Panthers' Rivera admits team gambled on rookie-laden secondary
At 1-5 entering their bye week, the Carolina Panthers have some time to reflect on how the season went off the rails so quickly.
The Panthers can start by looking at their defense, which has given up the third-most points per game and has surrendered 13 touchdowns through the air.
After allowing star corner Josh Norman to walk in the offseason, the team entrusted two unproven defensive backs and three rookie corners with picking up the slack. On Monday, head coach Ron Rivera admitted that may have been too risky a move.
"It was a little bit of a roll of the dice, I guess," Rivera said at his press conference. "We felt really good about (second-round pick James) Bradberry, we didn't expect him to get hurt. But (third-round choice) Daryl Worley's been playing pretty well. I thought (fifth-rounder) Zack (Sanchez) did some good things, showed us some things. Again, you're going to take your lumps when you do that."
Taken their lumps they have. Two weeks after allowing Atlanta Falcons receiver Julio Jones to record a 300-yard game, New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw for 465 yards and four touchdowns to hand the Panthers their fifth loss.
Rivera admitted the team could've used the veteran presence of third-year pro Bene Benwikere - who they cut days before the game - against such a vaunted passing attack.
"Yeah, but again, we've got young guys that are gonna play and, quite honestly, Bene didn't do the things that we needed him to do," Rivera revealed. "And so, feeling the way we did about it, and feeling that there are some things we had to do to get these young guys some opportunities, that's what we decided.
"We're going to go forward with it. They made mistakes, we're going to take our lumps, but hopefully they'll pick it up and get things going. If we can get the pass rush going, I think we're going to be OK."
That's the other surprise on the Panthers' defensive end. Their defensive line - a key contributor to the team's march to the Super Bowl last season - has done little through six weeks as they've recorded just 12 sacks.
"That's probably the biggest disappointment, that we haven't had the production that we would like out of the front," Rivera said. "The front has done a nice job, we did a good job stopping the run, but that's not what's killing us. We have to find that productivity."
He said the team has to find other ways to get pressure on opposing quarterbacks and hopes defensive ends Charles Johnson, Mario Addison, and Kony Ealy in particular can pick up their play.
"In terms of production, yes. Right now, for his first six-game stretch, yeah, you'd like to probably see a little more production out of him, but it's not like he's not trying," Rivera said of Ealy.
With the defense leaking, the Panthers face an uphill challenge to return to the postseason.
"It really is a big challenge. But most than anything else it's really about just taking it now one at a time. I know I talk about that all the time, but that's the truth of the matter," Rivera said. "The easiest thing to do is to quit. (But) shoot, we've got 10 games to play."