The Panthers defense has had some ups and downs this season. It remains a relatively strong unit and vastly improved from what we saw last season.
What sets this group apart from 2018’s is their ability to disrupt the opponent’s passing game. Carolina is doing this through a combination of relentless pass rushing from a variety of different looks and tight pass coverage on the back end.
Heading into Week 6’s games, the Panthers rank No. 10 in the league in disrupted dropback %, which counts sacks, interceptions and pass breakups.
New England is setting the standard this season (and perhaps for this era of football) on defense. Thursday night’s game against Daniel Jones and the Giants should give everyone a close look of what a high bar they have set.
They’re not going to catch up to the Patriots, but this defense has outperformed our most hopeful expectations. In fact, it might even be considered an elite unit if not for a couple of QB/WR combinations that gave them major problems.
Specifically, Jameis Winston/Chris Godwin and Gardner Minshew/DJ Chark. In their Week 2 matchup with the Bucs, Godwin dropped eight catches, 121 yards and a critical touchdown late in the first half. On Sunday against Jacksonville, Chark also caught eight balls but he did far more damage, totaling 164 yards and two touchdowns.
If the Panthers can learn from what went wrong with those two specific matchups and correct it, this defense should be able to give them a chance to win any game.
