The Panthers defense has to climb through some adversity to start their second game of the season
Hello Panthers fans! Welcome to week 2 of the regular season! Last week, the Panthers went through the meat grinder in all facets of the game, surrendering 47 points to the divisional rival New Orleans Saints to start the season. While plenty of blame is going to be levied at the offense for struggling and only managing 10 points, most of which came after the game was completely out of reach, the Panthers defense certainly needs to improve this week as well. Let’s dive in!
Who is going to step in for Derrick Brown?
After signing Derrick Brown to a well deserved extension this off-season, the Panthers top defender went down with a meniscus injury that has all but been totally confirmed will keep him out for the remainder of the season. This is a significant blow to a defense that was already trying to piece together a competent pass rush around him and solid run defense pieces. Now, the focal point of that front seven is gone. In his stead, the Panthers will try some combination of Shy Tuttle, A’Shawn Robinson, LaBryan Ray, and Nick Thurman to make up for that huge hole in the defense. The Panthers core game plan should change, as I’d expect to see a lot less of 3 down linemen in base defense. The Panthers only real move to help here was to bring DeShawn Williams back as a practice squad member. Its going to take some creative accounting from Ejiro Evero to try and make up for this loss.
Stop the run
AS a caveat to the last point, the Panthers rush defense got clobbered last week by the Saints. They ran for 180 yards and 2 TDs, averaging 4.9 yards collectively. But the biggest story was Alvin Kamara averaging 5.5 YPC and Taysom Hill averaging 7. With Brown gone, the rush defense is an even bigger weakness now. They face the Chargers, who had a decent day led by JK Dobbins against the Raiders last week. The team collectively averaged 6.5 yards per carry, but that was all lead by an outstanding performance by Dobbins, who ran 10 times for 135 yards and a score. After Justin Herbert struggled in his first start of the season, expect a heavy dosage of Dobbins and Gus Edwards to try and get some momentum going for this Chargers team.
Rattle Justin Herbert
The Panthers defense quickly saw its downfall on Sunday as Derek Carr got into a groove and looked like Tom Brady out there at times, throwing all over their secondary on 3rd down situations. The secondary did a decent job at times, with Mike Jackson making multiple pass breakups and Jaycee Horn locking down Chris Olave. This week, they face a Justin Herbert looking to bounce back, coming off a 17-26 passing game for 144 yards and a TD. Herbert and this offense will be looking for a boon to try and get things going in the right direction, and the Panthers will need to take a step forward to stop that. Luckily, the Chargers wide receivers are headlined by rookie Ladd McConkey and 2023 1st round pick Quentin Johnston. This looks like a matchup where the Panthers secondary could actually do well, and give the pass rush some much needed help on the back end to generate negative plays.
What are you looking for this week on defense, Panthers fans?