4 keys to victory for the Panthers at the Saints in Week 7
By Dean Jones
Get off the field on third down
One of the problem areas for the Carolina Panthers is getting off the field on third down. This factored heavily in their loss against the Chicago Bears in Week 6 and if the same situation evolves at the Saints, it is going to be a real problem.
Drew Brees is a master of finding holes in the defense. This is especially evident when he needs to move the chains and it needs to be a collective effort from the Panthers if they want to restrict the signal-caller from making things happen without his two best receivers.
This is an area where Brees looks to his star running back Alvin Kamara more often than not. It will be up to defensive coordinator Phil Snow to ensure there is a sufficient plan in place to limit the player’s influence because, in all honestly, there is no way any team can limit him entirely given his exceptional form this season.
Brees does tend to get a little flustered these days if Kamara isn’t open. We’ve seen plenty of this in Michael Thomas’ absence, but the onus is going to be on Carolina’s suspect linebacker group to step up their level of production to avoid becoming the weak link overall once again.
The Panthers are giving up a little more than a 50 percent conversion rate on third down. Something similar at the Saints would make their task that much more difficult.