Panthers studs & duds from a humiliating Week 4 loss to the Patriots

The Carolina Panthers looked like they might be ready to compete on the road for a minute, there. However, after taking an early 6-0 lead at Gillette Stadium things quickly devolved and didn't get any better. The New England Patriots responded to that initial scoring drive with 42 unanswered points and went on to win by a score of 42-13.

Here are a few studs and a whole lot of duds for the Panthers this week.

Dud: HC Dave Canales

The opening drive was a solid, creative mix of passes and runs called by head coach Dave Canales. However, the playcalling the rest of the game turned stale and not nearly enough adjustments were made to what Mike Vrabel was doing defensively. Worst of all, Canales continues to show a lack of urgency and incompetence in situational football. By rights, he should be on the hot seat already.

Dud: QB Bryce Young

When your playcaller, your offensive line and your pass-catchers are all letting you down there's not much that an NFL quarterback can do. That said, Bryce Young still should have done more, today. Young led the Panthers into New England territory several more times but couldn't find the end zone again after the opening possession. When he was replaced by Andy Dalton in the fourth quarter Young had a line of 18/30 for just 150 yards, one touchdown and an 84.0 passer rating.

Stud: TEs Tommy Tremble, Mitchell Evans

With the wide receiver room spread so thin, the Panthers needed their tight ends to step up - and at least two of them got the memo. Veteran Tommy Tremble finished off the first drive of the game with a touchdown and ended the afternoon with five catches for 42 yards. Rookie Mitchell Evans was also productive, chipping in three catches for 23 yards and a late touchdown.

Dud: Special teams

It was a terrible day all around for the special teams unit, starting with a missed extra point by Ryan Fitzgerald on the opening drive touchdown. Fitzgerald also later missed a 55-yard field goal, not that you can blame him too much for that one. Much worse, the Panthers gave up an 88-yard punt return touchdown and another 61-yard punt return later on.

Dud: Run defense

Starting in place of the injured DJ Wonnum and Patrick Jones II, outside lineback DJ Johnson was the worst offender in this department, but he was hardly alone. The Panthers missed a whole lot of tackles against the Patriots, both near the line of scrimmage and in space. As a team New England averaged 5.5 yards per carry and scored three rushing touchdowns in the first half alone. Carolina tightened up its run defense in the second half - but it was far too late by then.

Dud: Pass rush

As bad as the run defense was, once again Carolina's near-total lack of a pass rush was their greatest problem on defense. At halftime Patriots quarterback Drake Maye had not taken a single sack or a single quarterback hit, and precious few pressures. Defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton eventually got to Maye for a sack, but that was the only hit he took the entire game.

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