New England Patriots vs Carolina Panthers: Game Four Preview and Prediction
By Hal Bent
WHAT IS THE HIDDEN KEY TO THE GAME?
For New England, they need to stop the Panthers on third down. The key to that is stopping the Carolina running game on first and second down. Putting Cam Newton into third-and-long situations takes away some of his scrambling threat and forces him to look downfield and stay in the pocket.
The Panthers feature running back Jonathan Stewart as their lead back and the multi-purposed Christian McCaffrey as their swiss army knife in the backfield. Either back could be in the backfield on first or second down and New England has to be prepared for their two different running styles.
Stewart is on the back-half of his career now on the wrong side of 30, and has looked it through three games. He has just 162 yards rushing and a pedestrian 3.6 yards per rush average in 2017. McCaffrey has been dynamic in the passing game but struggled to find space in the running game averaging less than three yards per carry so far.
A large part of the blame goes to the Carolina offensive line. Center Ryan Kalil is their best blocker and he has been out with a neck injury since week two and is expected not to play Sunday. Center Tyler Larsen is just a back-up quality center. Also, the tackles have been underwhelming with big free agent signing Matt Kalil (yes, Ryan’s younger brother) a liability so far and right tackle Daryl Williams simply unathletic and has been overwhelmed too often in 2017.
Of course, the New England defensive line has to take advantage of the Panthers’ weak line. Tackles Malcom Brown and rookie Adam Butler have been quiet. Vincent Valentine (injured reserve) has been missed as veteran Alan Branch has been slow to get into playing shape and contribute. On the edge, Rob Ninkovich’s ability to set the edge and contain the running game is sorely missed.