Carolina Panthers: Five things that must happen in December

CMC must “Keep Pounding”

Christian McCaffrey must continue to play at a high level. He has done a nice job of sustaining a tremendous season, now he just needs to make sure he finishes it. He put to bed any talk of a sophomore slump this year and has become one of the Carolina Panthers biggest weapons.

McCaffrey has rushed for 757 yards and five touchdowns on the year. As a receiving running back, he has caught 70 passes for 608 yards and five touchdowns. He is truly your multi-tool running back. Per statistics from Pro Football Focus, McCaffrey has a 70.9 running grade. In the last two games, he has had rushing grades of 56.2 and 55.3. He has been much more effective as a pass catcher, compiling receiving grades of 74.6 and 78.7. He needs to continue to be able to serve as a multi-purpose back and he must keep giving maximum effort.

With 125 yards on Sunday, that marked the fourth game in a row where McCaffrey rushed for at least 50 yards. The 100-yard game against Seattle was only his second of the season. He has rushed for at least 4 yards per attempt in each of the past four games and his 7.4 yards per attempt against Seattle was his highest number of the season. He needs to continue to try and averaged at least that many moving forward. If you can run the ball and get four yards out of it every time, that is certainly ideal.

He has also recorded at least five receptions in the past four games with 11 against Seattle being his highest mark. He must continue to be a balanced threat if the Panthers want to make the playoffs in December.