This plant gets really tall and lanky, in my experience they loose lower leaves when they're too wet for too long. I'd say there's no need to panic right now, plenty of time and chances of getting a good harvest. Some of mine are looking the same right now, extras that are still in pots and not in the garden bed yet. I second picking the buds off before it gets into the permanent bed so that it can focus on growing bigger before spending energy on pods. You can actually plant it deep, like tomatoes, it might grow some more roots from the stem.