The Seattle Seahawks (5-5) hit the road to take on the Carolina Panthers (6-4) at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte as Russell Wilson and Cam Newton, two of the league’s best running quarterbacks, go head-to-head.
The Panthers, losers of two straight, are coming off a disappointing 20-19 loss to the Detroit Lions at Ford Field after coach Ron Rivera controversially decided, with 1:07 left in regulation, to go for a two-point conversion to win the game instead of kicking the extra point to tie and try to send it to overtime.
The Seahawks are meanwhile coming off a thrilling 27-24 win against the Green Bay Packers that put an end to a two-game losing streak.
Although the race for the division title is practically over for these two teams (Seattle trails the Los Angeles Rams by 4.5 games with six games left to play and the Panthers trail the New Orleans Saints by 3.5) they are still in the midst of the playoff race and can’t afford to fall behind any further in the tight NFC race.
This game will be all about Wilson and Newton have proved that they’re able to lead their teams to wins and they will have to do it once again in this match because neither of them can afford another loss.
For the Panthers, this will be a very tough game to try to get their season back on track as the Seahawks are the best team in the league running the ball, so if the Panthers want to win, they will have to do a better job of stopping the run.
That’s a problem because Carolina’s front seven has been struggling lately and the Seahawks can run at you in a lot of different ways to extend their plays, including Wilson’s famous scrambles when he gets out of the pocket.
Offensively, the Panthers’ struggles have been in great measure due to the fact that they’re not running the ball as much recently even though they have the talent to do it with Newton and running back Christian McCaffrey.
Veering off their running game has been hampering the Panthers’ ability to create the explosive plays to win huge chunks of yards and score from anywhere on the field.
That must change in this game and it all begins with their offensive line stepping up because they must do a better job of opening gaps for their rushers and protecting Newton, who has been sacked eight times in the last two weeks.
If the Panthers, who are 5-0 in Charlotte this season, find a way to fix all those problems and manage to beat the Seahawks on Sunday, they will not only be helping themselves, but also helping the Rams, who are on their bye week and would immediately clinch the NFC West without even stepping on a field this weekend.
