Carolina defense allows 20 points in the 2nd quarter

I have zero faith in my team this year but this is a new low. After years of building our defense including doing a draft that included exclusively defensive players (something that has likely never been done before) our defense is still terrible. This was on full display against a very average Indianapolis Colts over the weekend.

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After a scoreless first quarter I was actually feeling a bit optimistic about the Panthers even though they were playing against an average at best team. But I should have known better than to get my hopes up because they returned to their usual crap form just a few minutes into the 2nd quarter.

I don't know what was going through the Carolina offense's minds when they tried to rush to get some points on the board before halftime since at that point they were down 13-3, but their hurry-up offense with 2 minutes remaining in the half - which by the way is a lifetime when you consider the fact that the clock can be stopped by many different means - but that is exactly what Carolina did when Bryce Young, who I think was a terrible draft pick, threw an interception that Indianapolis' Kenny Moore ran back 49 yards for a touchdown.

So now the Carolina fans, including and especially yours truly, returned to believing that our team is absolutely terrible as we went into the locker room down 20-3 at the half.

The second half was rather uneventful because it is quite common in the NFL that when a team is up by 17 points at the half that they come out of the locker room with a defensive, clock-wasting type of offense in mind, and that is exactly what the Colts were doing. Spirits were lifted briefly when the Panthers managed to bumble their way down the field and get a touchdown late in the 3rd but trust me when I say that this was no cause of celebration or to think that there was some sort of magical comeback in mind. Carolina is simply incapable of this sort of thing and if you were watching the game, it was evident that the Colts were simply playing a prevent defense rather than a really aggressive one because when you are up by nearly 20 points against an inferior team like the Panthers, you are better off just taking it easy than to risk injury by going all out. Hell, against a team like Carolina, you are probably better off just letting your 2nd or 3rd string players get some on-field experience. There's no need to put your best players on the field.

Carolina is without question the worst team in the NFL this year and they may already be playing to lose intentionally in the hopes that they can (and likely will) get good draft picks in the offseason. This is a tremendous disservice to the fans but it really appears as though this is what is going on.

In my mind and the mind of the fans, we are lamenting the picking up of Bryce Young in the first place. He seems, thus far, as a wasted first round draft pick. While he excelled in college, he simply is too small to make any sort of noticeable impact in the big leagues. I can't really see him sticking around in his position for very long and unfortunately for him, there likely aren't going to be very many teams that are interested in one of the smallest quarterbacks to play the game since Doug Flute. Flute was 5 foot 10 and 180 lbs yet managed to be an amazing QB against all odds. This is an anomaly like Spud Webb being able to play in the NBA. Bryce Young simply doesn't have the vision to compensate for his lack of size and I don't think that Carolina can ever succeed with him receiving snaps.

It's actually quite remarkable to me that the Colts were only a -125 favorite to win this game and honestly, if you want to make some money this year on sports betting, just bet against Carolina on the moneyline regardless of what it is. I don't think they are capable of winning any more games this year except for maybe when they play the Bears next week. This will change by game day, but the Chicago Bears are a -175 favorite to win that game. Take that bet, it is all but guaranteed that you will win money. There is no incentive for either team to win because they are both out of the playoff picture at the moment. It's just a question of who wants it LESS and right now, I think Carolina doesn't want it at all.

As it stands now I think there are at least 20 college teams that would easily defeat the Carolina Panthers and they might be one of the worst professional teams to take the field in the past quarter century.