The Panthers didn’t have their best game against the 49ers – some might even go so far as to say they were abjectly poor – but as bad as that loss was, they have no choice but to move on and win against the Titans in order to keep their playoff hopes alive.
That might sound overly dramatic for the eighth game of the season for a team with a winning record, but the Panthers are currently a game-and-a-half back in the race for the sixth seed – and given that they only have three remaining games against teams with losing records, losing this Sunday at home against a 4-4 Titans team would essentially mean they would have to win out from there to make the playoffs…..that’s not ideal when you have two road games against one-loss teams in the Saints and the Packers.
So, having said all that, the Panthers should be seen as favorites against the Titans this Sunday, but at this point the Panthers absolutely cannot afford to take this game for granted.
Quarterback Needs to Execute, Whatever That Means
Kyle Allen has outperformed his role as a backup quarterback.
He has had some genuinely good games – most notably against the Cardinals – as well as some pretty poor games – most notably last week in San Francisco – for a player who came in to the team 18 months ago with almost zero expectations. Allen has, at the very least, given himself a chance at being a backup quarterback for a number of years either in Carolina or elsewhere. However, if you want to make the playoffs in a loaded NFC, you need better quarterback play than what he is able to provide. However, with Cam Newton ruled out for another week, the Panthers will have to trust him to pull out one last win – and maybe another, but we’ll leave that for “Five Ways To Beat the Packers”.
What the Panthers will need Allen to do against the Titans is to consistently execute the plays as they are designed. The Titans pass defense is actually quite good, but they don’t generate a ton of pressure up front and don’t blitz a lot, so he will be tasked with being able to consistently find the open man against dropback coverage. The Titans’ aren’t as good a defense as the 49ers, and they certainly don’t generate anywhere near as much pressure, but they do have some nice coverage players on the back end and are more than capable of capitalizing on any mistakes he might make.
As always, Allen doesn’t need to be a star, he just needs to move the ball when asked to do so and not to throw the ball to the opposing team. We saw the worst of Kyle Allen on Sunday, running into pressure and failing to work through his reads in key situations, but if he can do just enough one more time, then he has a chance to keep the Panthers playoff hopes alive.
Run Defense Needs To Step Up
The Titans’ run game isn’t very good, ranking 24th in yards per carry, 20th in rushing yards per game and leading the NFL in fumbles. However, as promising as this is for the Panthers’ chances of stifling the Titans’ rushing attack, the Panthers run defense…..also hasn’t been very good this season. While their averages certainly weren’t helped by Sunday’s performance against the 49ers, only the Bengals allow more yards per carry to this point in the season and nobody has given up as many rushing touchdowns. All-in-all, PFR have the Panthers ranked as the least efficient run defense in the NFL.
That isn’t good.
While the Panthers have been able to hide this somewhat this season by getting leads and then following those leads with sacks and interceptions as teams are forced to throw the ball, if the Panthers aren’t able to stop the run, it is going to be hard for them to get off the field even against weaker rushing teams. Given that the Panthers’ remaining opponents rank an average of 20th in rushing efficiency, there should be some hope that the Panthers are able to improve on their performances in this regard so far this season.
To do this, the Panthers have to be more disciplined on defense, something that the 49ers really exposed on Sunday. This is particularly true for the second level defenders, with both Shaq Thompson and Eric Reid being caught in the wrong place on multiple occasions in San Francisco. Run defense is generally very simplistic, and so the solution to any problem is often very simple – as is it for the Panthers. The key is being able to do the right thing consistently, and making the tackles that present themselves to you.
The Panthers need to be better at just doing the simple things against Derrick Henry and the Titans.
Up Next: O-Line and Consistently Rushing on Both Sides of the Ball
