CHARLOTTE — It’s almost hard for Panthers defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero to draw any comparisons to the first Rams game.
Because in many ways, this is a completely different defense.
When the Panthers beat the Rams here on Nov. 30, they were without safety Tre’von Moehrig, who was suspended for the week for his unsportsmanlike conduct against the 49ers the week before.
Pro Bowl cornerback Jaycee Horn was also out that week, with a concussion in San Francisco as well, and rookie cornerback Corey Thornton wasn’t there to replace him, after breaking his ankle in the 49ers game as well.
They were also without linebackers Christian Rozeboom and Claudin Cherelus, so it was a new collection of people, which impacted the strategy they could employ.
“When you go into this next game, and you have Jaycee back and Tre back and Boom back and Claud back, I mean, that’s fantastic,” Evero said. “So we look forward to that, but at the end of the day, they know our system, we know their system, and, not wanting to divulge too much, we’ve got to go play the stuff that we know is going to happen. And they’re difficult concepts to play.
“The run concepts, the pass concepts, they’re difficult to defend, but we’ve got to go up there and then fight against them, and then also, when we have those opportunities to make a play there with a new wrinkle, those things have got to show up.”
The replacements were able to make plays throughout that game, from Nick Scotts interception that broke a long streak for Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, to Mike Jackson‘s pick-six, to Derrick Brown‘s decisive sack-fumble that was recovered by D.J. Wonnum. It was what they had to have on that day.
But Evero’s also not resting on that performance; he knows he can’t from his time with Rams coach Sean McVay.
“That being said, we still feel like there’s a lot that we left out there,” Evero said. “We certainly feel like we can play better and perform better than we did on that day, and we’re going to need to because this is a very good football team.”