Carolina Panthers vs. New England Patriots Preview & Prediction | PFF

Carolina Panthers vs. New England Patriots Preview & Prediction | PFF

Panthers at the Patriots. Here is the next game that we are previewing. Two teams that are very tough to decipher, right? You’ve got you’ve got some undisiplined mistakes, some mental mistakes, some turnovers, also some wins. It’s just I I I don’t really know what to make of these teams that I didn’t have the highest of hopes for going into the season, but I thought that both of these teams were going to be taking steps forward in their own ways. They have at times, but I feel like it’s been more negative than it has been positive for both of these teams. And so, it’s sort of hardest to parse my expectations of them getting better versus maybe what has been on the field through the first three weeks. What do you think? Which team do you want to start talking about first here in this matchup? I think in general what you’re talking about with these two, Trevor, is two young teams that are just trying to make progress, right? We don’t know if they’re really postseason contenders yet, but there’s going to be bumps in the road when you have teams as young as these two, especially offensively. You’ve got young quarterbacks. You’ve got, especially for New England, young pieces on the offensive line. Both teams trying to figure out their receiving core. So, I think, you know, that kind of uneven level of progress, you’re going to get that from these two. And the Panthers obviously coming off a big win. New England coming off a game against Pittsburgh where really they beat themselves more than the Steelers beat him. And those are things that you go through with such a young football team, right? you try to teach them along the way. So, I think this is a big game for both of them. The winner going to be at two and two and feeling really good about themselves. I’m going to start on Carolina’s offensive side and I think a big key when you’re playing the Patriots. Look, we could see coming into the season with them signing Milton Williams with Christian Barmore being 100% healthy that got guys like Kyus Tonga playing well that this New England defensive tackle group is a real problem to block. And I think interior pass protection for a guy like Bryce Young with the lack of size and everything is so key to his success. You look at these Patriots defensive tackles right now, they’re second in the league in pass rush grade. They’re first in pass rush win rate. The interior pressure is really where New England is winning the battle right now. You look at the Panthers in their beat up offensive line. Damen Lewis obviously a solid pass blocker, 81 pass blocking grade. Kade Mays, who this year came in as their backup center, but he played a lot last year and played pretty good football. So I got I got some faith in him at center in place of Austin Corbett. But Chandler Zavala is the real problem right there at right guard. 27 pass blocking grade. He’s struggled in pass protection in the past. I think a big key for Carolina, obviously they’ve got to get the ball of their weapons. If Christian Gonzalez is out again, I think you could see another big day for Tetro McMillan. But interior pass protection is going to be the key. I think it’s going to be a huge key to Bryce Young’s success in this game. If they do protect him from that big-time set of defensive tackles, I think he could expose the coverage unit a bit. If not, there’s a lot of interior pressure in his face, and I think this game really tilts in New England’s favor. Carolina has to run the football better. They just do. When you look at their averages, 3.8 yards per carry average, 26 in the NFL. Only six missed tackles forced on the entire season. Dead last in the NFL. They have to be more dynamic. They have to be more explosive in the run game. The run blocking’s not The run blocking is not terrible. I obviously like it wasn’t great in week two cuz nothing was great in week two when they faced the Arizona Cardinals. But week one versus the Jags 70.1 team run blocking grade. Last week versus the Falcons 68.6. So like they’re capable of being decent. And this is one of the I think more underrated offensive lines in the NFL. They’re a fringe top 10 unit in a lot of metrics and data points last season. And okay, it’s been a little bit of a slow start and and they’ve had some up and down in certain categories like you pointed out there, but this is a team that is capable of running the ball and needs to run the ball at just a much more dynamic level. It can’t just all be about Bryce Young. I know we all want to sit here and talk about Bryce Young and, you know, talking about Xavier Legette and Troy McMillan and the tight ends and okay, what Hunter Refro has been and all that kinds of stuff. If Carolina does not stay balanced, and when for this team, balance specifically is going to be close to a 50-50 split. It really is. They have to run the football. Bryce is not the type of quarterback yet where you can just go, “Yep, let him have the ball in his hands at all times. That’s where the ball is most advantageous for us in the long run of of a game. We’re not quite there yet. We’re just not. Even with how well Bryce Young played in the second half of last season, they have to run the football. And if they’re not going to run the football well or often or efficient or whatever word you want to use there, cuz I think they all apply, they’re going to struggle. They’re going to struggle to be able to hold on to the ball. And I think that was a major problem for them against Jacksonville is they just weren’t able to control the time of possession the way they needed to and the game kind of got away from them. The Arizona game, you kind of just throw that out. You had the two early turnovers. It it was as simple as that in my opinion. And then last week, of course, you got the the turnovers that you ended up turning into points, which helped put the Falcons on their heels the whole time. And so, it it was good to see them play a good game last week against the Falcons, 30 to nothing. I think that’s not exactly indicative of of both opponents. I think that was much more of a runaway than it really was. Carolina just has to run the football better, and this is a good opportunity for them to try to hold on to the football, to control that time of possession. And that’s really what it’s going to take, I think, for this team to stack up wins this season. They’ve got to be more controlled. And I think it’s got to start this week. So, that is my main talking point for the Panthers. I have Carolina winning this game. I have no idea. I I I coin flipped it basically because I don’t know which I don’t know which real version of the team we’re going to get this week. And I don’t even know which version is the real version at this point 3 weeks into the season because these teams have been so up and down. I had the Panthers winning by two. I got them winning 23 to 21 honestly cuz I just wanted to be different than you cuz we’ve agreed too much on games so far. Uh we we agree too much on a lot of things. We got to stop. We really do. It’s not good. It’s I and I don’t know that if that means one of us is wrong more often than the other. But you can’t just be think you can’t have people thinking the same all the time. It doesn’t just doesn’t work like that, Trevor. You know, but I I think I I’m going with New England. I have I have New England by a score of 23-7. They’re at home. I I don’t think they played a bad ball game at all last week, but they just turned the ball over. It’s self-inflicted wounds, right? And I mean, you look at these two teams are both tied for second in the NFL in giveaways with six apiece. New England had five last week. Drake May has also taken the second most sacks in the league at 12. Only Cam Ward has taken more so far. I I think if New England plays a clean football game, if Drake May can get rid of the ball a little bit quicker and they just don’t fumble the game away like they did last week, I do think they should be able to win. And I really like the matchup for their tight ends, Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper against these Carolina linebackers that are really struggling in coverage. I know it was better last week, but that was mostly because PennX, you know, and obviously Atlanta’s predictable offense and Pennix doesn’t throw over the middle a whole lot. I think Drake May could find some shots down the middle of the field through these linebackers. I think I think as long as New England plays a clean game, especially I think May is going to be protected. Uh, I think the Patriots offensive line can win this battle because the Panthers still the third worst pass rush grade in the league. I think the Patriots are better. They just have to play a clean football game. New England 23 to 17. Yeah, I think the tight end matchup is obviously a good one to emphasize there because I talked about this last week how the Panthers have really struggled covering over the middle of the field. Michael Pennis just doesn’t do that and he did it a little bit more this past week, but and and he actually was effective while doing so, but there were also plenty of other opportunities for him to hit over the middle of the field that he just didn’t take. This Drake may take those throws if he does with those two tight ends who played well last week. Very clearly he is he he will lean into the tight end passing game. That could be an area where uh we end up seeing a little bit of an Achilles heel with the Panthers defense. Although I will say they are playing Lean Ransom, their rookie safety, more and they should be because I think that he is already one of the most effective and difference-making defenders on their team. He was during the preseason. He had a really good training camp and last week he had a forced fumble. He’s one of their highest graded defenders playing 34 snaps, which is the most that he had played. And his and his impact specifically comes from playing over the middle of the field. So, that is a matchup that I’m looking forward to seeing as well, how much they play ran ransom and how effective he can. So, are are you saying are you saying if they want to throw the ball down the middle, they’re going to have to pay a uh a ransom? You know what? That wasn’t too bad. I was going to I was thinking about roasting you, but that one’s not too bad. I just got the loudest boo, I believe, from Eli in the producers’s room. Just the loudest boo I’ve ever gotten in my life. He hated that. He absolutely hated that. That’s a That’s some soundproof glass that that Boo is coming through, folks.

PFF’s Dalton Wasserman and Trevor Sikkema preview the matchup between The Carolina Panthers and The New England Patriots.

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