4 crucial matchups to watch during Panthers vs. the Patriots in Week 9
By Noah Bryce
Patriots DL vs. Carolina Panthers DL
The Carolina Panthers and New England Patriots have both had surprising performances from their defensive lines this year. Just in different ways.
Whereas the Panthers were being touted as possessing one of the NFL’s best lines and haven’t necessarily lived up to that hype. The Patriots weren’t expected to be much of a force at all and have had some truly impressive performances.
Both lines are coming off of good games that saw multiple players contribute in big moments. So keeping a close eye on which will be able to better capitalize on that newfound momentum will be essential.
Brian Burns was finally able to cash in on one of his many opportunities with the help of linebacker Frankie Luvu. The duo of Hasson Reddick and Yetur Gross-Matos each notched a sack of their own in a throwback performance.
On the other side, the Patriots were able to record three sacks of their own with Matthew Judon having 1.5 of those himself.
Granted a big part of this matchup will be the quality of the offensive line play. However, we have talked about that a bit too much lately and the Panthers line was actually pretty good in Week 8.
With that said, the Panthers should have the advantage in this matchup for the simple reason that it’s more likely for a talented player that has been in a slump to put together multiple good performances than an overperforming veteran to keep up that level of play.
However, that’s simple conjecture and anything can happen in an NFL game.
We’ve seen that multiple times this season.
Burns and Reddick are the engines of this line and they are both due for a standout performance. This game will show if either player is ready to be that guy for the Panthers as it will be a slog from the word go and someone needs to step up and take charge.