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What a difference a season makes, last season the Carolina Panthers were 15-1 and this year they are 1-3, what happened you might ask?
Simply put, the younger players feel entitled to success after the amazing year they had last season, and frankly aren’t putting in as much effort as they should. The talent is there, what seems to be lacking is a will to win.
The other major problem Carolina has, lays with their defense; things seem to have fallen apart after they lost CB Josh Norman to the Redskins. Without him they are not generating consistent pressure on their opponents, point in case is that they have allowed a 78% completions rate in the last six quarters. That defense does not resemble last year’s team at all.
QB Cam Newton is undergoing the league’s concussion protocol and he missed practice on Thursday and again today, giving the impression that he won’t play in this game. If this is the case, backup QB Derek Anderson will be leading the Panthers. The good news here is, that Anderson is somewhat familiar with Tampa Bay, he won both matches against the division rivals back in 2014.
Losing Newton adds pressure to the Panthers, who were already struggling with their ground game, with Jonathan Steward missing the last two games and possibly this one as well due to hamstring injury. Therefore, running backs Cameron Artis-Payne and Fozzy Whittaker will team up once again to cover for the injured player, but this alliance has not generated the expected results in the last two games. The Panthers need this win, and in order to get it they must beef up their ground game, as it is likely that their passing game will suffer this week without Newton.
Tampa Bay is currently ranked 31 in points allowed which is not a good place to be, but somewhat paradoxically they are only allowing their opponents an average of 3.3 yards per play. I guess this means they will allow you to score against them, but you are going to have to work for it, which could pose a problem for Carolina and their spoiled players.
The Buccaneers had an important win in week 1 against the Falcons, unfortunately it was their only win this season, after that they have been awful to put it nicely. They gave up 37 point to the Rams which is simply embarrassing. Quarterback Jameis Winston, hasn’t been playing his best, he has been turning the ball way too often and doesn’t have a consistent ground game, however if there is a game in which he can turn the tables, it is this one against an ailing Carolina defense.
Derek Anderson, was not flawless last week when he stepped in to finished the game, after Can Newton was hit, he had two interceptions but that was mainly because he was forced to take a lot of risks. Things should be different were he to start, he would have more control over the situation and could end up giving his team the much needed win.
Bottom line:
This is a tough game to predict not knowing who the QB will be for Carolina, but regardless of, I am confident the Panthers have enough talent in their team to be able to get away with a win against Tampa Bay.
The pro football gambling line for this game is still not up, because of the uncertainty of Cam Newton playing, but keep checking the NFL lines at AceSportsbook.com as they are sure to be one of the first ones to post it up.
