Hello everyone here at Cat Scratch Reader! Connor Harrison here with your Week Two Preview Report.
The Carolina Panthers are coming off yet another tough loss, after failing to finish yet another game in the 4th quarter against a tough Seattle Seahawks team. This week they will travel to Buffalo to take on a young Bills team who also lost a tough one to the New England Patriots.
While many Panther fans are already having flashbacks to a 2-8 start, I will tell you this: it is not time to panic. We lost to a top three team in the NFL, and had one fumble or one less stupid mental mistake not happened, that game would have been ours. The NFL is a long season, and losing week one means nothing...just ask the 2005 Carolina Panthers. As for Buffalo, let's take a quick inside look at their game last week.
Playing at home with a rookie quarterback, Buffalo played a very similar game to ours. The game was back and forth and competitive to the end. E.J. Manuel threw a pair of touchdowns and had no turnovers, while defensively, Buffalo pressured Brady and forced three New England turnovers.
Now, while many people may be thinking that Buffalo could give us a tough game this weekend, I will have to disagree.Here are my three keys to victory for the Carolina Panthers:
1) Pressure Manuel
New England gave the rookie all the time in the world to throw, which is why he had a stellar debut. Unlike New England, Carolina has a Kraken, Lochness Monster, and a Star in the middle. Which I believe will be too much for Buffalo to handle.
2) Play To Win
While I liked the play calling last week, I felt that we didn't take enough deep shots. I felt like we played to just "compete." I think it's time we let Cam do what he does best and throw that deep ball to 89, 19 or 88. However, let us not forget to feed the ball to DeAngelo, because Buffalo gave up 7.2 yard on the ground to a weak Patriot backfield.
3) Eliminate Mental Mistakes
While fifteen yard may feel like nothing, it actually has quite a bit of difference in a game. Don't believe me? Just watch last weeks film. However, I think 89 fixed this problem last week for the majority of us.
The key match-up for week 2 will be:
The Carolina Offensive Line vs. The Bills Defensive Front
As stated earlier, the Bills pressured Brady throughout the entire game, and while I would like to say the Patriots just had a pathetic offensive line, I can say the same about us, although Week 1 they showed improvement. The Bills front is led by Mario Williams, a name many of us are familiar with being a former 1st overall pick. While I believe, or hope anyways, that our offensive line will hold up for the most part, I do believe that they will blitz us a lot, because that (our line) is one of our weaknesses.
Prediction:
After a devastating loss, I do believe the Panthers will make a statement in their first road game this Sunday, with a 24-10 victory over the Buffalo Bills. Our Defense will make the rookie QB look like a rookie, and our offense will slowly, but surely pick up the pace.