5 pivotal matchups the Panthers must win vs. the Vikings in Week 6
By Noah Bryce
Carolina Panthers OG John Miller vs. the Vikings interior
John Miller was an unmitigated disaster on Sunday and it wasn’t even close.
The veteran guard gave up five hurries and two sacks on the game en route to a truly ridiculous 22.7 pass blocking grade from Pro Football Focus. And somehow that grading doesn’t even put it into enough perspective, that’s how bad it was.
The experiment is over, it failed, move on.
The sunk cost fallacy is false for a reason. It would have almost been better to have no one at right guard and just let Brady Christensen eat double teams the entire day. After all, the rookie tackle kind of was anyway.
Let Deonte Brown have a go already.
After that performance there should be nothing keeping Brown on the sideline. I don’t care what has been seen in practice, anyone would be better.
Should the Carolina Panthers do the right thing and sit Miller, even just to prove a point, it will set up an intriguing matchup along the interior against a stout Minnesota Vikings line.
The Vikings have always seen the importance of a good rush on the quarterback and after a late-game demolition of the Detroit Lions, they will be drooling when they look at the Panthers protection.
Racking up four sacks and seven quarterback hits just goes to show how often the Vikings defense found themselves behind the line. Regularly overpowering both the interior and exterior of the Lions.
Dalvin Tomlinson is no slouch after all.
While the Lions haven’t had the best of offensive lines in recent memory, they are certainly better than the Panthers, as everyone is this season, and that should worry the coaching staff and fans alike.
This will be a nail-biting matchup for Panthers’ fans all day. One that could decide the fate of the season.
Because if we can’t protect Sam Darnold, it will be the New York Jets all over again.