pushed out of bounds short of the first down spot.
The @Buccaneers defense holds on 4th down!
#TBvsCAR on NFL Network pic.twitter.com/bfKAZLQZKa
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) September 13, 2019
The best short-yardage play in the NFL is the quarterback sneak. As Warren Sharp has pointed out, QB sneaks result in a first down about 78 percent of the time. And the Panthers didn’t call it once. Three 4th-and-1 situations, not one QB sneak called.
There is NO BETTER play in short yardage situations than the QB sneak.
78% of the time they convert 1st downs
Handoffs? 60%
Since 2015 many QBs have ~25+ total sneaks. But one QB refuses to use them.
Never missing a game, Rivers has ONE in 4 yrs!
Why?https://t.co/pAZhBhFYAi pic.twitter.com/FeylT8W4CO
— Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) July 24, 2019
“We felt Christian had a good chance to score. We felt good about the play,” Panthers head coach Ron Rivera said after the game.
Rivera was asked why the team didn’t run Cam Newton on the play and whether a foot injury limited the quarterback.
“The foot’s got nothing to do with it,” said Rivera.
Carolina did run Cam on a 4th-and-1 near midfield on their opening possession. He ran wide for no gain.
Mehhhhh… I think his knee hit prior to the 1st down, should be a 4th down stop for #GoBucs YEAAA pic.twitter.com/UK0dFz1Gtj
— Zac Blobner (@ZacOnTheMic) September 13, 2019
Even if Newton isn’t healthy and can’t run, just sub in your backup quarterback to run the sneak. That was the game and that’s the reason they lost.
