5 emerging positives from the Panthers win vs. Falcons in Week 10

Marquis Haynes gave the Carolina Panthers life

Heading into this game, a lot was being made of the lack of pass rush from the Carolina Panthers’ outside of Brian Burns, who notched his seventh sack of the season on Thursday Night Football and seems finally on pace to break double-digits for the first time.

Outside of Burns, the only edge rushing options have been nonexistent. That lack of pressure may have played into the firing of defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni, but someone finally stepped up in Week 10 when it was needed most.

Marquis Haynes had a goose egg in terms of sacks before this one. He was expected to take on a bigger role following the departure of Haason Reddick in free agency with seven sacks over the past two seasons, but it hasn’t materialized as hoped and left many wondering whether or not the former Ole Miss star could become anything more than a rotational piece.

Haynes had two huge sacks late on as the Falcons looked to get back into the game. This all-but ended the contest and handed the Panthers their third win of the season.

Once again we saw another below-par performance from Yetur Gross Matos, which has become the norm throughout the campaign. Haynes making this sort of impression makes it tough to argue that more snaps at the expense of the 2020 second-round pick could be coming over Carolina’s seven remaining fixtures.