PHILADELPHIA -- Carolina Panthers general manager Dave Gettleman doesn't hesitate to say the key to building a successful team starts with "hog mollies," his endearing nickname for big players on the offensive and defensive line.
The longer this season goes, it's apparent the "hog mollies" on the offensive side aren't giving the Panthers a chance to succeed.
The longer this season goes, it's apparent Gettleman might have misjudged when he put his faith in a pair of undrafted players at left and right tackle.
As poorly as quarterback Cam Newton played in Monday night's 45-21 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, he never really had a chance.
Newton was sacked a career-high nine times, including five in the first half when the first pick of the 2011 draft threw three interceptions.
In nine starts this season, Newton has been sacked 30 times, the second-most in the NFL behind San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick. He's on pace to be sacked 50 times, which would be seven more than last season.
This game was supposed to be different. Newton was supposed to have more protection with the left side of his offensive line back after tackle Byron Bell (knee) and guard Amini Silatolu (calf) missed the last game.
Instead, it got worse.
"I don't know what to tell you," center Ryan Kalil said. "It's not good."
Newton tried to shoulder some of the blame, saying he has to get rid of the ball faster to "relieve any type of stress from the offensive line."
He didn't complain about the physical toll being hit that many times took on this night or will take over the course of the season.
"Yeah, I got hit a lot, but it's all in the game," he said. "We're not playing ballet. We're not running track or anything. This is a physical sport. It's what you sign up for."
No quarterback signs up to get hit that often.
And if this was a ballet, the show the Panthers are putting on wouldn't make it to Broadway.
When you ask what went wrong, the most common answer is "a little bit of everything."
"It's a little disappointing," Bell said. "That's not the standard. That's not how we do things."
Unfortunately for Carolina, that is how it is doing things. Newton was sacked four times last week and three times in each of the two previous games. He's been sacked 19 times in the last four games.
You don't win games by going backwards.
The Panthers have been going backwards in terms of protecting Newton since he arrived at Carolina. He was sacked 5.9 percent of the time as a rookie, 6.5 percent in 2012, 7.8 percent in 2013 and 8.7 percent this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information.
Gettleman has to shoulder some of the blame. He had chances to go after free agents and didn't sign them. He restructured the deal of left tackle Jordan Gross to eliminate this season from his contract, which led to the Pro Bowler retiring.
Injuries have played a factor. The starting line hasn't played more than a couple of games with everyone healthy. The most experienced backup at guard and tackle was lost when Garry Williams was placed on injured reserve early.
The longer this season goes it's apparent the line is a position Gettleman has to address before any other during the offseason in both free agency and the draft.
That he cut corners financially this year, hoping to make the players he had work, will leave him with the money to make moves. The Panthers have only $16.3 million committed to linemen this season. That's well under the league average of $20.5 million and about $13 million less than the Eagles have spent in 2014.
Meanwhile, the Panthers (3-6-1) have to figure out a way to make it through the next six games with the players they have. Their quarterback's health may depend on it.
"You have to be mentally tough," Kalil said. "You have to be a hard critic to yourself and you have to see what you not doing and fix it. You have to do it in a hurry."
