The Carolina Panthers defense looked a little better for parts of Sunday’s game against the Buccaneers, but that’s not saying much. They’ve been among the worst units in the league over the last several weeks. Bill Barnwell of ESPN wrote about teams collapsing out of the playoff race, and he had several stats that illustrate that reality.
When the Panthers didn’t send extra rushers during their 6-2 start, Kawann Short & Co. produced the league’s 13th-highest pressure rate. Over the past month, with the same defensive linemen, Carolina’s defense has posted the league’s worst pressure rate when it doesn’t send extra rushers.