How Good Is The Carolina Defense?
The Panthers defense is very good. They were sixth in the NFL in terms of both yards and points given up, and both PFF (sixth) and Football Outsiders (second) had them graded highly, too.
But they have holes.
First off, the secondary that dominated the NFL through the majority of the season is no longer what they once were. Aside from Josh Norman, two of the Panthers top three cornerbacks (Bene Benwikere and Charles Tillman) are out for the season, and they’re replacements (Cortland Finnegan and Robert McClain) have been far from great.
In all reality, Peyton Manning could probably go the whole game without targeting Josh Norman once and still be successful. The question, though, is whom Norman will cover. While the popular opinion has been that he’ll blanket Demaryius Thomas, I wouldn’t be surprised if Carolina tries to shut down Emmanuel Sanders with Norman, while putting Finnegan on Thomas with safety help over the top.
In either case, Manning should have a favorable matchup on nearly every play.
And in terms of the run defense, the fact that Thomas Davis is playing with a broken arm — which, what?! — is a pretty big deal. Luke Kuechly may be as good as they come, but Davis is integral to that Panthers defense, both in their pass defense and run defense.
I’ve got a hard time believing Davis will be the same, all-world defender he’s been these last few seasons, and if that’s the case, there should be a little extra room for C.J. Anderson to get to the next level.
As a whole, though, the Panthers do have a very good defense, as I said at the top, but they’re not great; they’re not as good as the Patriots defense the Broncos faced off against two weeks ago. If they can put up 20 on New England, they can do the same to Carolina. The trick will be making sure they don’t reach that mark, too.
