Carolina Panthers keys to victory in Week 2 at Atlanta Falcons

The Carolina Panthers win on the road against the Atlanta Falcons, if…

Carolina Panthers general manager Marty Hurney, coach Ron Rivera and his staff have done a great job of building a roster capable of sustaining injuries. This has been proven already by the team not electing to go out and sign or trade for a “big name” contributor at any of the handful of positions now being filled by original backups.

There have been some additions, but these have come more out of necessity, due to dwindling numbers, instead of from a lack in production. Since the offseason began Carolina has or is going to soon, replace a running back, right tackle, left tackle, left guard, right guard, tight end, wide receiver, safety and linebacker*.

Neither the Panthers or Falcons will be at full strength when the two teams face off for the first time in 2018 as Atlanta endured some significant injuries themselves during game one. Safety Keanu Neal is out for the season with a torn ACL and linebacker Deion Jones has been placed on injured reserve with a foot injury.

The Panthers offense looked like a unit understandably still attempting to figure things out under new coordinator Norv Turner. The absence of two key defenders should benefit Carolina but they still need to accomplish these three things in order to return victorious.

*suspended