5 games that will define the Carolina Panthers 2021 season
By Luke Tucker
Carolina Panthers at Dallas Cowboys (Week 4)
As noted in the previous slide, one of the Carolina Panthers’ main focuses this offseason was to strengthen the defense. They were middle-of-the-pack at best on that side of the ball in 2020, with the young unit showing flashes of potential, but also displaying plenty of youthful mistakes.
The front office added two corners in Jaycee Horn and Keith Taylor Jr. during the draft, selected a player who could very well become a fifth-round steal in defensive tackle Daviyon Nixon, and signed Haason Reddick, Denzel Perryman, A.J. Bouye, and other defensive contributors via free agency.
Fortunately, the Panthers will have a mostly normal training camp and preseason to gel with their new teammates in 2021, which should theoretically improve the defensive chemistry that was lacking at times last year.
Forming that chemistry could be huge early on this season when Carolina will travel to the heart of Texas to take on the Dallas Cowboys.
The Cowboys had one of the best – if not the best – offenses in the NFL before Dak Prescott got hurt last year, and his return will likely make Dallas just as potent again this season.
In the five games he started in 2020, the Cowboys averaged 381.4 passing yards per game, let alone the team’s rushing yards. Prescott was on pace to shatter several of the league’s all-time passing records, and before his injury was one of the front-runners for the MVP award.
With that being said, the Panthers’ young defense will have quite the test with their early-season matchup in Dallas. Horn, Bouye, and Donte Jackson will have their hands full covering the Cowboys’ stellar trio of wideouts, and the front seven is going to be tested against what is one of the best offensive lines in the league.
With all due respect to the New York Jets, New Orleans Saints, and Houston Texans, the Cowboys should mark the first real challenge to Phil Snow’s defense.
The Jets will field a rookie quarterback and head coach, the Texans remain an absolute mess of a franchise, and nobody knows what the Saints’ offense will look like without Drew Brees.