Keys for Patriots vs Panthers

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CSNNE's Tom E. Curran broke down the matchup into his three keys for a Patriots win .


The first key is keeping Carolina?s offense off the field. Cam Newton and the rest of the Panthers? offense are efficient on third downs and have the fewest three-and-outs in the NFL.

Joe Vellano said the most important thing is stopping Carolina?s run game, which could help limit the Panthers to third-and-longs instead of third-and-shorts.



Curran?s second key for the Patriots is to utilize their full arsenal of offensive weapons. With Shane Vereen expected to play, and with Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski having another week under their belts, Tom Brady will have an assortment of players to go to.
?Carolina is dealing with a Patriots team that nobody has seen this season because of the complement of players,? Curran said. ?Look out Carolina. Patriots take advantage of that unknown and exploit it against a defense that hasn?t seen an offense with a quarterback in the ilk of Tom Brady.?



The final key is the play of the Patriots? safeties has to be tight on downfield throws. Duron Harmon will fill in for the injured Steve Gregory this week, and Harom will have his hands full trying to contain Steve Smith and Greg Olson.
?Don?t get beat deep, don?t allow the Carolina Panthers to have explosive plays,? Curran said. ?Make them earn it down the field and see if they can step into it a little bit offensively.?

 

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Brady, Pats have plenty to prove vs. Panthers

Brady, Pats have plenty to prove vs. Panthers

Watching Tom Brady finally light it up, and have the offense get it into gear before the off week was certainly an encouraging sign for the Patriots.

But let?s put things into perspective: That was the fading Steelers, this is the surging Panthers.
Tonight?s challenge has more weight and greater implications for the Patriots, who are 7-2 and frontrunners in the AFC East with their sights on a first-round playoff bye.


Ring up big numbers against the Panthers or appear invincible against the second-ranked NFL defense, and it speaks to a higher power for Brady and Co. This is much more of a reality check.
If you want a gauge of where Brady and the offense stand, and just how they might be able to lift the Pats past opponents down the road, tonight is a better measuring stick than the Pittsburgh game.



Given the plight of the Patriots defense, which was a force before season-ending injuries to defensive tackles Vince Wilfork and Tommy Kelly and linebacker Jerod Mayo, the pendulum now most swing back to the offense to carry the load. For the first part of the season, the defense bought the offense much-needed time to develop. But now we?re at Week 11. It?s prime time. It?s Monday Night Football. The time has come to see if the offense can really carry this team.


?I look at it like this: We?re a good offense, they?re a good defense. It?s going to be a great matchup,? running back Stevan Ridley said. ?Our best football is going to have to be played in these coming weeks. So it?s going to be a good mark for us as a team to see where we stand, and where we need to get to for the crucial games coming up down the road.
?So for us, we take it one game at a time, but this is definitely an opponent that?s going to give us some tough looks, that we?re going to have to respect, and just go in there and play our game.?


With the recent returns of tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Danny Amendola, and the possible return of running back Shane Vereen, Brady could have every weapon at his disposal for the first time this season. Even without Vereen, this game is a terrific test to see how far the offense has progressed, and what it might be capable of during the postseason.
In the last five games, the Panthers have allowed 10, 15, 13, 10 and nine points. Carolina?s defense ranks among the top-10 in the league in just about every significant category. While it hasn?t had to stifle too many great offenses, it has shut down a few elite quarterbacks, including the New York Giants? Eli Manning and the Atlanta Falcons? Matt Ryan.
If Brady and the offense can do some damage against the Panthers, it will build momentum and confidence for the homestretch of the regular season and into the postseason. The Pats quarterback, for one, said he wants to see what his offense is made of against the vaunted Carolina defense.


?They?ve won five straight. They?re a great team ? defense, everything,? Brady said. ?They have every stat, every category ? third down, red area, sacks, they turn it over. They have it all. They?re one of the best defenses in the league. We have to play really well. I think our execution has to be at its best.


?It?ll be fun. It?s Monday night. It?s getting later in the year. These games are more and more important. We?ll see what we can do.?
As for playing their game, as Ridley suggested, that begins with establishing the run because the passing game flows from there.
Against the Steelers, the Patriots showed great balance between their passing and running games, throwing 33 times and rushing 35. Ridley got the lion?s share of carries and responded with his best game of the season ? 115 yards on 26 carries and a pair of touchdowns.
Brady, meanwhile, spread the ball but went mostly to three main targets (Gronkowski, Amendola and rookie receiver Aaron Dobson), and everything just seemed to click.
If the Pats can add Vereen, who is a receiving threat out of the backfield, it makes the offense more diverse and difficult to defend. Vereen, who has been on the short-term physically unable to perform list, provides another dimension and familiar outlet for Brady.
?There?s still a lot of work to be done,? said Amendola, ?but we?re definitely excited to have a lot of new or old faces back. It adds to the offense, for sure, some different dynamics. We?re excited about it. We?re constantly trying to get better. Carolina is a great defense. We?re preparing our butts off to play well against them.?


The thinking is the Pats will continue to go with their fast-paced, no-huddle offense, which Brady may opt to put into a higher gear against the Panthers. And, given the bullets he now has at his disposal, why not empty the receivers arsenal and go with the spread offense? That?s the ticket.
For the first six games or so, the defense bought time for the offense to find chemistry, get on the same page with Brady, get people healthy, and start clicking as a unit.
So now, the honeymoon is over. Time to see what the offense is really made of.