Interviewing a Cardinals blogger for an inside perspective on the Panthers next opponent
The Carolina Panthers are set to host the Arizona Cardinals for a likely forgettable home finale to the equally forgettable, hopefully, 2024 season. Very little has gone the way fans hoped this season, including a season long effort from Bryce Young that can be best described as “a mixed bag.” There is still time left for Young to elevate that reputation for this season, but right now a lot of fans are feeling like they are leaving the year with less certainty than they entered it.
The Cardinals and their fans are no strangers to those feelings, so we dug into that this week when interviewing Seth Cox over at Revenge of the Birds. We also has the obligatory conversation about the prospects of James Conner and Kyler Murray against what is left of the Panthers defense. Read on for more.
The Cardinals are a run first team with a short quarterback and, after this Sunday, a winning record. What’s the difference between them and the Panthers who meet most of those same descriptors?
I think finding the balance on things. With James Conner, you have a dynamic, powerful running game, but you also have a time that thrives on grinding teams into the ground. I think the Panthers have some of that, but they seem to lack the second part, which the Cardinals are still in the process of getting right, which is a good, play-action based passing game.
If the Cardinals can develop a better passing game on top of already having a very good rushing attack, then who knows how far that can take them. However, with the way the wide receiver room is built, it is the tight end who thrives the most, as a lot of the wide receiver reps seem to either be cardio, or 50/50 balls.
There is not a whole lot of nuance yet in the passing game.
Maybe it is coming, maybe it is not with who they have calling players, running routes, throwing the ball, but things are not terrible, which for Cardinals fans is a step up from normal.
The NFL’s single season rushing record is 2,105 yards, set by the Los Angeles Rams’ Eric Dickerson in 1984 in 16 games. James Conner is 1,132 yards away from that record right now. How confident are you that he can reach or break that record on Sunday?
Man, I remember last year, and it was the same feeling for much of the season. It is defeating to know that most Sunday’s are going to be unbearable, but it should get better, I really like Canales and Eviro.
I did talk about the fact I don’t expect a big game from Kyler Murray throwing the ball this week, because the Cardinals should be able to win up front. We have seen the Cardinals clear 200 yards rushing twice this season, I think that is the gameplan once again this week.
All jokes aside, how do the Cardinals win games? How does that match up with how y’all see the Carolina Panthers?
As stated above, I think they lean on their rushing attack, although they will be without Paris Johnson Jr. (maybe for the remainder of the season), and their dynamic rookie running back in Trey Benson.
However, Conner looks incredible spry for this late in the season, and anytime Michael Carter gets his number called for the Cardinals he produces. I expect more of the same this week in the rushing game.
Defensively, I think the Panthers offense can keep things interesting, but they will need Bryce Young and the passing game to give them something this week.
I see this game playing out similarly to the Patriots game last week, where the Cardinals control things, but the Panthers rushing attack looks good, just gets down a little too much, meaning they have to lean on Young and go away from Chuba Hubbard.
Bryce Young and Kyler Murray are listed as being the same 5’10. How does Murray’s height affect him as a passer and how do the Cardinals get around his, uh, short comings?
Murray is weird, because he has one trump card over almost every quarterback, and that is his legs, but he seems hell bent on proving he is dynamic from the pocket, and it just isn’t his strong suit.
So, you get uneven performances, missed windows and big then sometimes big plays. If Murray would embrace his ability to move around more, it feels like the big games we have seen in the past would be more common, but I don’t know.
Do you expect the Cardinals to cover the -4.5 pt spread in their favor?
I do, I think this is a game where the Cardinals get out to an early lead, 10-0, maybe 14-0 and then kind of hold on.
If the Panthers passing attack was a little more consistent, I would see this game being very close, but I think the Panthers have not shown that consistency, which means if you get the good Panthers passing attack, I could see a 27-24 type of game. If we see what happened last week, I think we see the Arizona Cardinals cover this one 28-17.
I wish you fans a Happy Holidays and a quick turnaround for the franchise. I know how terrible it is to have to do this week-to-week. And this is coming from someone who is just relishing a 0.500 season and playing “meaningful” games into December. I know this Cardinals team is not competing for a Super Bowl, but with how the NFC South looks, you could see the Panthers in a similar situation next year, where December football matters.
Good luck and good health in this one.