4 keys to victory for the Carolina Panthers vs. Washington in Week 11

Carolina Panthers must break confidence early

This Washingon Football team is coming off just as surprising an upset as the Carolina Panthers are and the confidence is palpable for them. They just made Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers look average, after all.

But, confidence can be a very fickle thing.

It can disappear as quickly as it appears and once it’s gone it takes a lot to get it back.

Washington is going to come out of that tunnel floating on air, believing that their defense is finally playing to the level everyone expected at the start of the year and that things on offense have caught up. Like nothing can stop them and they are going to roll over an inferior Panthers squad.

Carolina has to break that confidence early.

Nothing breaks confidence quite like a gut punch, whether that be a long touchdown pass or an interception. Something has to bring Washington crashing back down to earth and show them that they are still a team with a 3-6 record no matter who they just beat.

Ridding them of that confidence and causing doubt will make them play a little bit slower and with less fire. In turn, this makes the playcalling a bit more vanilla and lessens the risk-taking of the quarterback.

If you can get a team to start sulking they lose the edge that is so important, especially on the defense. Without that anger and swagger, a team will just run right over you.