Carolina Panthers studs & duds from thrilling comeback victory over Miami Dolphins

The Carolina Panthers fell behind 17-0 to the Miami Dolphins today, and it looked like we were on our way to yet another humiliating blowout loss. However, the Panthers fought back and made it interesting, eventually taking the lead in the fourth quarter. After giving up a 46-yard touchdown to Jaylen Waddle the comeback was in jeopardy, but they responded with another scoring drive, going on to win, 27-24.

While any win is a win (especially for this team), there's still plenty of room for improvement. Once again, there were some glaring flaws defensively that need to be addressed and far too much dysfunction on offense. Let's review the studs and duds for the Panthers from their thriling comeback victory over the Dolphins.

Dud: QB Bryce Young

Turnovers are a part of the game or young quarterbacks, but they don't get much worse than the fumble Bryce Young lost to kill the Panthers' promising first drive of the game. Young followed that up by climbing an empty pocket and then throwing a rocket over the middle that went far over Xavier Legette's head, ending the next possession with an interception. Young bounced back, but is still too inaccurate too often and taking too many sacks. He ended the day with a line of 19/30 for 198 yards, two touchdowns, one INT and a 90.7 passer rating.

Stud: WR Tetairoa McMillan

There's at least one consistent standout for Carolina's offense this year. That'd be rookie receiver Tetairoa McMillan, who made a nice catch on third and long before Young's fugly fumble. McMillan made several more impressive receptions throughout the game, including a desperation backyard connection with Bryce Young on fourth down. McMillan wound up with a team-high 73 yards on six catches.

Stud: RB Rico Dowdle

It helps that they were facing one of the worst run-defending teams in the NFL this season, but for the first time in 2025 the Panthers finally got their rushing attack going. The break-through came in the second quarter when they committed to running Rico Dowdle, who responded with a very efficient drive - although it was Xavier Legette who finished it. Later, Dowdle broke off huge runs of 53 and 43 yards, posting a total of 206 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Dud: DC Ejiro Evero

The Panthers defense had some bright spots this week, but still too many weaknesses - and there's been no effort at all to change things up and minimize them. Apparently since head coach Dave Canales has no control over this defense, the blame has to fall on defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero, who should have yanked Trevin Wallace, Christian Rozeboom and Nick Scott weeks ago.

Dud: Panthers linebackers

Another week, another atrocious perfromance from the second level of Carolina's defense. Both Rozeboom and Wallace look completely lost every time they're asked to cover a tight end, and it's not getting any better with time.

Stud: DT Derrick Brown

The Panthers' long-time stud in the middle of their defensive line made his presence felt as a pass rusher this week, a rare departure from his usual work against the run. Derrick Brown got to Tua Tagovailoa for an early sack and continued to be disruptive the rest of the afternoon. Brown also drew a holding penalty and totaled three stops.

Studs: OLB Nic Scourton, Princely Umanmielen

Another silver lining for the Panthers' defense was the performance of their rookie edge rushers, Nic Scourton and Princely Umanmielen. Both were active making stops and were particularly effective against the run. Considering how poorly DJ Wonnum and Patrick Jones II were playing, these two should be starting at outside linebacker going forward.

Stud: Run defense

The most impressve thing the Panthers did on this side of the ball was stop the run, which has been an Achilles' heel for three years in a row. They absolutely swarmed every attempt by Miami to run the ball, holding the Dolphins to an anemic 19 yards on 14 carries.

Dud: HC Dave Canales

There are plenty of little problems that are worth criticizing Canales for. The operation on offense is stll far too messy in general there are too many pre-snap penalties especially. When it comes to lineup decisions, there are plenty of players getting time they don't deserve - DeeJay Dallas was added to the list this week. Then there's how Canales is misusing his talents - like having Jimmy Horn Jr. function as a jet-sweep-only kind of weapon.

Worst of all was the lack of passion that Canales showed in the third quarter when he officials made an egregious reversal that cost his team a huge first down. Tetairoa McMillan was mauled by Jack Jones as he tried to reel in a deep catch, and initially they threw a flag but then withdrew it. Canales' reaction was far too understated considering the situation, and it speaks once again to the lack of urgency in his coaching. The comeback win is nice, but the Panthers deserve someone who's going to get angry when that happens, and Canales just doesn't seem to have it in his DNA.

Stud: Eric Collins

One last stud is deserved for first-time play-by-play man Eric Collins, who normally does Charlotte Hornets games. It would have been easy for any commentator to play it cool for this assignment, especially in a relatively meaningless game between two bad teams. However, Collins brought all the juice and the energy that was missing from Canales on the sideline, bringing an infectious enthusiasm to the game even when it seemed completely out of reach early on. Hopefully Fox recognizes his talent and invites Collins back to call more NFL games.

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