Hey all. I'm indeed a Panthers fan, and look forward to discussing football with you all this week. This game is crucial for the Panthers and Rams, and I'm expecting a decent fight from both sides!
Here's my thoughts on the Panthers defense:
To be granted, the Panthers have had their starting cornerbacks injured for most of the season. The Panthers had Zach Sanchez (5th round pick, cut and placed on PS; one week before Saints game, promoted and deemed starter) and Teddy Williams (Special Teams only guy last year, made a horrid amount of penalties) starting a game, which is a recipe for disaster.
Leonard Johnson looked good for his first start on the Panthers, and so did Worley. With Bradberry coming back (He's our best corner, been out a while, but for a rookie has been doing a heck of a good job; had gotten the best rating for a corner one week.), there's much optimism for the corner situation.
However, our safeties are sub-par, which is what has been the achilles heel of our secondary imo. Kurt Coleman can't do it alone without a Vet presence, and missed communication mistakes from the safeties cost us a lot. Tre Boston is not starter material safety, although he's good at blitzing.
What it really comes down to is whether our D-Line will create the pressure it did against the Cardinals. The subtle change of rotating Charles Johnson and Kony Ealy on LDE instead of having both of them start is huge. Ealy played his best from the LDE position, which was his Superbowl position where he gained 3 sacks, and Charles Johnson is not an every down DE anymore. RDE has Horton, who's good at support, and Addison for pass situations.
Our DT's have had some change in rotation from what I heard, and different people are put in at different times, allowing Star and KK to shine. If KK can prove he still has some steam when the Rams (probably) focus on Star, then well it'll be tough for Keenum. If our D-Line regresses to pre bye-week mode, expect Keenum to have a good game.
