Panthers PFF grades: Jaycee Horn & offensive line flourish, Andy Dalton, front-7 flunk

Carolina's best Pro Football Focus grades this week heavily feature their offensive line, with one exception.

LANDOVER, MD - AUGUST 13: Jaycee Horn #8 of the Carolina Panthers interacts with fans before the preseason game against the Washington Commanders at FedExField on August 13, 2022 in Landover, Maryland. / (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)

The Carolina Panthers have lost four games in a row, and in more ways than one they're getting worse every week. That includes the performance of their starting quarterback Andy Dalton, who has regressed awfully after a promising first two games this season. However, the far bigger problem for head coach Dave Canales and his staff is that their defensive unit is on pace to allow more points than any team in NFL history.

This week's grades from Pro Football Focus are a pretty great microcosm of what's going on with the team on both sides of the ball. Let's break it down.

Most of Panthers offensive line balled out Week 7

The big headline on offense is the same as it has been all year: Carolina's offensive line is performing as well as anyone could have hoped for. This week four out of the five starters up front all came out with strong grades. Converted center Brady Christensen led the way with an 85.2 overall, with a superb 86.0 grade in run blocking. Rookie tight end JT Sanders was second at 82.5 overall, followed by left tackle Ickey Ekwonu (80.4 overall, 81.7 pass blocking), right guard Robert Hunt (70.5) and left guard Damien Lewis (69.8).

Andy Dalton, Yosh Nijman at the bottom

The one exception to the rule was backup right tackle Yosh Nijman, who was starting his second game in place of the injured Taylor Moton. Nijman posted the lowest grade on offense this week at 47.2 overall, with his worst work coming in run blocking at 38.9.

Starting quarterback Andy Dalton wasn't much higher than Nijman, posting a 50.9 overall grade and a 51.1 in passing. Dalton threw two interceptions in the first quarter that set the tone for the 40-7 blowout. To his credit, Dalton didn't make any excuses for his turnovers after the game. However, his grade for the season is now down to 68.1 overall, which ranks 20th among starters this year.

Jaycee Horn headlines horrible defense

On the other side of the ball the big winner was cornerback Jaycee Horn, who put up a unit-best 74.2 overall grade on the strength of good marks in run defense (77.7), tackling (78.0) and coverage (70.6). Unfortunately, Horn was also the only defensive player who posted an overall grade of 70.0 or better this week for the Panthers. One small bright spot was the tackling grade for rookie linebacker Trevin Wallace, who earned an 82.4 grade in that department but came in at 58.7 overall.

The list of bad grades was extensive this week, with 11 players posting a grade of 50.0 overall or lower. That includes safety Nick Scott, cornerback Dane Jackson (who looks much smaller on TV than we had anticipated), cornerback Mike Jackson, defensive tackle LaBryan Ray, edge rushers DJ Johnson and Charles Harris, rookie nickel Chau Smith-Wade, Marquise Haynes, Nick Thurman, Shy Tuttle and Thomas Incoom.

Feleipe Franks back on top for special teams

After getting dethroned last week by Lonnie Johnson Jr., tight end Feleipe Franks was on top of the special teams grades for Carolina once again. Franks came in at 88.1 here, with Xavier Legette a distant second behind him at 74.2.

Despite having the coolest play of the day to save the ball from going into the end zone with a vintage Steve Nash behind the back pass, Johnson is on the bottom end of the special teams grades this week at 52.0. Only Jammie Robinson, Shaq Quarterman and Demani Richardson came in lower.

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