Seattle Seahawks pass rusher Bruce Irvin will miss the first four games of the regular season due to a positive test for performance enhancing drugs. One of the Panthers' toughest games of 2013 has become a little easier.
While the league hasn't officially announced what the suspension is for, Dave Softy Mahler is reporting that the suspension is for Adderall -- which has become quite the theme for Pete Carroll's team.
While the Seahawks have plenty of defensive talent, they're not quite as deep as edge rusher as you may think. Cliff Avril will start along with Michael Bennett, but there are no guarantees that Bennett's 9.0 sack season in 2012 was anything buy an anomaly. If you know much about how Seattle's defense operates you'll know about the importance of the Leo linebacker role -- which is now taken away without Irvin.
Obviously it's still a brutal game, but in 2012 the Seahawks only managed to beat the Panthers by four points, and in that game it was Irvin who contributed two of the team's four sacks.