Cowboys vs Panthers: 3 things to love about the Week 15 opponent
The Dallas Cowboys will be on the road to face the Carolina Panthers in Week 15 and despite their opponents’ recent surge, there are reasons to love the matchup. Both teams are coming off tough losses that could’ve been wins if they made the plays at the right moments. For the Cowboys, it was botching situational football on a blocked punt, and for the Panthers, it was dropping a touchdown that would’ve made the Philadelphia Eagles the laughingstock of the league.
Neither team was able to get the job done, which is why they have a combined eight wins on the year.Now the Cowboys and Panthers are set to play with Mike McCarthy’s team clinging to miniscule playoff hopes that could apparently save his job. Here are three things to love about the Cowboys’ Week 15 matchup with the Panthers.
Horrible rush defense
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If you thought the Cowboys had a bad rushing defense, you haven’t seen the Panthers attempt to stop the run. It’s a defense that ranks dead last in the league against the run, allowing over 170 yards a game on the ground. That’s more than 23 yards worse than the next team, and almost 30 yards worse than the Cowboys, who rank 30th against the run.
The Panthers have allowed six running backs to run for over 100 yards this season, and eight to run for at least 80 yards. It’s also a defense that’s surrendered 19 scores on the ground.
That should be music to running back Rico Dowdle’s ears. The veteran RB is coming off consecutive 100-yard rushing games, and he had a career high 131 yards in the loss on Monday Night Football. Dowdle and the running game is heating up and now they get a putrid rushing defense to try for a third straight 100-yard outing.
The Panthers are giving up an NFL-worst five yards a carry, which should be good news after Dowdle ran for 7.3 ypc last week. The Cowboys will love going up against the worst rushing defenses in the league in Week 15.
Lack of receiving weapons
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The Cowboys played with their top trio of cornerbacks for the first time on the season in Week 14, but they were torched by an elite wide receiver in Cincinnati Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase. Don’t expect a similar problem against the Panthers’ group of receivers, who don’t have anyone nearly as good.
Carolina’s passing game is 27th in the league, gaining just under 187 ypg, and their lead WR is rookie Xavier Legette, who has just 39 catches for 432 yards and four scores. Legette has a bright future, but he’s not ready to be the main passing option in an offense. It was Legette’s dropped touchdown last week that cost the Panthers a win and despite his physical tools, he’s not a WR1 yet.
The best option for the Panthers is veteran WR Adam Thielen, who’s had two big games after coming back from injury. At 34-years old, Thielen can still find his way open, he’s caught 17 balls for 201 yards and a touchdown since returning, but he’s not the player he once was.
After Legette and Thielen, no Panthers WR has more than 26 catches or surpassed 300 yards on the season. Those are the only two legitimate threats at WR for quarterback Bryce Young.
At tight end, another rookie, Ja’Tavion Sanders, leads the team with 29 catches for just 302 yards.
There aren’t many receiving options to threaten the Cowboys’ defense. After whom they faced last week, the Dallas must love matching up against the Panthers WRs in Week 15.
Lacks a pass rush
The Panthers’ defense has a problem getting to the QB, they have just 25 sacks on the year, good for 28th in the league. After trading away their best pass rusher in Brian Burns last offseason, the defense had no one else to command attention off the edge, and it’s been a problem.
Defensive end A’Shawn Robinson leads the team with 4.5 sacks, which is a career high for him, 2.5 more than his previous best seasons. The next best pass rushers have been linebacker Josey Jewell and veteran edge rusher Jadeveon Clowney, who both have 3.5 on the year.
Not exactly a murderer’s row for the Cowboys’ offensive line to block. The Panthers have been getting more pressure in the last few weeks, but they’re a team who struggles to get after the QB consistently. If the line can give QB Cooper Rush time, the Cowboys should be able to put up points through the air, where the Panthers are next to last in the league in allowing passing touchdowns.
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