Carolina Panthers Report Card: Offense vs Detroit
Pass game: C+
P.J. Walker filled in nicely for the injured Teddy Bridgewater in Sunday's win over the Lions going 24 of 34 for 258 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He hit on a couple of deep balls to DJ Moore, which showed off his tremendous arm strength, but the two interceptions in the end zone just simply can't happen. Fortunately, the Lions were unable to do anything with the football and it didn't come back to haunt them. Considering he found out just hours before the game that he was starting, he did a pretty good job. He has some things to clean up, but that was expected.
Run game: B
This grade may be considered a tad high since the Panthers only averaged 3.4 yards per carry on 34 attempts, but they did just enough to keep the Lions on their heels, specifically Mike Davis. Davis finished the day with 64 yards and a touchdown and had a handful of plays where it seemed like the Lions just could not get him to the ground. The Panthers just need to hold their head above water with McCaffrey out and that's exactly what they did Sunday.
Blocking: C
Walker was only sacked once on the day, but you can attribute that to his mobility and being able to get out of the pocket and evade pressure. The offensive line struggled in pass protection in the first half, but seemed to have cleaned things up during the break. With two starters on the unit out (Russell Okung, John Miller) they did enough to win the game. With that said, Detroit has one of the league's worst defenses, so there is improvement that needs to be made.
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