The Panthers offensive line play has been nothing if not erratic this season. While Pro Football Focus may rank the Carolina offensive line group second in the league behind their Thursday night opponent Philadelphia Eagles, fans would point to the ten sacks between Weeks 2 and 3 as evidence that the line can falter any given week. The line has been playing well the past two weeks as they begin to gel around center Tyler Larsen, playing in relief of former all-pro Ryan Kalil as he recovers from a neck injury suffered before the Week 2 game against the Buffalo Bills. Larsen was informed he would be starting less than a half hour before the game and the offensive line suffered, allowing six sacks and constant pressure against what is probably the most talented defensive line they’ve faced in 2017.
Until now.
The Eagles defensive line is both deep and talented; even if they are missing their leader Fletcher Cox, as appears more and more likely on a short week, the Eagles are going to be able to cause trouble for any offensive line, the Panthers being next on the list. Like the Panthers, the Eagles use a heavy rotation on the defensive line, anchored by an explosive, powerful defensive tackle who plays approximately 75% of the snaps on any given week. For Carolina, this role belongs to Kawann Short. For Philadelphia on Thursday, this will fall to Timmy Jernigan.
Defensive tackle Timmy Jernigan has the quickness and explosiveness to get off the ball quickly combined with the power to break through double teams and will cause issues for the interior of the Panthers offensive line; luckily for the Panthers, guards Andrew Norwell and Trai Turner are the most talented parts of the group. Expect to see the Panthers double-teaming Jernigan with Larsen and one of their two dominant guards on a consistent basis; allowing him to go one-on-one with Larsen is a recipe for disaster for both the running game and the time Cam Newton will need in the pocket.
On the outside, the Eagles rotate through Vinny Curry, Brandon Graham, Chris Long, and rookie Derek Barnett; right tackle tackle Daryl Williams, who performed very well last week against the Lions, will be matched up for most of the game with Brandon Graham, who finished 2016 with the second most quarterback pressures in the NFL and leads the Eagles in sacks. Williams is going to have to duplicate his Week 5 performance and keep a clean pocket for quarterback Cam Newton against the powerful speed rusher Graham for the Panthers to continue the success they’ve shown in the past two weeks. Curry will rotate with Long against Matt Kalil, who allowed zero pressures last week against Ziggy Ansah and the Lions; while this is a good matchup for Kalil, he may find himself on an island on multiple occasions as the line tilts it’s blocking towards Brandon Graham by sending Chris Manhertz or a running back to help chip either Graham or Jernigan in the middle of the line.
Overall, the Eagles defensive line play an extremely disciplined brand of football and count on their two talented leaders in Graham and Jernigan to make plays while the rest of the line does their job and holds their blockers. Fletcher Cox is not mentioned here as he is not expected to play, but when you put both Jernigan and Cox in the middle of the line, it means that all three of the interior linemen are occupied on every play by the two tackles, leaving the offensive tackles on an island throughout the game, which can be a problem when you have speed rushers like Brandon Graham and Long or Curry on the outside.
