There were a lot of factors that went into the Carolina Panthers' big win at the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
Carolina's defense had its leader, middle linebacker Luke Kuechly, back and played very fast as a result. The offense had a sustaining run game. Quarterback Cam Newton got hot after a shaky start. And Seattle's defense continued to fall apart as it keeps experimenting with different schemes.
After the Panthers spiked the ball to stop the clock, the Seahawks totally blew the coverage with a lack of communication. Tight end Greg Olsen was the "X iso" to the boundary. He ran a vertical seam route. Cornerback Richard Sherman looked like he was playing "Cover 2" zone and safety Earl Thomas looked like he was playing "quarters" zone. The bottom line is Thomas did not get the call, which looked like it was "Cover 2." That's inexcusable after the Panthers spiked the ball and you have time to set your defense.
Newton found Olsen running free and delivered a 26-yard touchdown pass.
The Seahawks had a lot of issues like this again (coverage breakdowns were an issue in the fourth-quarter collapse against the Bengals too), perhaps because they continue to do different things this season with alignments, pressures and coverages, a big change from the static Seattle defense we're used to seeing.
Defensive coordinator Kris Richard, in his first year on that job, is doing different things and the Seahawks are going through the growing pains. In previous years the Seahawks would predominantly run their "Cover 3" zone and execute it very well. On the Panthers' final drive Seattle ran "Cover 3" on first two plays, then "man free" out of nickel on the third play, "Cover 2" on the fourth and fifth plays, "man free blitz" on the sixth play and then what appeared to be "Cover 2" on Olsen's touchdown, when the secondary had the breakdown. The Seahawks didn't change up coverages that much in the past few seasons. It was striking that with the game on the lien the Seahawks didn't just line up in "Cover 3," which has been their foundation, and force the Panthers to drive the length of the field against their best defense.
The Seahawks' issues don't take away from the Panthers' solid performance on offense and defense, however.
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Offensively, the Panthers ran their typical multiple run game, which is the closest to a college-based offense in the NFL. They showed a read option/triple option concept on the second play. Late in the first quarter they had another play with multiple run concepts in the same play, as Newton ran for 8 yards on a play that was a jet sweep and quarterback power. The Panthers used a lot of triple option in the first quarter. They ran an unbalanced line on their first touchdown drive. They're very creative in the run game. And Jonathan Stewart ran hard all game, especially inside, as he was the sustaining back the Panthers needed to beat the Seahawks.
Newton did not throw the ball well in the first half, His ball placement was poor on a number of throws that were there. But he got going in the second half, completing 16-of-24 passes for 223 yards. He was 14-of-18 for 212 yards on three second-half scoring drives.
His 32-yard pass to Olsen in a fourth-quarter touchdown drive was a big-time throw and catch. The Seahawks were in "Cover 3," with Sherman attempting to undercut the throw to Olsen. But Newton's velocity and ball placement simply beat him.
Carolina's defense also played well, and it really benefited from having Kuechly back in the lineup.
Kuechly is clearly the quarterback of the Panthers defense. He gets them in and out of fronts and pressures. He was also outstanding getting the Panthers defensive line lined up based on the alignment of Marshawn Lynch with Russell Wilson in the shotgun.
With Kuechly the Panthers have the fastest 4-3 base linebackers in the NFL. Kuechly and Thomas Davis in particular were both outstanding in this game, and the Panthers have a very good nickel front too. Linemen Kawann Short and Ryan Delaire were very good against Seattle.
Kuechly made a big-time play early in the game that summed up his contributions. On third-and-6 from the Panthers' 13-yard line, Carolina disguised a "quarters" zone and took away Wilson's look to Jimmy Graham. Delaire made a nice spin move against the right tackle to force Wilson to leave the pocket. Kuechly (No. 59) was in the middle of the "quarters" concept, and reacted to Wilson immediately and tackled him hard in the open field for a 1-yard gain.
The Panthers are 5-0 after the win, and the Seahawks fell to 2-4. You could tell from watching the film of the Panthers' fourth-quarter comeback why those teams have the records they do.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @YahooSchwab
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