Panthers vs. Cardinals: What to expect, prediction and best bets
By Dean Jones
Carolina Panthers vs. Cardinals: Prediction
- Carolina Panthers 34 Arizona Cardinals 29
Strap yourselves in, this might be a wild one.
This is probably going to come down to which offense can deliver on their enormous promise. How the Panthers deal with running back Kenyan Drake and Kyler Murray coming out of the backfield will be key, but they showed enough improvement on their defensive front to be encouraged about their ability to limit their impact, at the very least.
If Carolina’s offensive line can hold their own against the likes of Chandler Jones and Corey Smart, then they should be able to expose a secondary that will be without the services of stud safety Budda Baker. Pro Bowl cornerback Patrick Peterson cannot cover everybody, so it is vital Teddy Bridgewater distributes the ball efficiently and gets as many of his weapons involved as possible.
New head coach Matt Rhule will be hoping that his team can start off this game in the same manner as they approached the first half at SoFi Stadium last weekend. They came out of the blocks flying and made things difficult for the Chargers to get themselves back into the contest after the break.
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Murray represents more of a challenge than rookie signal-caller Justin Herbert and it is going to take a collective effort to try and stop him. However, the Panthers’ morale-boosting victory in Week 3 should stand them in good stead as they look to pick up back-to-back wins and get themselves back to .500 after the first quarter of the campaign.