5 sneaky threats for the Panthers to worry about vs. the Saints in Week 2
By Miles Ruder
Paulson Adebo – CB
Marshon Lattimore, the team’s typical starter, underwent hand surgery this week and his status on playing Sunday is currently unknown. He didn’t practice Wednesday or Thursday, which is typically a bad tell for dressing up to play.
Therefore, a larger role will likely be handed to rookie cornerback, Paulson Adebo.
Coming out of college, Adebo was a two-year starter at Stanford and earned First-team All-Pac-12 in back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019.
Adebo was taken in the third round by the New Orleans Saints in this year’s draft. He had an impressive training camp which landed him on the cornerback rotation and was the only first-year-pro to receive playing time in Week 1.
The Green Bay Packers went at Adebo early and often in the game, but all that did was make him play better as the game went on.
After Lattimore exited the game with an injury, Adebo played the most of any cornerback and made a crucial play that altered the rest of the game.
With the Packers trailing by 14 early in the third quarter, Aaron Rodgers led his team into the red zone to potentially make it a one-score game.
However, Rodgers ultimately threw the ball behind Davante Adams and into the hands of Adebo, who returned the ball 33 yards the other way.
The Saints ended up punting on their next drive but this pick impacted Rodgers and the rest of the Packers’ offense to the point where they failed to move the ball down the field until the game was out of reach.
Adebo finished the game with three tackles and an additional pass deflection. In a way, the significance of this play could spell trouble for the Carolina Panthers if something similar happens.
The Panthers only managed to gain 94 yards on 32 plays in the second half against the New York Jets. This equates to just 2.94 yards per play in a half where Carolina scored just three points.
They need to be more efficient in the second half against the Saints and can’t let a mistake like Adebo’s interception affect the rest of the game like it did for the Packers.
Carolina doesn’t have a better receiver than Adams, but the overall receiving core is more dangerous and can cause some trouble for Adebo.