Panthers vs Saints: Defensive Preview

Hello CSR! We’re onto the next game as the Panthers will welcome the 1-8 New Orleans Saints to Charlotte for part one of their annual NFC South two-game-tilt. The Panthers are coming off their biggest win of the season, as their defense managed to hold a very good Packers offense to only 13 points in their home stadium. Meanwhile, the Saints are coming off a 34-10 beat down by the Rams where their offense struggled to run the football and the leading receiver from the day Rashid Shaheed has since been traded. Rookie 2nd round pick Tyler Shough has taken the reigns of the offense, let’s dive right into the matchup!

• Contain Alvin Kamara and Tayson Hill. While the Saints offense has been very bad this season, in recent history Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill have notoriously given this defense problems. Granted, this Panthers defense is performing (most weeks) well above what we’ve come to expect for quite a few seasons. Still, the Saints should lean on Kamara and Hill both in the rushing game and as passing threats. Kamara is coming off a rough 5 game stretch where he hasn’t run for more than 31 yards in any of them, and in only one game he eclipsed that number as a receiver. He also hasn’t scored since week 1. Taysom Hill’s production has been relatively limited all season, though he ended up being the leading Saints rusher last week with 30 yards on 4 carries. This team hasn’t been able to find much of a groove all season in the rushing game, but this is the perfect game for them to try and turn that ship around. The Panthers offense is playing a much more ball control, low margin for error game plan, so the Saints may follow suit and try to lean on the guys who have often given this defense headaches in recent years.
• Take advantage of a weakened offensive line. The Saints also just traded away OG Trevor Penning, and starting right tackle Taliese Fuaga is expected to miss Sunday with a high ankle sprain. That means at least two backups will be starting for a unit that hasn’t run the ball very well and is starting a rookie quarterback. While the Panthers pass rush hasn’t been a strength this season, they’ve started to wake up a bit over the last several games. Being beat up at EDGE certainly isn’t helping things, but this is definitely a game to pile on some sacks and affect throws from Tyler Shough. They often need to dial up the blitz to get pressure, this may be a game where they won’t have to do it as much.
• Juwan Johnson and Chris Olave should be priority #1 for the secondary. As stated earlier, the Saints just gave up a promising young piece in Shaheed. Chris Olave and Jaycee Horn is always a fun matchup to watch, while Juwan Johnson is having himself a pretty good season as...