Cat Scratch Reader
Hello CSR! We got week 2 rolling in as the Panthers face off against Kyler Murray and the Cardinals on Sunday afternoon. The Panthers, as you all know, are coming off a loss where the defense allowed over 200 yards rushing and generally struggled getting after the QB all day. Meanwhile, the Cardinals offense beat the Saints in a 20-13 effort where QB Kyler Murray threw 2 touchdown passes. The Panthers defense will look for a get right game (hopefully their offense can bounce back which should help out overall) while the Cardinals will look to start another season off on a winning streak. Let’s dive in.
While the Panthers did a pretty good job against the Jaguars passing offense (178 total yards) and specifically against the Jaguars key weapons in Brian Thomas Jr (1 catch for 11 yards, 1 rushing TD) and Travis Hunter (6 catches for 33 yards), the middle of the field was open for several big catches by TE Brenton Strange and WR Dyami Brown. Jaycee Horn himself did an excellent job against whatever WR he was covering, but this week the defense will face a much higher end receiving tight end in McBride. Since Horn will most likely be tasked with Harrison on the majority of snaps, the Panthers will need to have a game plan for McBride. Their linebackers were arguably the worst of the bunch on defense last week, so it seems the Cardinals should be targeting the middle area of the field as much as possible. Harrison is also coming off a good game, with 5 catches for 71 yards and a TD. In order to control this game on defense, those two will require the majority of their attention.
After sitting on the game for a few days to digest, the Panthers rush defense wasn’t as bad as the 200 yard stat mark they allowed last Sunday. They also were not helped by a Panthers offense that wasn’t scoring points and instead turned the ball over 3 times (4 if you count the missed 4th down on the goal line). Obviously, simply fielding a more effective offense solves a lot of the problems for the rushing defense, as they spent the majority of the last game with a negative game script. The Cardinals only handed the ball off to a running back 20 times last week, but I would assume they will lean on traditional running plays a bit more this week, since the Panthers rushing defense does still appear to be a weak point for them. The Panthers will also be shorthanded as DL Tershawn Wharton won’t play on Sunday.
The Cardinals won on Sunday, but Kyler Murray got sacked 5 times. He ended up running the ball quite a bit, with 7 rushes for 38 yards to supplement the rest of the offensive production. The Panthers meanwhile didn’t sack...
