5 most important Panthers players at the Dolphins in Week 12
By Dean Jones
Brian Burns – Carolina Panthers DE
Considering the expectations surrounding Brian Burns heading into the season, his overall output so far has seen many call it disappointing. That’s not to say the Florida State product is playing poorly by any stretch of the imagination, but his expected leap up to the truly elite category just hasn’t come to fruition as yet.
Burns has been outshone by fellow edge rusher Haason Reddick – who has 10.5 sacks on the year – but the 2019 first-round selection does have seven quarterback takedowns and 22 pressures through 10 games which is still pretty good all things considered.
When a player has the explosiveness of Burns, it’s more difficult to stop and ake a play when getting to the spot. This means the defensive end has left some numbers out on the field this season, but he’ll get a fantastic chance to make a splash at the Miami Dolphins this weekend.
Miami’s offensive line is an abomination and easily among the league’s worst. If the Carolina Panthers stand any chance of winning this game, they’ll need the likes of Burns and Reddick to make things extremely uncomfortable for quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Burns is set to come up against Jesse Davis for the majority of the game. The right tackle has been lackluster in 2021, giving up five sacks and conceding three penalties from 715 snaps en route to a less than modest 53.0 grade from Pro Football Focus.