Hello CSR! We’re onto the Dallas Cowboys, as the Panthers welcome America’s Team to Charlotte, North Carolina on Sunday! While the Cowboys have just as many wins as the Panthers (2, because they, ya know, tied with Green Bay), their record doesn’t tell the entire story of their season. They’ve battled some injuries, dealt with some Offseason drama, along with the usual scrutiny that comes with being the Dallas Cowboys, but their hopes for the season are very much alive, and a lot of that has to do with their offense.
Dak Prescott is currently second in the league in passing yards, tied for 3rd for passing touchdowns, and tied for 3rd for completion percentage (minimum 100 attempts). Javonte Williams has been a revelation for the Cowboys after signing from Denver, with 447 yards on the ground on 79 carries with 5 touchdowns in just 5 games played. Even without top WR Ceedee Lamb for about half their games, they’ve been very effective on offense. Let’s dive right into the matchup!
- Deal with the tight end position, please! While the Panthers defense has been, for at least the most part, a major improvement over last season’s major weakness, the biggest carry over for the Panthers has been an inability to stop opposing tight ends. The Panthers managed to make improvements during the second half of the Dolphins game last week, but TE Darren Waller still carved them up for 78 yards and 1 TD, and most of that came in the first half. The Panthers defense, even with their re-assignment of the “green dot” to LB Trevin Wallace, is again facing a bad matchup when it comes to this position. Jake Ferguson has 272 yards receiving on 41 receptions, with 3 total TDs scored (granted, he hasn’t scored since week 2). Dallas may look to lean on Ferguson this week, with Ceedee Lamb still expected to be sidelined, and WR George Pickens likely drawing Jaycee Horn for a large portion of this game. The Panthers need to do whatever they did in their last two quarters of play to limit tight end production.
- Build on last week’s performance by the rushing defense. While the Dolphins aren’t exactly juggernauts when it comes to running the football in 2025, the combined 19 yards allowed on the ground by the Panthers defense was pretty impressive. In fact, Carolina’s rush defense has been about middle of the pack in the NFL all season, with 536 yards given up and 4.5 yards per carry allowed. Obviously, only allowing 19 yards one week skews these statistics significantly, but that doesn’t mean positive momentum is a bad thing! As I stated in my opening remarks, Dallas has leaned heavily on Javonte Williams, who finally seems to have returned to form after injuries derailed his stint in Denver. While Dak Prescott will certainly throw the ball a bunch, Dallas WILL lean on the rushing attack regardless of the game script. Wallace and Christian Rozeboom will need to continue playing at the level they did on Sunday rather than whatever the heck they were doing to start the season, and the Panthers defensive line will need to try to take control of the line of scrimmage once again.
- Get pressure on Dak Prescott! The Panthers pass rush has been so up and down at times this season, its hard to generally gauge where the unit is at. They’ve battled injuries at EDGE, weeded out the bad eggs, and gotten their rookies more involved as they try to find an identity for their pass rush. Nic Scourton is playing out of his mind for a rookie second round pick for a Panthers team that struggled so badly with their edge defenders last season, and Princely Umanielen continues to bring juice as a pass rush specialist. If the defense is going to hold its own, they need to get pressure on Dak Prescott. Say what you will about how elite or not elite the guy is, but he can wreck pretty much any defense in the league if he’s given a clean pocket for the majority of the game.
What are your thoughts on this week’s defensive matchup, Panthers fans?
