The good news for the Carolina Panthers here in Week 4 is that they'll be breaking their decade-long drought from Sunday Night Football. But the bad news is that they'll be doing so against one of the NFL's most potent offenses while their roster is being ravaged by injuries.
Among that ravaging are starting cornerbacks Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson, who were both placed on injured reserve earlier in the week. Horn may not play again this season while Jackson is expected to be out until at least November.
There's always a chance that rookie Will Lee III and Akayleb Evans could defy our expectations and contain the duo of Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams. But the odds are definitely against that happening.
If the Panthers are going to have
any hope of an upset, they have to keep Detroit's offense one-dimensional and focused on star running back Jahmyr Gibbs.
To do that, the defense has to get pressure on quarterback Jared Goff and force him to make off-schedule plays. While Goff excels at play action, he is one of the game's worst passers when he's forced to think on his feet—turning from a Pro Bowl passer in the pocket into a giraffe on roller skates.
The Panthers have not done a good job of turning pressures into sacks so far. That was obvious in their losses from Weeks 1 and 3—where Chicago's Caleb Williams and Cleveland's Deshaun Watson, respectively, scrambled away from Carolina defenders to keep plays alive and keep their offenses moving.
Carolina's inability to hit up the sack column was even evident in their 34-3 win over the Atlanta Falcons. The Panthers were able to get to Cooper Rush for just one sack in Week 2, so this is problem that could span beyond mobile quarterbacks.
Defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero has to find a way to manufacture more pressures and make Goff move his legs, or else the Lions are going to run up the score against a depleted defense.
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This article originally appeared on Panthers Wire: Panthers Week 4 X-Factor: Make Lions QB Jared Goff move
