This stat review piece has become heavily skewed towards Christian McCaffrey, but can you blame me? The guy keeps churning out huge performances each week regardless of the opponent. Against the Tennessee Titans, he churned out 146 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. He was limited to just three catches for 20 yards in the passing game, but he still managed to find the end zone there as well.
At the halfway point of his season, McCaffrey has gained 1,244 total yards and scored 13 touchdowns, both most in the league. His 155.5 yards per game is nearly 19 yards per game more than the next best player, Dalvin Cook. There have been twelve touchdown runs of 50 yards or more this season. McCaffrey has three of them. No other player has more than one. He’s on his way to a historic season if he can maintain this level of play.
Elsewhere on offense, DJ Moore caught seven passes for 101 yards. It’s the first 100 yard game for a Panthers wide receiver this season and the first since Moore went for 157 against the Lions in Week 11 last season. Moore now has 564 receiving on the season, putting him on pace to be the first Panthers wide receiver to top 1,000 yards since Kelvin Benjamin in 2014. No Panthers wide receiver has topped 1,100 for the Panthers since Steve Smith did it in 2012.
On defense, the Panthers sacked Ryan Tannehill four times, giving them a league leading 34 on the season. That puts them on pace for 68 over the course of a full season. The NFL record is 72. They’ve done that without a single player currently in the top ten in sacks. It’s a tremendously balanced pass rush. The Panthers also picked off Tannehill twice, giving them 12 picks for the season. Only the Patriots have more with 19.
It’s not all hunky dory on that side of the ball though. The Panthers allowed the Titans to rush for 121 yards on 5.8 yards per carry. They’re now allowing opponents an average of 5.1 yards per carry on the season, tied with the lowly Bengals for the worst mark in the league.