The Carolina Panthers hit the road feeling their oats after back to back home wins and three wins in four contests. They’ve averaged 29 points per game in those three wins, and the offense has looked rather
potent. However, all three of the wins have come at home. Road games have been an entirely different story. In three away games thus far, the Panthers offense has generated just 15 points per game, and that’s with the benefit of the Cardinals defense almost handing the Panthers late touchdowns in Week 2 as they almost choked away that game. If we break it down, it’s probably fair to say the Panthers offense has had one competent quarter out of 12 played on the road this season.
If there was ever a team that could help the Panthers cure those road blues, it these New York Jets. They are one of the worst teams in the NFL this season and are the only team yet to win a game. They don’t really have anything going for them outside of a couple of players, and that bodes well for a Panthers team that was in that same spot not too long ago.
The Jets have a somewhat weird defensive profile with very clear strong spots and very clear areas of weakness. Here’s what the Panthers can do to attack it.
- Get the tight ends involved, especially in the red zone. Ja’Tavion Sanders has returned to practice as he works his way back from an ankle injury. If he’s able to give it a go, he gives the Panthers a receiving boost in the middle of the field. The Jets have struggled to contain tight ends this season, especially in the red zone. In the last three weeks, they’ve given up five receiving touchdowns to tight ends, and four of those have come from inside the 20. The Panthers can continue to lean on their ground and pound offense to move the ball down the field, but they should be aware that there will probably be openings for Sanders, Tommy Tremble, and Mitchell Evans as the team gets close to the end zone.
- Keep riding the hot hand on the ground. It looks like Chuba Hubbard is going to be back this week. You never want a player to lose his job to injury, and we all love Chuba, but you can’t take the ball out of Rico Dowdle’s hands too much with how well he’s been playing in Hubbard’s absence. Dowdle has dealt with cramps late in both of the two games he started, so I’m sure he’d welcome some relief, but he should probably still get at least a slight majority of the carries. If it were up to me, I’d probably shoot for a 60/40 split in favor of Dowdle unless there’s a clear discrepancy in effectiveness between the two. Hubbard’s return should be additive both in that he’s another good player for the offense and he should keep Dowdle fresh and explosive throughout the game.
- Take care of the football. This is important in every game, but it’s worth being extra mindful of against a team that’s probably going to struggle to move the ball consistently. The Jets offense looks bad but not terrible on the statistical surface, but a lot of their production has come late in games that they were losing. In fact, of the 11 touchdowns they’ve scored this season, seven have come in the fourth quarter. All that to say if the Panthers aren’t able to score, the defense should be able to help them out against a Jets offense that isn’t super threatening. The last thing they need to do is give a struggling offense a short field to take advantage of. As long as they do that, they’ll get ample opportunities to score.
