The scheme is the scheme for the Carolina Panthers defense, no matter how frustrating it can be at times.
Sunday’s sloppy 30-14 loss saw the banged-up Dallas Cowboys thoroughly outplay the slightly-favored Panthers. The underdogs punched up in all of the game’s major battles—winning on total yardage (410 to 235), takeaways (four to one) and sacks (six to one).
A big part of the Dallas dominance was, perhaps to little surprise, the play of wideout CeeDee Lamb. The All-Pro pass catcher reeled in nine receptions for a game-high 116 yards and a touchdown.
As for the “frustrating” part of our lede—Lamb, the Cowboys’ top target, did not line up against Horn, the Panthers’ top cover man, for much of his output. Lamb, instead, ate up Carolina’s defense out of the slot—where Horn is not deployed.
Rather than allowing their No. 1 corner to shadow their opposition’s No. 1 receiver, defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero and his staff play their scheme as is. That, in turn, allowed Lamb to match up with Carolina’s nickel defenders, and not Horn.
Horn was asked about the approach after the game.
“At the end of the day, our scheme is our scheme.”
Jaycee Horn took exception when asked if wanted to stick with CeeDee Lamb man to man.
He was listed as questionable (groin), but said he was always going to play today. pic.twitter.com/mZ58DiLrxH
— Josh Graham (@JoshGrahamShow) December 15, 2024
Horn, on a number of instances in the past, stated that he would prefer to follow around every offense’s best wide receiver.
