Lea: Panthers locker room could become splintered due to poor offensive output

By Chris Lea, WRAL-TV sports anchor/reporter

Charlotte, N.C. — Back in grade school, I wasn't a fan of group projects for the most part. Sometimes they were fun, but most times, it was an opportunity for someone to slack off and let the smartest, most-talented members of the group take over and do all the work.

In that situation, however, the group can still succeed if their strongest members are the tide that raises all ships. That leaves the other group members with little to worry about.

Football is a sport that's just like a group project. The difference is that it's rare for one or a few members to determine the outcome of the project, or winning the game.

Last week, the Carolina Panthers defense carried the load in the group project of defeating the New Orleans Saints, forcing three turnovers including a fumble recovery that ended up in a score for the Panthers. Carolina ended up winning the game 22-14.

This week versus the Arizona Cardinals started looking like a carbon copy of last week's game. A slow start on offense, which ended up being the trend of the game and a defensive score to finally put the Panthers on the board. That score came from a Frankie Luvu 33 yard pick-six in the second quarter.

But the offense didn't do their part. A large portion of the overall success of the Panthers over the Saints last week simply came down to not turning the ball over. Sunday, the Panthers had three turnovers and turned the ball over on downs twice. That's important because an interception and a turnover on downs on back-to-back possessions for the Panthers in the fourth quarter, gave the Cardinals the ball in plus territory and ended with two Arizona touchdowns. That's what sealed the game.

After the game, defensive tackle Derrick Brown said it's the defense's job to not allow those scores. In theory he's correct, but that takes the pressure off of the offense for not doing their job which is protecting and moving the ball. This is still the NFL, which means that all teams (sans the Panthers it seems) are capable of scoring touchdowns when you're only five or 31 yards from the end zone.

Head coach Matt Rhule said he's not worried about the locker room splintering. He's supposed to say that as the head coach. But even though these guys are professionals who hold themselves to the highest standard, they got to the NFL through talent and passion. There's no way this can't seep into the psyche of the defensive players who are tired of being on the losing end of games due to no fault of their own. And there's no way it won't eventually kill their passion for putting their bodies on the line in the most dangerous sport in the world for an offensive unit that ranks towards the bottom of the league. That's where you could see 'business decisions' being made on the field if this keeps up.

Rhule and his coaching staff need to fix this before their problems become bigger than moving the ball. His locker room could be in trouble.