The Carolina Panthers find themselves in unfamiliar territory with a very real path back to the playoffs for the first time in what seems like forever. But one thing is very clearly holding them back.
That is the pass rush.
This has been a consistent issue for most of the season, save for a few bright spots. However, if the Panthers want any chance of beating the Los Angeles Rams and possibly taking over the NFC South, they have to find a way to get after quarterback Matt Stafford.
That was the only way the Panthers were going to have any chance, even before the injuries to Jaycee Horn, Christian Rozeboom, and Claudin Cherelus. The team is second-to-last league-wide with only 16 sacks this season. This is put into perspective: the Denver Broncos lead the NFL with 49 and have played one fewer game.
Carolina Panthers cannot generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks effectively enough
A competent pass rush can cover a multitude of sins on the back end of a defense, and sadly, the opposite has been true for most of this year. Considering the Panthers will be without their Pro Bowl cornerback this weekend at Bank of America Stadium, that's a massive problem.
Stafford is not Brock Purdy. The Panthers cannot expect to be gifted anything in this game unless they get in his face and make the veteran uncomfortable. The main question is who can actually step up and make that happen?
Blitzing is the natural suggestion to help fix this problem, but with the lack of any consistency in the secondary, the team cannot afford to take any players from there to help get after the quarterback. At least not very often, that is.
The adage "you live by the blitz, you die by the blitz" seems apt to add here.
While players like Nic Scourton have shown some good promise this season, the Panthers are beyond the point of promise and need tangible contributions now. This season is right within reach, and the team has its own destiny in its hands for the rest of the season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers come calling twice at the end of the year.
The pressure is on for this Panthers defensive line, but can they rise to the occasion and take the leap?