Monday Night Football features an interconference showdown with the 4-4 Miami Dolphins visiting the 6-3 Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
When the Panthers have the ball their key to victory will be letting quarterback Cam Newton be himself, as they’ve been doing recently. Newton has to run around to amass big chunks of yardage and score touchdowns. This season they have allowed him to that and they have been winning so expect them to continue with that strategy in this game.
Since they are playing the Dolphins, who are ranked seventh in the league allowing 94 yards per game, they will need as many offensive weapons as they can and letting Cam run will help them keep the Dolphins defense guessing and extend plays to find unconventional ways to score.
The Dolphins will try to use Jarvis Landry, their leading wide receiver, in both the deep ball plays and the short passing situations where Landry has shown he has the ability to avoid some defenders and take it the distance to score.
Dolphins quarterback Jay Cutler will try to get Landry more involved because he’s sort of a spark plug for them. Even though Cutler likes to hold on to the ball and makes the throw at the last minute he can try to shake things up by getting the ball out faster, put it in Landry’s hands and let him get the yards after the catch before the offensive line breaks down and allows a sack.
If Cutler looks towards Landry often, he will do the hard work for the Dolphins and help them minimize the sacks. Cutler just has to release the ball earlier and they will prevent the turnovers against a very solid Panthers defense on the road.
This aspect for the Dolphins will be key if they want to win on the road because the Panthers defense is getting back to what made the unit so successful unit in recent years. They are currently ranked first in the league allowing just 274 yards per game and their rushing defense is second in the league allowing just 78.4 yards per game.
They keep pounding at you, with a defensive front that is very good at creating pressure and batting balls, an area where Cutler usually struggles. Add the added benefit of having linebacker Luke Kuechly healthy once again, and now the Panthers can create pressure from the edge of the line and blitz often.
Because of that, the Panthers should prove to be too much for the Dolphins and win at home by at least 10 points.
