The Bucs stacked the defense to stop Christian McCaffrey all night in the 20-14 victory on Thursday that dropped the Panthers to 0-2 for the first time since 2013. They showed no respect for Cam Newton as a runner, loading the box to shut down McCaffrey and forcing the quarterback to get rid of the ball quickly when a pass was called.

Newton failed, missing 15 wide-open targets, according to ESPN Stats & Information tracking.

McCaffrey, a week after having 128 yards rushing and 81 receiving, didn’t stand a chance. He had 56 total yards, spending much of the night drawn into blocking blitzing defenders.

HC Ron Rivera said the Bucs did a "green dog," making it look like a blitz was coming and causing McCaffrey to step up and block. Now the Panthers must adjust as they face two road games at Arizona and Houston. The story said it also means Newton must be more effective completing short and intermediate passes. The piece added Newton missed open receivers, but especially when under pressure. Expect the Cards and Texans to try and do the same over the next two weeks.

Cameron Artis-Payne was released Friday during the Panthers' final cuts.

The Panthers upped the ante in April, selecting Jordan Scarlett (5-foot-10, 209 pounds) in the fifth round out of Florida with the hope he had the all-around skills to give starter Christian McCaffrey a break without losing much in terms of production. They also added undrafted back Elijah Holyfield out of Georgia (Update: Holyfield was released after initially making the 53-man roster.)

It's worth nothing Scarlett is the team's RB behind McCaffrey, even though McCaffrey played on 91.3% of the snaps last season. The story said to truly be a backup to McCaffrey, Scarlett will have to become an effective pass-catcher, something he didn't do much and struggled with while at Florida.

Panthers head coach Ron Rivera discusses Christian McCaffrey's workload on Wednesday, “The goal is to cut down on his plays, but we’re not going to take away his touches,” Rivera said. “We want the ball in Christian’s hands. When he’s on the field, there’s no reason for him to be a decoy or be a swing guy."

Christian McCaffrey was on the field for 91.3% of all the Panthers snaps last season, a league-high for running backs. The team wants to limit his workload this season by streamlining his snaps with his touches, which would mean similar touch numbers, but a lowered snap percentage. With nobody behind him set to cut into his work, McCaffrey should be set up for another huge workload, making him one of the few backs in the league on pace to get 300+ touches this season.

Panthers offensive coordinator Norv Turner is ‘'concerned'' about the number of touches running back Christian McCaffrey had last season, about 320. That doesn't mean McCaffrey will be used less. Turner just wants to be smarter about using his star so he's playing less but perhaps getting more touches.

Turner said in a video that carries take more out of you than the completions. He added McCaffrey played over 90% of the plays last year and a lot of those he was "running a swing or getting out of the way." Turner said they need to get someone else on the field to that, but at the same time not minimize McCaffrey's touches. It sounds like McCaffrey will get his work, but maybe see less time on the field.

Cam Newton began throwing regulation-size footballs again during spring workouts, including a team livestream during minicamp in June. That was the first time the public had seen Newton throw since the Week 15 loss to New Orleans. He progressed from throwing to stationary targets one day, to shorter routes the next, and finally to intermediate routes 20-25 yards down the field.

Which brings us to the present, with Newton slated to be a full participant when training camp opens July 24 at Wofford College in Spartanburg.

The Panthers have long set training camp as their expectation for Newton’s full return. The hope is he can continue developing a camaraderie with young receivers D.J. Moore and Curtis Samuel, as well as to rekindle his connection with running back Christian McCaffrey and tight end Greg Olsen.

As the story said, Newton struggled with “frustrating” shoulder soreness and tightness over the second half of last year, culminating with him sitting out the final two regular-season games. After the season, Newton had an arthroscopic procedure that was described as a “clean-out” rather than to repair any specific injury. It was said the cartilage damage was much less severe than originally suspected.

Would imagine there will be some discussions this week about sitting Christian McCaffrey and Luke Kuechly in New Orleans.

Related players: Cameron Artis-Payne

Voth went on to say HC Ron Rivera wouldn't go far into that decision but said, "We need to be smart," and it could be a good time "to evaluate" younger players.