Carolina Panthers
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2017 SEASON IN REVIEW / PANTHERS.COM / @PANTHERSPR CAROLINA PANTHERS (11-5), 2ND IN NFC SOUTH PANTHERS RETURN TO PLAYOFFS FOR FOURTH TIME IN FIVE SEASONS 2017 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS STATISTICAL SNAPSHOT Carolina finished the season at 11-5, tying for the best record in the Below are the final 2017 regular season averages and NFL rank- NFC South and earning the fifth seed in the NFC playoffs. The Panthers ings for Carolina in some key statistical categories: advanced to the postseason for the fourth time in five seasons, tied for the most in the NFC over that span. NFL NFC Three Panthers were named AP All-Pro with guard Andrew Norwell and OFFENSE Avg. Rank Rank linebacker Luke Kuechly taking first-team spots and tackle Daryl Williams Total Yards Per Game 323.7 19th 12th earning a second-team selection. Four Panthers were named to the Pro Rushing Yards Per Game 131.4 4th 3rd Bowl in Kuechly, kicker Graham Gano, linebacker Thomas Davis and guard Rushing Yards Per Attempt 4.3 10th 7th Trai Turner. Passing Net Yards Per Game 192.3 28th 15th The Panthers finished fourth in the NFL in rushing (131.4 yards per game). Sacks Per Pass Play 6.5% 17th 9th It marked the third time in the last seven years that the Panthers have fin- Sacks Allowed 35 13th(t) 7th ished in the top four in rushing. Carolina was one of two teams with three Third Down Efficiency 41.9% 7th 5th or more 200-yard rushing games, and the only team with three players to Points Per Game 22.7 12th 7th rush for over 400 yards. DEFENSE Carolina's defense finished seventh in the league in total yards allowed Total Yards Per Game 317.1 7th 4th while posting 50 sacks, good for third in the NFL and fourth-most in fran- Rushing Yards Per Game 88.1 3rd 3rd chise history. Rushing Yards Per Attempt 3.9 11th 6th The run defense was especially strong, holding opponents to just 88.1 Passing Net Yards Per Game 229.1 18th 11th rushing yards per game. That mark ranked third in the NFL and was second Sacks Per Pass Play 8.3% 3rd 1st all-time in franchise history. The Panthers set a franchise record by going 50 3rd 1st an entire season without allowing a 100-yard individual rusher. Carolina's Sacks active streak of 20 games without an individual rusher topping 100 yards Third Down Efficiency 37.9% 13th 5th leads the NFL heading into 2018. Points Per Game 20.4 10th(t) 6th Quarterback Cam Newton rushed for a career-best 754 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns, leading all NFL quarterbacks. Newton produced the Individual Leaders eighth-best rushing season by a quarterback in NFL history, as he notched Passing Yds Cmp% TD INT Rtg his third 700-yard rushing season which tied Michael Vick for most all-time. Cam Newton 3302 59.1 22 16 80.7 Rookie Christian McCaffrey set numerous franchise records as he became the fourth rookie running back in NFL history with 80 receptions. He finished Rushing Att Yds Avg Lng TD second in the league in receptions (80) and receiving yards (651) among Cam Newton 139 754 5.4 69 6 rookie running backs, and was fifth in all-purpose yards (1,306) among Jonathan Stewart 198 680 3.4 60t 6 rookies. Christian McCaffrey 117 435 3.7 40 2 Running back Jonathan Stewart ran for 680 rushing yards as he became the franchise leader in career rushing yards and moved into second place Receiving Rec Yds Avg Lng TD all-time in total touchdowns (58). Devin Funchess 63 840 13.3 44 8 Christian McCaffrey 80 651 8.1 37 5 Defensive ends Julius Peppers and Mario Addison each tallied 11 sacks to lead the team and give Carolina a pair of players with double-digit sacks for the fifth time in franchise history. Peppers moved into fourth place all-time in career sacks (154.5) as he became the fourth player in NFL history with 10 seasons of 10 or more sacks. PANTHERS FREE AGENTS 2017 PANTHERS RESULTS Unrestricted (12) PRESEASON (2-2) Pos Player ‘17 GP/GS Thursday Aug. 9 HOUSTON W, 27-17 QB Derek Anderson 3/0 Saturday Aug. 19 @ Tennessee L, 34-27 WR Brenton Bersin 8/1 Thursday Aug. 24 @ Jacksonville W, 24-23 S Jairus Byrd 12/0 Thursday Aug. 1 PITTSBURGH L, 17-14 TE Ed Dickson 16/12 LB Andrew Gachkar 6/0 REGULAR SEASON (11-5) K Graham Gano 16/0 Sunday Sept. 10 @ San Francisco W, 23-3 WR Charles Johnson 0/0 (IR) Sunday Sept. 17 BUFFALO W, 9-3 DT Star Lotulelei 16/16 Sunday Sept. 24 NEW ORLEANS L, 34-13 G Andrew Norwell 16/16 DE Julius Peppers 16/5 Sunday Oct. 1 @ New England W, 33-30 G Amini Silatolu 14/3 Sunday Oct. 8 @ Detroit W, 27-24 CB Teddy Williams 0/0 (IR) Thursday Oct. 12 PHILADELPHIA L, 28-23 Sunday Oct. 22 @ Chicago L, 17-3 Restricted (5) Sunday Oct. 29 @ Tampa Bay W, 17-3 Pos Player ‘17 GP/GS WR Kaelin Clay 9/2 Sunday Nov. 5 ATLANTA W, 20-17 CB LaDarius Gunter 4/0 Monday Nov. 13 MIAMI W, 45-21 TE Scott Simonson 0/0 (IR) Sunday Nov. 19 BYE G David Yankey 0/0 (IR) Sunday Nov. 26 @ New York Jets W, 35-27 Exclusive Rights (6) Sunday Dec. 3 @ New Orleans L, 31-21 Pos Player ‘17 GP/GS Sunday Dec. 10 MINNESOTA W, 31-24 WR Damiere Byrd 8/3 (IR) Sunday Dec. 17 GREEN BAY W, 31-24 OT Dan France 0/0 (IR) Sunday Dec. 24 TAMPA BAY W, 22-19 DT Drew Iddings 0/0 (IR) Sunday Dec. 31 @ Atlanta L, 22-10 C Tyler Larsen 14/10 TE Chris Manhertz 16/4 (IR) POSTSEASON (0-1) P Michael Palardy 16/0 Wild Card Round Sunday Jan. 7 @ New Orleans L, 31-26 MEDIA INFORMATION / CONTACTS Panthers.com – For the most up-to-date information on the Carolina Panthers, please visit the team’s official web site at www.panthers.com. Panthers Communications Department Steven Drummond, Director of Communications & Digital Media [email protected] (704) 358-7448 Ryan Anderson, Communications Manager (704) 358-7473 [email protected] Will Bryan, Communications Coordinator (704) 358-7093 [email protected] Preston Edwards, Communications Assistant (704) 358-7807 [email protected] Media Website – URL – http://media.panthers.com Username – panthersmedia (all lowercase) Password – carolina (all lowercase) Twitter – Follow the Panthers communications department on Twitter at @PanthersPR and @PantherStatsGuy. 2017 WEEK-BY-WEEK TEAM STATISTICAL RANKINGS Category Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16 Week 17 Net Yards per game 18 25 28 22 18 19 19 21 21 16 17 17 18t 18 17 17 19 Rushing Yards per game 10 18 13 13 19 22 21 20 15 7 7 5 5 5 4 4 4 Net Passing Yards per game 23 24 30 20 17 17 16 19 24 21 22 24 25 28 27 27 28 Third Down Efficiency 5 7 3 1 2 3 6 4 5 2 1 5 6 5 6 6 7 Points per game 10 22 29 20 18 17 22 23 24 17 17 15t 16 14 12 11 12 Opp. Net Yards per game 3 1 1 4 3 4 3 2 1 1 2 2 6 5 5 7 7 Opp. Rushing Yards per game 5 6 15 8 6 5 4 5 2 2 3 3 4 3t 5 6 3 Opp. Net Passing Yards per game 7 2 3 7 5 7 4 3 6 4 4 6 7 7 11 16 18 Opp. Third Down Efficiency 2 4 7 16 10 11 9 6 5 9 9 9 8t 9 9 14 13 Sacks 4t 6t 11t 9t 3t 2t 2t 2 2 2t 4 4t 5 3t 3t 3 3 Opp. Points per game 2 1 2 4 9 9 11 5 4 3 5 8 10t 10 11 11t 11 ALL-TIME YEAR-BY-YEAR TEAM STATISTICAL RANKINGS Category 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Net Yards per game 26 23 26 20 6 20 30 31 16 13 22 24 29 10 19 32 7 12 26 16 11 19 19 Rushing Yards per game 20 15 15 28 20 29 29 25 7 28 19 24 14 3 3 13 3 9 11 7 2 10 4 Net Passing Yards per game 24 22 26 14 2 12 26 30 18 9 17 15 29 19 27 32 13 16 29 19 24 21 28 Third Down Efficiency 20 21 2 13 10 15 30 30 20 10 6 32 24 19 19 30 10 6 4 12 7 23 7 Points per game 25 7 27 12 4 21 29 30 15 13 8 27 26 7 21 32 5 18 18 19 1 15 12 Opp. Net Yards per game 7 10 15 30 26 27 31 2 8 20 3 7 16 18 8 18 28 10 2 10 6 21 7 Opp. Rushing Yards per game 10 8 22 26 24 26 31 8 11 17 4 11 18 20 22 23 25 14 2 16 4 6 3 Opp.