Few things to watch and my pick: Panthers vs. Redskins
Well we are inside an hour until kickoff for the Carolina Panthers and Washington Redskins. I expect this to be a fun game. Both team’s are struggling a bit as the Redskins have made a change at quarterback going with John Beck over Rex Grossman. On the other hand the Panthers continue to struggle to find any consistency on the defensive side of the football, while rookie quarterback Cam Newton continues to impress. Here is the full preview courtesy of Seth McConnell.
But I think this is the Panthers time. They have a three game home stretch over the next four weeks and could easily win all three games as they are playing the Skins, Vikings and then the Titans. All three of those games are very winnable but it starts today against the Redskins.
–Here is the list of the Panthers inactivies and for you fantasy guys here is Slate’s last minute picks.
–One interesting matchup to watch out for is wide receiver Steve Smith against cornerback DeAngelo Hall. I wrote a couple weeks ago about the two players battle a few years ago when Hall played for the Falcons so it should be fun to watch. These two guys don’t like each other one bit and there will be a lot of jawing going on all day.
–Also, the Panthers have to stop the run today. The Falcons really exploited them last week on the ground and that was the difference in the ball game. If the defense can shut down whoever the heck is running the ball for the Redskins they can win. The Redskins don’t have a real star at running back but employee three different guys, Tim Hightower, Roy Helo and Ryan Torain, all three should see some action so they will be fresh all game.
— Finally offensively the Panthers have got to not throw the ball so much. Last week we saw Cam newton struggle some. I think the league is starting to catchup on him a bit and the Panthers should take some of the pressure off of him by running more. DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart have started to heat up a bit and I am sure the both of them would love about 20 touches a piece.
–Okay here is my prediction, last week I picked incorrectly as I choose the Panthers to upset Atlanta but I am sticking with Carolina. I think this is a very winnable game and the Panthers will win big, 31-17