The Carolina Panthers could be facing a cold Sunday in Green Bay, which could push the game situation into their favor as that generally tends to lend itself to running the football. With Christian McCaffrey putting in an all-world level effort this season, we should see a lot of him. But does he need to touch the ball 30 times?
Christian McCaffrey needs to be an emphasis, but not THE emphasis
The Green Bay Packers sport the No. 24 rushing defense by yards per game going into Sunday. They are coming off a game where they surrendered a four yards per carry effort by the less-effective-than-usual Melvin Gordon and a 5.8 yards per carry average by Austin Ekeler for a combined 150 yards and two touchdowns. The rushing defense isn’t great, meaning the Panthers usual game plan of running the football down the defenses throats will likely continue as usual. However, while McCaffrey has been amazing, eventually defenses will start to key in on him and make you beat them elsewhere. This is where some diversification rushing the football can be key. I want to see Curtis Samuel, DJ Moore, Alex Armah, and even the back up running backs involved on Sunday, because it will help keep the defense off balance. McCaffrey’s grind of 25-30 touches per game can’t last forever, and this is an opportunity not to run him into the ground, and potentially hit the Packers from several different angles.
The offensive tackles need to step up
The Packers sport a ferocious group on the outside between Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith, as the pair have a combined 16.5 sacks between them since the start of the season. No mater how effective rushing the football is on Sunday, Kyle Allen is going to have to throw the football, and nothing can derail a drive quite like a sack on second down and long. Luckily, the Panthers have managed to make Dennis Daley work on the left side and Taylor Moton continues to work well on the right. With the Packers 3-4 defense taking up space in the middle, these two might have a harder workload than usual.
Kyle Allen must continue to progress
I’ve said during the Keep Sounding podcast this week that I felt Kyle Allen’s performance on Sunday was the best as an NFL quarterback so far from a passing standpoint. He wasn’t perfect, as some of his throws lacked the ideal ball placement, such as outside throws not being on the receiver’s outside shoulder. These issues are fixable, and it’s nice to see Norv Turner opening up the vertical passing game. Even when it isn’t the most effective, it keeps the Panthers offense from being one dimensional, and allows Moore and Curtis Samuel to be factors. I expect Norv to continue opening it up as play action passing is a perfect mix with the skill set McCaffrey brings. It’s important for Kyle to continue his development on making quick reads and placing the ball where it needs to go. He’s done better, and is steadily progressing. This is a game where you’d like to see him take another step forward.
What are your keys to the game, Panthers fans?