Carolina Panthers Keys to the Game vs. Buccaneers

Here’s what the Carolina Panthers need to do to beat Tampa Bay.

A gut-wrenching loss in week one has the chance to get wiped away quickly with a Thursday kick-off against the Buccaneers. What will it take for the Panthers to even up their record at 1-1 and secure an important division win? Here are your three keys to the game.

1. Win the turnover battle

It’s a simple key, but an important one. It’s not far-fetched to say that the Panthers could be 1-0 if a couple of bounces go their way. The unfortunate backwards pass fumble combined with the Panthers inability to recover the ball hitting the ground a handful of other times, they lost the turnover battle 3-1 to the Rams. With defensive playmakers all over the field combined with Jameis Winston having a tendency to give the ball away, the 2019 edition of “Thieves Ave” could make their debut against the Bucs. The only team with a positive turnover differential in week one that lost was the Jets, so it’s clearly important to success in the NFL. If the Panthers can force a handful of turnovers against Tampa Bay and set up the offense with a short field, it could lead to a crooked number on the scoreboard for the home team.

2. Open up the offense

According to NFL’s Next Gen Stats, Cam Newton’s longest attempted pass was only 25 yards downfield, and his longest completion only traveled 16 yards in the air. With explosive weapons on the outside like DJ Moore and Curtis Samuel, offensive coordinator Norv Turner should let Newton take a few deep shots this week to at least keep the Buccaneers defense honest. As the season wore on last season and it became clear that Newton was unable to throw the ball any further than 15-20 yards, the Panthers offense was unable to get anything going only scoring more than 20 points once between weeks 11 and 15, the games that Newton played hurt. The Panthers last matchup with Tampa Bay was during that horrid stretch, and the Panthers left Tampa Bay with 17 points on the scoreboard and four interceptions from Newton on the stat sheet. During the Panthers 6-2 start last season, we saw creativity abound from Norv. Triple reverses, throwback screens, deep shots mixed in with check-downs, the Panthers offense did it all, and a return to that would be a welcome sight. The offense came to life in the second half of week one and kept the team in the game as the defense withered, but a full four quarter performance would be welcomed.

3. Get some pressure on Winston

With the amount of talent the Panthers posses in their front seven, pressure on Winston should be coming early and often. In week one, the Panthers were only able to secure one sack on Jared Goff, but were credited with six quarterback hits, according to Pro Football Reference.  With Bruce Irvin listed as out on the official team injury report, rookie Brian Burns will have all the opportunity in the world to wreak havoc on Winston. The Panthers rotated their defensive linemen early and often against the Rams, and I don’t expect that to be the case on Thursday. A 1 o’clock kick-off with temperatures in the low to mid 90s led to the coaching staff playing star defensive tackles Kawaan Short and Gerald McCoy on 45% and 52% of snaps respectively. Short played on 52% of defensive snaps last season and I expect his snap count on Thursday to be around that number if not higher. As stated earlier, Winston is prone to back-breaking interceptions and fumbles and if the Panthers front is able to rush him into making poor decisions, the solid defensive effort from week would could blossom into a dominant performance in week two.