By: Lucas Meyer
Its showtime! We got an exciting matchup in primetime tonight as our Panthers go to Pittsburgh to play the red hot Steelers. Being on a short week, it’s hard to fully game plan for one another. If we want to get on the plane tonight and head home with a win and a 4 game win streak we got to execute perfectly. Here’s my 3 keys to success for the game.
SLOW DOWN JAMES CONNER
James Conner has been an stud stepping in for arguably the best back in the NFL, Le'Veon Bell. He’s the first RB in Steelers history to have 1000 scrimmage yards and 10 TD’s through the first 8 games and is second to only Todd Gurley in yards (scrimmage and rushing). He’s gotten those with 30.5% of the boxes he’s faced with 8 men or more stacked in it which is the 8th highest in the league. Conner is second in the league in avoided tackles after a rush or reception. Luke Kuechly and company are gonna have to diagnose the run early and can’t miss tackles when they have him wrapped up. The good news is Carolina has the 8th best run defense and they’re gonna have to show up tonight. Taking away the run will force Ben to throw more than he wants to and he’s been known to throw some picks if he’s uncomfortable.
SLOW DOWN THE PASS RUSH
Pittsburgh’s defense has really come into its own recently and was phenomenal last week against the Ravens. They held the Ravens to 61 rushing yards and 209 passing yards. The Panthers are going to have to do much more than that to win this game and I think it all starts with CMC. I fully expect a good amount of screen plays to keep the rush guessing.
The Steelers defense is 5th in sacks in the league led by TJ Watt with 7. Panther's Taylor Moton and Chris Clark are gonna have arguably their toughest challenge to date. TJ Watt is starting to look like his older brother JJ.
The best way to slow down the rush is with quick passes and get the ball out of Cam's hands and into our playmakers hands. If he can get the ball out in 2 seconds or less it doesn’t give TJ and company time to get to Cam. Short passes to CMC, Moore, and Samuel will be the key to our success. This looks like a type of game that CMC gets 50 rushing yards and 125 receiving yards.
CaMVP
The last key is to see our CaMVP out there playing. The Steelers are 1 of 4 teams that Cam hasn’t gotten a win over. The battle between the QBs could be one for the ages. Both guys are on fire right now.
Cam has averaged 245 passing yards, 2 TD’s, 0 interceptions, 70.8% completion, and 117.2 passer rating over the past 3 games and Big Ben has 299 passing yards, 1.7 TD’s, .33 interceptions, 65.3% completion percentage, and 94.9 passer rating over the last 3 games. If Cam can keep up his hot streak and out performs Big Ben then we will walk out of Heinz field with a win. Cams running will be huge for us as well to keep our offense on the field and the Steelers on the sideline. My predictions for Cam is 280 passing yards, 56 rushing yards, 3 total TD’s, and 1 pick.
Those are my 3 keys to success for our battle vs the Steelers. We execute these to perfection than we move in the 7-2 and still on a roll with a favorable schedule coming up over the next few weeks. As always, KEEP POUNDING!!!
Lucas' Final Prediction:
Panthers: 31
Steelers: 27
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