Three Reasons Why Green Bay Will Win Against the Panthers in the Packers-Panthers game
Not by much. The New York Times estimates that the Packers’ chances of making the playoffs are 22%. However, a victory over the Carolina Panthers on Sunday would set up a pivotal Sunday night matchup against the Minnesota Vikings. If they win that game, they might play the Chicago Bears in a win-and-in game.
However, they must defeat the Panthers first, these are the optimistic reasons for the week.
1. The Big Day of Joe Barry
Tommy DeVito made the Packers defense led by Joe Barry look foolish. Baker Mayfield destroyed it. The first overall choice of the 2023 NFL Draft, rookie Bryce Young of the Panthers, will be the opponent on Sunday.
Young hasn’t performed well. He is ranked 30th in passer rating, 29th in completion %, and 30th in yards per attempt out of 30 quarterbacks that are eligible to play. Only Mac Jones of New England has a worse touchdown-to-interception ratio with nine touchdowns against nine interceptions. Since October, he has not achieved 200 passing yards. Adam Thielen, a former Vikings star, is the top receiver with an average of 9.8 yards per grab.
Carolina is ranked 29th in scoring, 30th in overall offense, 32nd in yards per play, 32nd in passing per play, and 24th in rushing per play due to an inept passing and running game. In addition, it ranks 29th in the red zone and 24th on third down.If not, they’re “Great!” in the words of legendary football historian and breakfast enthusiast Tony the Tiger.
The Panthers have not scored 20 points in any of their last eight games. They scored nine in a victory against Atlanta and six in a defeat to New Orleans in their previous two games.
According to Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown, it’s important for the team to perform on game day. “I believe that consistency is key, especially after our game-winning drive last week, because it shows you what happens when we actually execute and are in sync, making plays all over the field, and we can string together some drives.”
Barry is optimistic that his team will improve following a strong practice week. “Though Sunday did not go well, I never questioned any of our guys’ desire, our heart, or their play style during the game or, obviously, Sunday night going back and watching it,” the man stated. The play style that we go out and practice with and play with is something that I expect that we demand every single day. I have never witnessed anything from our group of guys to cast doubt on that.
2. The Red-Zone Comeback
It’s known as The Longest Yard. The tale of the Packers’ defeats might be titled The Longest 20 Yards.
Both the previous week against the Giants and the week before against the Buccaneers, the Packers were just 2 of 5 in the red zone. In actuality, Green Bay was only 6-of-19 in the red zone over their previous four losses. In contrast, they swept the Chargers, Lions, and Chiefs in three games, going seven out of ten.
The Aaron Jones-led drive to start the game against Tampa Bay ended in a dismal fashion when Jones was tackled on third down and Jordan Love airmailed Jayden Reed on fourth down.
The only thing left to do is go out there and play,” offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich stated. “There’s that, of course, and then just us going out there and executing and making sure when the plays are there, we take it. You constantly look at the game plans and things you can do better with the scheme and all that stuff.
“You have to make sure you rely on the run game and then when you get those opportunities to throw the ball, when you have plays, you have to make them. It’s hard to throw the ball down there, obviously.”
Love was 7-of-15 with two touchdowns in the red zone over the last two weeks; in the three games prior, he was 11-of-15 with seven touchdowns. Carolina ranks 31st in the red zone this season, with 71.1 percent of opponent touchdowns occurring in the zone.
Love stated, “I think the biggest thing we need to focus on is giving guys a shot in the end zone and going and making plays.” We’re still a tremendously strong team, in my opinion. When we reach the red zone, I believe we perform admirably and have done an excellent job. It goes without saying that last week wasn’t good enough, but I believe we can improve this week and score some points there.
3. Turnovers for the Holidays
With six turnovers, the Panthers rank sixth worst in the NFL. They have the lowest takeaways in the league with just 17 turnovers.
Nonetheless, they had two interceptions and zero turnovers in their victory over Atlanta previous week, finishing plus-2. Furthermore, they have gained four interceptions in the last three weeks alone, with one coming from each of those games. Throughout his last four games, Young has thrown just one interception.
The Packers have won six games; they were also plus-5 when they defeated the Chiefs, Chargers, and Lions. Notably, in their eight losses, they have given away 13 of their 16 giveaways.