Initial Reactions Following Panthers Week 4 Loss to Cowboys

The Panthers drop their first game of the season in Dallas.

The Carolina Panthers will head home to Charlotte after splitting their two road games in Texas 1-1. The Dallas Cowboys got the better of Carolina by a final score of 36-28 on Sunday. After a great three-game stretch, the Panthers' defense finally breaks against the high-flying Cowboy offense. 

Here are my initial reactions following Carolina's Week 4 loss:

Panthers need a second option on offense

WR Robby Anderson posted a decent 5 catches for 46 yards as he works to get back on the same page with QB Sam Darnold. Still, this is a far cry from WR DJ Moore's 8 for 113 yards and two touchdowns. With All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey missing some time again this season the hope was that one of the receivers would step up and be a reliable second option in this one.

Darnold has had to take the game into his own hands especially around the goal line. It would take a lot of pressure off of the young quarterback if Anderson or rookie WR Terrace Marshall could step up and help impact the game the way Moore has been able to. Going forward, opposing defenses are going to key on stopping Moore. This team needs another target to get the ball to.

Jaycee Horn will be missed

The Panthers missed CMC in this one but they expect to get him back into game action before too long. Rookie CB Jaycee Horn will be greatly missed for the rest of the year. The NFL is a passing league and he brought an alpha presence to Carolina's secondary. 

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott was able to pick apart the Panthers who played a lot of zone defense in this one. The middle of the field was open on a ton of dropbacks as Prescott distributed the ball to his tight ends consistently. Horn was able to stick with receivers in man coverage which would have helped Carolina to use safety help in the middle of the field more often.

Darnold bounced back

This was the first game we saw Darnold face some adversity with Carolina. After throwing two interceptions he brought the Panthers back within one score. He didn't unravel–which often happened in his time with the New York Jets. 

There were some positives in this game even though there are no moral victories in the NFL. The Panthers proved that they can hang with some high-scoring offenses. 

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