The Carolina Panthers have struggled to stop the run for most of the season, allowing an NFL-worst 153.2 rushing yards per game. Fortunately, their Week 8 opponent hasn't been much better at running the football.
The Green Bay Packers enter the Thursday Night Football matchup averaging a league-low 59.9 rushing yards per game, giving Carolina a pretty good opportunity to bounce back after giving up 258 rushing yards in an embarrassing loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But there's one problem.
Carolina Panthers need to bounce back with a strong effort against Josh Jacobs
Packers running back Josh Jacobs is back, and Green Bay could be looking at the perfect matchup to finally get its ground game going.
Following the loss to the Buccaneers, head coach Dave Canales acknowledged that his defense struggled with some basic responsibilities.
"I liked our calls. We had good run calls to take care of some of that run game, and it just really came down to execution," Canales said.
"It came down to guys fitting their gaps, setting their blocks, and then containing the running backs."
Linebacker Bobby Okereke was even more direct about what the performance could mean moving forward.
"Obviously they found something today, and it's a copycat league, so we got to stop the bleeding because teams are going to watch this film and try to exploit any weaknesses in our defense," Okereke said.
Carolina Panthers have the talent to limit Green Bay's inconsistent ground game
And that's exactly what the Panthers should expect from Green Bay on Thursday.
The Packers have been downright awful running the football this season. However, those numbers come with some important context, as Jacobs missed Green Bay's first six games while on the commissioner's exempt list following an offseason arrest.
He returned in Week 7 and finished with just 36 rushing yards on 11 carries in Green Bay's loss to the Detroit Lions, but Jacobs also caught five passes for 55 receiving yards and a touchdown.
With another game under his belt, the Packers may lean more heavily on him against Carolina.
Still, the Panthers should have enough talent along their defensive front, led by Derrick Brown, to put up a much better fight than they did in Week 7.
Carolina doesn't necessarily need to shut Jacobs down completely. But allowing another opponent to control the game on the ground would be a pretty damning result against an offense that has struggled to run the football all season.
The Panthers seemed to be figuring things out defensively before Tampa Bay exposed them again.
Now they have four days to correct those mistakes.
And if the NFL's worst rushing offense suddenly looks unstoppable against the Panthers at Lambeau Field, it'll be difficult to argue that Sunday's disaster was just a bad game.
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