While the Carolina Panthers passing game was a huge factor in their 33-30 win against the Patriots, they now face another test heading to Ford Field to face the Detroit Lions, whose vertical passing attack led by the highest-paid quarterback in the league Matthew Stafford may not be as scary as you think they are when you break down their offense. For as prolific as Matthew Stafford and the Lions are in your minds, their statistics thus far in 2017 actually reveal an offense that is struggling to put together coherent drives and may have been so successful thus far due to their high turnover differential.

While Jim Bob Cooter has a fun name to say, the improvements in the Lions offensive game have mostly been due to smoke and mirrors as he limits the amount of mistakes Matthew Stafford can make downfield and instead focuses on short or intermediate passes to try and get the balls into the hands of their playmakers quickly. This sounds great in theory, but it actually eliminates deep threats and allows defenses to focus in on what has become a fairly predictable offense.

For instance, the Lions run the ball on 1st-and-10 on 63.11% of their plays, third-most in the league behind the Redskins and the Colts; this allows the defense to key in on the run and through four weeks these first down rushes have averaged only 3.24 yards per play. They’re not being successful when they throw downfield either due to the offensive line’s struggles to keep blitzers or opposing defensive lines away, Stafford only completed five passes that were in the air for more than 10 yards last week against the Vikings.

His wide receivers Golden Tate and Marvin Jones are both extremely talented wideouts capable of attacking the defense from anywhere in the lineup. Tate moves to the slot effortlessly and has been a more reliable target than Jones with a 75% catch rate (vs. Jones at 44%), although that may be due to the short and intermediate routes that Tate runs. This short, quick passing attack is designed to take pressure off of Matthew Stafford, so the Panthers corners must focus on playing up on the receivers and not giving them room near the line of scrimmage. It will also require them to tackle quickly once the ball is caught, yards after catch for the Lions will be a death knell for the Panthers defense.

Ebron

Photo Credit: Bob Donnan/USA Today Sports

Eric Ebron and Kenny Golladay are the primary short-yardage receivers whom the Lions will look to when they need a completion in goal-to-go situations or the sticks are less than four yards away. Golladay has been excellent from the slot in replacing Anquan Boldin and his 6-foot-4 frame is hard to contain on slants and skinny posts. Ebron has had trouble with drops throughout his career and that trend has continued in 2017; the Panthers linebacking corp should be able to render Ebron a non-factor in coverage.

The Lions 3-1 record can mostly be credited to their ball-hawking secondary, which has produced seven interceptions through four games, Cam Newton must be careful with his reads and decisions; he had one interception last week due to great play recognition by Malcolm Butler, but had Devin Funchess not batted down another long ball, Newton would have had another one.

The Lions take advantage of quarterbacks’ mistakes and Newton is prone to them.

Aside from their ability to force turnovers, the Lions’ cornerbacks Darius Slay and Quandre Diggs will have trouble, as most cornerbacks do, with the big bodies of Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess. When Benjamin is matched up with Diggs in the slot as the Panthers continue to confuse the defenses with motioning their receivers and running backs throughout the formation, he should be able to box him out easily for short completions.

If the Panthers can win the turnover battle, something they have not been able to do thus far in 2017, they should be able to defeat the Detroit Lions on the road; the addition of safety Jairus Byrd to the Panthers safety position should help, as between he and Mike Adams, they have 50 interceptions throughout their careers. The turnover differential is always important, but on Sunday, if the Panthers have won the battle in the turnover column, chances are they will be winning on the scoreboard as well.

Josh Klein on Twitter
Josh Klein
Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report
Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.