Earlier this year, repeated miscues by Jimmy Horn Jr. forced the Carolina Panthers to release him. He struggled to grasp the playbook and was out of position at times, but the straw that broke the camel's back was a horrible muffed punt on special teams.

Horn had some upside, but the Panthers doing that proved that they do care about winning. They can talk about being serious and how they want to take the next step. Cutting Horn was one of the rare moves that suggested it wasn't just talk, and it came

This suggested that a Week 1 blowout at home was not acceptable. Losing by 22 to the Chicago Bears and allowing 59 was not going to fly, and Horn, perhaps somewhat unfairly, was held responsible and was the odd man out.

The Panthers had a perfect opportunity to do that ahead of tonight's game versus the Green Bay Packers in so many different ways, and they refused to do it.

David Moore's muffed punt on Tampa Bay's second possession last week was a huge backbreaker. After the Buccaneers marched down with ease and the Panthers punted, the defense made a big stop, only for Moore to gift them free points. It really went downhill from there.

That is just like the Horn muff. It wasn't the only reason they lost, but it played a role. And it would've been easy to send a message. They could've left Moore inactive, cut him (he doesn't do anything but field fair-catch punts), or simply removed him from the role.

Trevor Etienne is a capable returner, and he has given no reason this year for the Panthers to reduce his role. It's uncommon to have two returners, and the Panthers could've just reverted back to normal to send the message that that sort of thing doesn't fly for a serious organization.

We talked about how the Panthers couldn't fire Ejiro Evero on a short week, even if they wanted to make a change and send a message (which we don't truly believe they do). But they could have done this.

Moore is a favorite of the coaching staff, so much so that even after cutting him in the preseason (an overdue move), they signed him back to the practice squad and elevated him pretty quickly to the main roster.

He isn't moving the needle and would've been a perfect scapegoat, as unfair as that is, to let everyone know that a 30-point home loss isn't acceptable. Or maybe it is.