CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- You've seen it before: A bad movie where one talented actor is trying his best to salvage some terrible material.
That's what it looked like Sunday: Carolina's 29-3 loss to Atlanta was the bad film. Christian McCaffrey the actor who deserved better.
The Panthers are in serious danger of wasting one of the greatest individual years any of their players have ever had. McCaffrey went over 1,000 rushing yards for the season in the Panthers' 10th game of the year and, at his current pace, the third-year running back will end up with a staggering 2,522 total yards from scrimmage. That would set an NFL record.
Is he the best running back in the NFL? Yes. Is he having the sort of year that, on a better team, would warrant more serious MVP consideration? Yes.
Yet, here are the 5-5 Panthers, scoring three points despite McCaffrey's 191 total yards Sunday -- including a season-high 121 in receiving yardage on 11 catches.
"It was one of those games where we just keep hurting ourselves -- penalties, turnovers, all that," McCaffrey said.
Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen threw four interceptions -- including three in the red zone -- and the Panthers allowed five quarterback sacks and had eight penalties, although it seemed like a lot more. The Panthers' defense allowed 311 passing yards to Matt Ryan, and special teams gave up a 78-yard punt return for a touchdown. It was rough.
"Bad day at the office," Panthers defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said.
Meanwhile, there was McCaffrey, reciting his lines almost flawlessly. He touched the ball on 25 offensive plays and averaged 7.6 yards when he did. When No. 22 had the ball, the Panthers looked like a semblance of a good NFL team. When he didn't, they didn't.
McCaffrey wasn't perfect. As his fantasy football owners undoubtedly noted, he didn't score in this game. That's only the second time in Carolina's 10 contests in which he didn't find the end zone (those two games, not surprisingly, are also the two in which Carolina didn't score a TD at all). He also dropped a short pass from Allen -- notable because in the entire 2018 season, he never dropped a single throw.
"The season is not over," McCaffrey said later. "We're not going to act like it's over. We're not going to pout ... We move on to Monday, fix our mistakes and move on."
Although McCaffrey generally declines to talk about individual accomplishments, what he's doing this season ranks among the best year any Panther has ever had.
Cam Newton's 45-touchdown performance (35 pass, 10 run) during his NFL MVP season of 2015 would be No. 1 in my book. Wide receiver Steve Smith's receiving "Triple Crown" in 2005 -- he led or tied for the league lead in all three major receiving categories -- would be No. 2. Luke Kuechly's NFL Defensive MVP 2013 season would be No. 3.
McCaffrey will have to have a great last six games to surpass any of those top three, but he certainly might. Every week, he seems to achieve another milestone. On Sunday, he became the first NFL player with at least 1,000 rushing yards and 500 receiving yards in his team's first 10 games in history. That covers a lot of ground.
It was hard to take much comfort in those numbers Sunday, however. Carolina lost at home to the worst team in the NFC South -- Atlanta is 3-7 -- and it wasn't close. McCaffrey was in no mood afterward to offer specifics as to when the game got away from Carolina, either.
"I don't know," he said, lapsing into coach-speak. "I'll have to check the tape ... Take a look at it. Self-evaluate."
When he looks at that tape, he will see one player clearly out-performing most of his peers.
McCaffrey is having an unforgettable year.
Unfortunately for him, he's having it for a forgettable team.
Sports on 11/18/2019