Panthers: Three things offense must make happen

Hanging onto the football

Plain and simple, the Carolina Panthers need to hold onto the football. The team fumbled the ball while rushing nine times. That put them No. 4 overall in the league. This is the type of statistic that you do not want to be at the top of.

Jonathan Stewart led the team in 2017 with three fumbles. Cam Newton and Christian McCaffrey each had one. For comparison, new acquisition C.J. Anderson only had one. If there is a silver lining to this number for 2018, it is that Stewart is gone. In this case, it is addition by subtraction. As long as the Carolina Panthers hold onto the football, they should be fine.

The only thing I would worry about here is the uncertainty at the left guard position. In some cases, the offense might have to avoid running to the left entirely. Of course, this is dependent on how the position plays out in training camp. The position may get stronger as training camp and the season goes on. In the meantime, the backs just have to make sure they hold onto the ball high and tight and brace for the big hit when necessary. Cleaning up the amount of fumbles will make a huge difference.