The Panthers offense had a slew of problems against the Vikings in Sunday’s 22-10 loss that included a silent day from wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin.
Benjamin was targeted once and finished the game without a catch, which is a big change for a player who had 13 catches on 21 targets in the first two weeks of the season. It’s one that Panthers offensive coordinator Mike Shula said can’t become a permanent one.
“Yeah, we’ve got to find a way to get him the ball more. That starts with me,” Shula said, via the team’s website. “But we’ve got to make sure we’re doing it in a way that we’re not just trying to force him the ball. ... That’s our job -- to continue to get our playmakers opportunities. They rolled to him at times but they also had some one-on-ones. But just because teams roll to a receiver doesn’t mean you still can’t get it to him. We just weren’t good enough yesterday.”
Any attempts to get Benjamin the ball will be more successful if there’s actually time for Cam Newton to throw the ball in his direction and there may have been more work for the wideout on Sunday if not for the eight sacks that Carolina allowed to the Vikings.