It is one of the most difficult decisions any defensive player makes, when a quarterback is running and your task is to bring him to the ground.
How much is too much? How hard is too hard? How high is too high?
The Carolina Panthers were on the wrong side of that equation Sunday when they self-destructed in a 20-17 loss to the New Orleans Saints that was damaging — but not fatal — to their playoff hopes. Nowhere was that more apparent than in the final 12 seconds.
The Saints were out of timeouts by then. The game was tied at 17-all, and New Orleans had driven from its own 8-yard line to the Carolina 48. Tyler Shough, the Saints’ 26-year-old rookie quarterback, saw a “prevent” Carolina defense designed to stop the pass — with no defensive linemen at all lined up in the interior near the center.
Shough then ran a draw play for a modest four yards. As he slid, however, Panthers rookie safety Lathan Ransom came barreling in and hit Shough. This caused a 15-yard penalty and much consternation in the Carolina locker room.
“I think it was a BS call,” Panthers defensive lineman Derrick Brown said. Brown was also called for a 15-yard penalty for hitting Shough on a similar play.
“He did it all day, he was sliding late,” Brown said. “… But we know how it is. They’re going to protect the quarterback at all costs.”
The Saints certainly could have made a game-winning field goal from where Shough slid. The attempt would have been from 62 yards, and New Orleans kicker Charlie Smyth has that sort of leg.
Instead, though, Ransom’s penalty made the kick a modest 47-yarder. Smyth drilled it, and Carolina fell to 7-7 and into a tie with Tampa Bay (7-7) atop the NFC South. The two teams will play twice in the final three weeks of the season, but now the Panthers may have to sweep those games rather than split them to take the playoff spot and postseason home game awarded to the division winner.
To his credit, Ransom stood up and faced questions from the media in the locker room. “Every yard matters in that situation,” he said. “He’s running the ball and I’m just thinking stop him as fast as I can.”
What does he wish he had done differently?
“Not hit him,” Ransom said. And later: “I’m mad I got the penalty. That’s all I can say.
He’s a quarterback, so I’ve got to be more aware of the situation. … Let him slide.”
That a penalty would be instrumental in the Panthers’ loss was fitting, given the team was called for 11 penalties for 103 yards. Carolina was sloppy all afternoon, drawing one flag after another. Even on the game-winning field goal, Carolina’s Chau Smith-Wade jumped offside, so New Orleans would have been able to try it again had Smyth missed.
But the veteran Panthers players were also aware that Ransom’s error didn’t cost them the game. Their defense, after all, had allowed New Orleans to go 78 yards on a game-tying drive and then 62 more on the game-winning one. The offense never scored in the game’s final 25 minutes. There was plenty of blame to go around.
Veteran safety Nick Scott said Ransom’s aggressiveness was one reason he’s been playing regularly as a rookie.
“Being a rookie, there’s a lot of highs and lows,” Scott said. “Lathan’s been doing a lot of great things for us this entire season. One play doesn’t define him. … Latham is an aggressive player. He hits extremely hard. He makes a lot of plays, and that’s why he’s here. That’s why we love him, and so we don’t want to take that away from him. So we’re going to keep encouraging and uplifting him, and help him move past this.”
Brown thought that Panthers quarterback Bryce Young should have drawn a similar flag or two during his scrambles. But he wasn’t. Ransom, however, was called for the late hit, and this loss and that play will sting him for a while.
I thought the flag was justified. It’s called that way in the NFL almost every time, because the league does want to protect its marquee players. Ransom is a good player and a smart one. He will learn. But he — and his teammates — walked out of New Orleans hurting.
Scott Fowler
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