Just watched a few of the Panthers’ games and I came away really impressed with their defense. Kuechly is the kind of linebacker I wish Mayo was. He’s the kind of linebacker the Pats defense needs, as I heard him called, a 360 degree linebacker.
They have a good rotation at defensive tackle which goes four deep, another thing the Pats need, and have two strong defensive ends in Johnson and Hardy. All of them can get after the quarterback so the Pats offensive line will have to play their best game of the season.
I think defensively they should be an excellent challenge for the Pats’ offense, and hopefully Shane Vereen is back to bring a new twist into the fold.
I think the gameplan will call for a lot of spread and hurry-up to keep the Panthers pass rushers on their heels and to limit how much they can rotate their defensive tackles.
Offensively I still see a lot of inconsistency from Cam Newton, but it’s their running backs that I’m most concerned with. Given the Pats’ problems against the run they could cause real problems.
Overall, I think the defensive game plan will be similar to what it was against the Steelers – make Cam beat them from the pocket.
In a perfect world, the Pats would grab a lead and that would take the Panthers out of their comfort zone offensively. If the Pats fall behind the Panthers could be really tough to catch up on, though I do think the Pats will throw the ball a lot and that’s why Vereen’s return would be key.