Cat Scratch Reader
The 3-3 Carolina Panthers are heading to New Jersey to take on the 0-6 New York Jets. Coming off an impressive, but far from easy win, against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 6 and looking ahead to a Week 8 matchup against the Buffalo Bills, many Panthers fans are worried that the Jets present a classic trap game. That is, they are worried that the Panthers will lose to a worse team by showing up to MetLife stadium underprepared and overconfident.
There are two big reasons the Panthers can’t overlook the Jets: the core of their remaining offense and the location of the game.
The winless Jets are not exactly imposing on paper. Quarterback Justin Fields has been unwilling or unable to push the ball down the field in the passing game. This has resulted in only two wide receivers on the team seeing more than ten targets through six games. They are Garrett Wilson with 56 targets and Josh Reynolds with 12.
Wilson has already been ruled out of the game with a knee injury and Reynolds was a DNP for Wednesday’s practice and a limited participant in Thursday’s with a hip injury.
The rest of their offense has been spread through running backs Breece Hall and Isaiah Davis, and tight end Mason Taylor. They are the only other players on the Jets with ten or more targets on the season, having combined for 63 targets out of the team’s 170 passing attempts.
This is going to put stress on the Panthers linebackers, the weakest part of their defense. The edge players, already terrible at getting pressure, will have limited time to make a play on Fields. The inside backers will have to be solid in coverage and their run fits to keep the Jets from moving the ball down the field in short, effective bursts. Leaning on the front seven is an easy recipe for beating the 2025 Panthers and it’s also the only way the Jets know how to move the ball right now.
The secondary will have to nominally cover the Jets remaining wide receivers, leaving only some safety help to assist in covering Taylor.
The Panthers should be able to manage this task. They just can’t afford to assume that they will because of the next factor.
0-3 on the road is 0-3 on the road, I don’t care who you beat or even shutout at home. Something is wrong with the way this team started the season and they know it.
Until they knock off a better team than the Jets on the road, I trust the leaders on this team to keep their guys humble and focused on the week at hand. If they knock off the Green Bay Packers on the road in Week 9 and have a winning record down the stretch, then we can talk about Week 15 at the New Orleans Saints as a trap game.
This week, however?...
