Carolina Panthers takeaways from pathetic loss vs New Orleans Saints

The Carolina Panthers just played one of the ugliest football games you will see all season. If the Panthers were playing almost any team other than the hapless New Orleans Saints, they would've lost big. As it stood, the Saints outcoached, outplayed, and outclassed them in Charlotte. It's difficult to remember a worse performance, all things considered.

Dave Canales did not have this team ready to go

Maybe the Panthers were looking ahead at the Falcons. Maybe they were looking back at the big win over the Packers. Either way, this team was not at all prepared to play against a 1-8 team. The offense was sluggish, and the playcalling was pretty rough. Whatever happened in practice this week was not fruitful, and it showed up on the field today. It's hard not to place the blame on Canales.

The Panthers had no answers on offense

Aside from bad playcalling, the offensive execution was just not there. Bryce Young was off most of the day. Several pass-catchers struggled both in getting open and and in catching. The run game was bad. The pass protection was bad. DeMario Davis looked like prime Luke Kuechly because he was unblockable and knew where the ball was going all the time.

Nic Scourton had a day

While he's still not an edge that this team can rely on every down to win, Nic Scourton is quietly having a very good rookie season. That continued in this one, as he was the best player on defense. He was in position, read the plays well, and made big plays when he needed to.

Bryce Young had a horrible outing

It's hard to put into words how frustrating Bryce Young was. He had two turnovers, though one was likely the fault of Jimmy Horn not knowing he was supposed to receive a handoff. He also had one negated by a penalty. Last week, the Packers were a great defense. This week? Young was just bad.

Jaycee Horn was terrible

14 points come directly from Horn simply falling down lol.
— Carolina Panthers (@Keep_Pounding) November 9, 2025

Jaycee Horn has been great all season, but he was putrid today. Twice, he fell down and let his man score a long touchdown. If he'd just stayed on his feet, this game would have looked a whole lot different. Instead, he was burnt badly a few times and the Saints got an upset win.

Rico Dowdle didn't have it

Maybe it was the game plan by the Saints, or maybe Dowdle was really injured after showing up on the injury report last week, but either way, Dowdle was really inefficient. He couldn't break anything, and the Saints were usually able to get him down on first contact, which has not been true of opposing defenses the Panthers have faced lately.

The defense was porous

As much of the heavy lifting that this defense had to do today, they still let up plays at the worst times. Third down was nothing for the Saints. They pretty much did what they wanted all day long, and they converted on crucial plays because of defensive miscues. They also made Tyler Shough look like a Pro Bowl QB, which is pretty embarrassing. They knew what was coming late in the game, which was endless streams of Taysom Hill QB power runs, and they still couldn't stop it.

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