Game Overview ::
By HILOW >>
- Panthers QB Andy Dalton (thumb) did not practice Wednesday while Bryce Young (ankle) returned to a full session. It certainly appears as if Young is in line to resume starting duties against the Packers.
- Packers WR Dontayvion Wicks (calf) remained sidelined Wednesday after missing Week 8.
- Packers LB/DL Lukas Van Ness (foot) missed practice again Wednesday.
- Fantasy’s overall TE1 in PPR, Tucker Kraft, has dominated Cover-3 this season with 0.24 targets per route run (TPRR), 2.90 yards per route run (YPRR), and an elite 0.74 fantasy points per route run (FP/RR), and the Panthers rank third in Cover-3 utilization at 41.2%.
- The Packers have quietly scored 27 points or more in all but one game this season (exactly 27 four times) and rank fifth in scoring.
JM’S JOURNAL ::
Find JM’s Journal on Friday in The Scroll. If you are an Inner Circle member, you can read JM’s Journal on Thursday in Discord.
How CAROLINA Will Try To Win ::
The Panthers have one clear outlier this season – their 30-0 win over the Falcons in Week 3. They forced three turnovers and scored a defensive touchdown in that game. Outside of that one week, the Panthers have forced just four turnovers, have one sack or fewer in five of eight games, and have scored more than a modest 13 points against only the Cardinals, Cowboys, and Dolphins. Furthermore, they have averaged only 14.5 points per game on the road this season, 27th in the league. So much of what they try to do offensively stems from their successes on the ground, and Young’s average intended air yards ranks 25th in the league of quarterbacks with five or more appearances this season. That effectively makes them an offense that is reliant on marching the field and stringing together drives. It then makes sense how they were able to find offensive success against the Cardinals (in garbage time when they went prevent), Cowboys, and Dolphins. In other words, the Panthers are likely to struggle offensively against teams capable of generating disruption – the Packers are one such team.
Head coach Dave Canales made some open-ended remarks regarding his backfield this week, effectively saying that the team wanted to give Chuba Hubbard the benefit of the doubt after he “served the team” for so long. Reading between the lines could yield a conclusion that his days as the starter are over. Now, we have no idea to what extent that could influence the workload of Rico Dowdle, but it at least appears as if Dowdle will be charged with more work than a one-for-one rotation of drives like he had seen the previous two games. That is firmly in the land of speculation, but it as least worth keeping in mind moving forward. The Packers are holding opposing offenses to just 3.7 yards per carry (fourth) behind 2.09 yards allowed before contact per attempt, but they did just surrender 5.2 yards per carry to the Steelers with Van Ness out of the lineup, something that appears likely again this week.
Crash the leaderboards
PFP the OWS pennant
Slot man Jalen Coker worked his way up to a 66% snap rate in his second game of the season in Week 8, for an offense that utilized 11-personnel at near-league-average rates (about 70%). That rendered Brycen Tremayne and Jimmy Horn useless on 13% snap rates each, while the tight-end stable continued in a three-man timeshare at the position. Rookie Tetairoa McMillan and Xavier Legette are now the only near every-down pass catchers in the offense. Young averages a lowly 7.0-yard aDOT while the Packers have forced the fourth-shallowest aDOT this season (also 7.0), meaning the likeliest scenario leaves the Panthers attacking the short-to-intermediate areas of the field. That also leaves very little upside from any Carolina pass catcher. There isn’t much else that needs to be said here, to be honest.
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