The Panthers are all but eliminated from the playoffs, as while they could still close the three game gap they have to the Vikings, with five games left, it would be almost impossible for the Panthers to do so in a way that also allows them to leapfrog the Rams, Eagles and Bears, and won’t be made any easier by having to play the Colts, Seahawks and Saints in addition in a trip to Atlanta. However, they do still have one eminently winnable game left on their schedule, and it just so happens that it is this weekend – at home to Washington. It certainly would be foolish to hold out much hope that the Panthers make the playoffs, but a home win certainly wouldn’t do them any harm, so what do the Panthers need to do to move back to .500 and give their fans something to cheer for?
Stop The Run
Washington doesn’t throw the ball very well. They rank last in the NFL in passing yards, 31st in passing touchdowns, seventh in interceptions, 19th in completion percentage, 27th in yards-per-completion and fourth in sack percentage allowed. Or, to put it a different way, only the Jets have thrown the ball less efficiently so far this season (via PFR), and they were starting Luke Falk at one point. Now, this doesn’t mean you go out there and play cover 0 man defense every play, but it does mean that if you can stop Washington on the ground, you have a pretty good chance of coming away with the W.
Superficially, Washington will be aided in this by the return from injury of 2018 second round pick Derrius Guice, but so far, he has struggled to make much of an impact. What they do still have, however, is Adrian Peterson – and while he isn’t exactly in his prime, he has still managed to churn out a respectable 4.1 yards per attempt. The Panthers did a much better job against the run against the Falcons, and while the results were a little more mixed against the Saints, there should be some hope that the Panthers are able to limit Washington in this regard and force the game into the hands of Dwayne Haskins. However, there is one significant issue that they face in doing this – the absence of Dontari Poe.
Poe didn’t have the best first season in Carolina, but he has been much better in 2019, and his season-ending quad injury is going to be a real loss, especially as they don’t have any other clear nose tackles on the roster with Vernon Butler’s move towards being more of a 3-4 DE. The Panthers have inked 339 pound Stacy McGee to take some of those snaps up front, but how they are able to adjust to a second major injury on the defensive line this season could go a long way to determine how the Panthers are able to defend the run both on Sunday and for the rest of the season.
Kyle Allen Needs To Be Good Outside
Kyle Allen was really quite good on Sunday against the Saints – just as it was foolish to praise him when the Panthers were winning with defense earlier in the season, it would be foolish to criticize him for not winning a game in which he was far from the weakest link. However, there does now seem to be something of a trend between when he is good (domes, where he has thrown nine touchdowns and zero interceptions) and when he is bad (not domes, where he has thrown six scores against nine interceptions). While it is generally easier for all quarterbacks to play inside, Allen seems to be particularly prone to struggles outside, whether that be due to a fairly mediocre arm or some other unknown factor.
The reason why this matters is two-fold. First and perhaps most pressing: the Panthers play outside, so if Allen is going to continue to struggle, it is likely to be quite a significant factor in his value to the team. Second, because where this impacts him most is when looking to throw the ball deep and – somewhat ironically – outside. This means that defenses are able to effectively compact the field both vertically and horizontally and shrink the windows that Allen has to throw to – even when he isn’t looking to throw the ball deep.
Allen, of course, does have other issues that have shown up at times throughout this season, but this is certainly something to keep an eye on. He doesn’t need to be dropping 50 yard bombs left, right and center, but in all but three games this season he has failed to have a completion of over 40 yards, with three games having no completions of over 30 yards. Allen isn’t ever going to be the second coming of Brett Favre, but he needs to be more consistent with his deep ball, especially outside of domes.
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