The emphasis in the Panthers practice all week has been that they have to get a good start at the beginning of the game. They've modified their practicing techniques to hopefully change that by upping the speed of their scrimmaging on Wednesday and Friday, and on Thursday they practiced without their pads on. Will faster practices=faster starts when gametime rolls around? Only time will tell. It's clear that we cannot allow what happened last week to happen again. Sure 28 points is sufficient enough to win the game, we all know that. Jon Beason tried to make that point in the post-game conference when the reporters came up to talk to him. That's not necessarily the case though. No matter how you get beat, you still got beat. If the offense would have played 2 halves of the game instead of just one, we might have taken the game and turned it into a shootout. That sure beats sitting in front of the TV watching your team play from behind and praying for the Falcons to throw a interception.

The Green Bay Packers shall meet the Panthers on their own home turf, and the Panthers need to get started quickly if they are to win this game. The Packers are desperate. You cannot write an article about the Packers without mentioning Brett Favre, and the Packers are 5-6 in their first season without him. Mike McCarthy and the rest of the coaching staff took a huge risk in throwing Brett Favre to the curb, and they desperately need a win/loss ratio to prove that they can live without him. In a city where people have grown up with a young gunslinger maturing into the coaching legend we all know him as, the outcry will be very great if they drop this game to the Panthers and drop to 5-7 with only 4 games left in the season to play. McCarthy, can you say hot seat? It'll be like someone lit a fire under your ass. Goodbye Packers. Hello Pink Slip.

The Panthers will win the game with their running game. Let me repeat that. The Panthers will win this game by running the football. They need to do it the moment they hit the football field all the way to the end of the game when they're running the ball to run out the clock. These guys are one of the best teams in the league in defending the pass, and they aren't satisfied in jumping on the ground when they have the interception, they love to take it to the house. They have returned 6 out of 17 interceptions to the house so far this year. I expect a lot of swing passes and play action passes to keep the offense on their heels, but I want that ball banged up the middle. The Panthers should easily win out on offense this game if they follow the Fox philosophy in establishing the run.

Now let's move onto the top matchups of this game.

1. Panthers vs Slow Starts

This is what really killed the Panthers during our last game. It wasn't as much the Atlanta Falcons as it was the Panthers offense not clicking. There were dropped balls, screwed up routes, the running game failed because the O-line didn't get their blocks. It was a nightmare for the first half. They looked like the Detroit Lions. Ok, that's probably going a bit too far, but the night/day transformation in the 2nd half was interesting to watch. Suddenly we're running the football and having our way with the Falcons, and all the fans are wondering where all of that went in the 1st half. That can't happen again. We're aiming for the 1st week bye in the playoffs. Let's not screw it up here.

2. Jordan Gross vs Mike Montgomery

Mike has an ankle injury that's been nagging him for a while and he and didn't practice for the game on Sunday. He's listed as probable on the injury report, but if for some reason he cannot play then he shall be replaced by a 31 year old veteran in Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila. If Williams and Stewart run up the left side and Jordan Gross gets this block, we should have a lot of success especially with the injury to Nick Barnett and the decline of A.J. Hawk that's been quietly going on since his rookie season. And while I'm on that subject.... 

3. Diangelo Williams/Stewie vs Packers Linebackers

There is a gaping hole in the middle of the field left by the injury of Nick Barnett, a player that was able to stop many of the leagues top tacklers in 2007. They have relied to heavily on him to stop the run, and Diangelo Williams/Stewie should be able to make the most of this and burn the linebacker core once he gets past the defensive line.

4. Muhsin Muhammad vs Al Harris

The Green Bay Packers will probably stick Steve Smith with their cornerback Charles Woodson. He's having a great year, and has already posted 5 interceptions with 2 returned to the house. That's rather impressive, and it will make Jake hesitant to throw towards him whenever he's anywhere near Steve Smith. So then you have to turn to the other side of the field. With Al Harris being 33 going up against Muhsin Muhammad whom is 35, it looks like we'll have a battle of the veterans. Al isn't going to be able to do bump coverage on him, Moose is just too big and strong for that. He's going to be forced to play off of him, and it might just be to his undoing. If Jake can get many small passes thrown his way, he should be pretty successful.

That's it for this week, I shall leave you with a wise saying.

 "Know thy enemy and know thyself and thou shall have victory in every battle." -Sun Tzu