Panther Preview

Cam Newton after hearing he is facing the Packer defense

Now to the game at hand. The road game against the 7-0 Panthers has some interesting aspects.

 

First Sam Shields (shoulder-injured when he fell down and not after being hit), Ty Montgomery (sprained ankle) and Quinten Rollins (neck) are most likely out. Bryan Bulaga (knee), T. J. Lang (illness) and Mike Neal (hip) have been added to the injury list on Saturday and Bulaga and Land are listed as probable and Neal questionable. Clay Matthews (ankle/knee), Nick Perry (shoulder/hand) and Aaron Ripkowski (illness) are also probable.

 

The history against Cam Newton is pretty good - the Packers have beaten him both times they faced him - but his first start was disturbing. In 2014 he completed 17of-31 for 205 yards with 1 TD and 1 interception is a 38-17 loss at Lambeau. However, his rookie season in 2011 he faced the Packers in the second game of the season and he threw for a still career high 432 yards (28-of-46) with 1 TD and 3 interceptions in a 30-23 loss at Carolina. The Packers had been torched by Drew Brees the week before, so this was just a typical day for Dom Capers' pass defense.

 

Now the Packers are coming off two straight torchings by Philip Rivers, who set career marks for yards (503), attempts (65) and completions (43) and a season-high 340 yards by a limp-armed Peyton Manning.

 

Like I've said before many times a Dom Capers defense is just what the doctor ordered when it comes to struggling quarterbacks or backup quarterbacks for that matter because Capers doesn't make adjustments during the game.

 

Newton comes in struggling in his last three games after the bye. He has put up quarterback ratings of 65.6 (20-of-36-269yds-1TD-2int) against the Seahawks, 59.2 (14-of-24-197yds-1TD-3int) against the Eagles and 76.8 (16-of-35-248yds-2TD-1int) against the Colts. For the season he has a quarterback rating of 78.1 with 11 TDs and 8 interceptions.

 

For a month now the Packers offense has been ordinary and I feel that might happen again. It's curious Aaron Rodgers hasn't told us to R-E-L-A-X, so maybe he is also worried. So this has me more worried than I normally am. I'm not sure what the score is going to be, but I feel the Packers will lose this game and the Vikings will beat the Rams leaving the Packers and Vikings tied for the division lead at 6-2-0.

 

So I finish with "FIRE HIS (Capers) ASS" before this season completely comes off the rails.