5 games Carolina Panthers fans should be excited about in 2024

Carolina Panthers vs. Chiefs - Week 12

This is the first matchup of a four-game stretch where the Carolina Panthers will play against a 2023 playoff participant. This one might not be a close game, but you never know how the season plays out.

Let’s play out the scenario that Carolina is coming out of the Week 11 bye at 5-5 with the division in their reach.

A resurgent Bryce Young will be up against the best football player in the world Patrick Mahomes. You can bet that there will be plenty of red jerseys at Bank of America Stadium on November 24. The Kansas City Chiefs defense will be a formidable unit once again and their offense should be plenty explosive with rookie wideout Xavier Worthy.

If Kansas City enters this game with one of the better records in the league, this matchup will challenge the Panthers in how they look against the team looking for a three-peat this season. Regardless of Carolina’s record, their Week 12 to 15 stretch against the Chiefs, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys will be a great test for a team looking to build for the long term.

Carolina Panthers at Eagles - Week 14

When it comes to Bryce Young’s development, you want to see how he responds in hostile environments. There should be significant improvement from the signal-caller in his second year. However, this is one matchup late in the season against another formidable defense in the Philadelphia Eagles and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

Lincoln Financial Field is one of the toughest environments to play. The biggest thing in this game, at this time, is how Young performs against that defense, in those weather conditions, and how he responds to the deafening crowd noise. Of course, this could be a much bigger game or even flexed into a primetime slot if the Panthers and Eagles are looking to be playoff-bound, hypothetically speaking.

Another reason why this matchup intrigues me is the big test defensive coordinator Ejiro Evero faces containing Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley, and the Eagles run game. This has been one of the best rushing attacks for the last few seasons and the Panthers have made numerous moves this offseason to improve this discipline after an underwhelming year in 2023.

Ultimately, the goal for the Panthers this season is to play competitive football from Week 1 to Week 18 in hopes of shocking the world and winning the NFC South title outright. Improvement from the offense and Young is at the top of the list and the team overall should improve their win total. But by how much will be decided during the fall.