Here are some things to keep an eye out on when the Cowboys and Panthers face off on Sunday.
The Dallas Cowboys face the Carolina Panthers on Sunday in what looked like an easy game when the schedule came out. The Panthers have struggled to find their footing in the post-Cam Newton era as this year will mark their seventh-straight losing season. The Cowboys are having a losing season themselves and suddenly this game should be closer than we would’ve hoped. Here are five things to keep an eye out for when the Cowboys travel to Charlotte.
1. YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS
After being benched early in the season, second-year quarterback Bryce Young has found new life in the Panthers’ offense. Hoping he makes a mistake, defenses are coming after him as he has faced the highest percentage of blitzes since returning to the lineup. But they’re not getting to him as his pressure-to-sack rate is only 10.4% (according to NextGenStats), the fifth-lowest in the league during that span. He’s averaging 7.9 yards per attempt when under pressure, while the Cowboys defense gives up 7.6 yards per attempt under pressure, the third-most in the NFL. That could be a problem.
Speaking of returning, no pass rusher has generated more pressures than Micah Parsons since he returned to the lineup in Week 10. Parsons is a restless beast who not only creates pressure but does so in a hurry. His 18 quick pressures (under 2.5 seconds) are also league-best since his return. It should be interesting to see who handles the pressure better as that could loom large in determining the outcome of this game.
2. I GOTTA THIELEN
Since trading away D.J. Moore, the Panthers have had trouble finding their alpha receiver. D.J. Chark didn’t work out, Jonathan Mingo didn’t work out (more on that in a minute), and Diontae Johnson didn’t work out. Surprisingly, the team’s most trusted receiver over the last two seasons has been 34-year-old Adam Thielen. A hamstring injury caused him to miss seven games this year, but the veteran receiver is back now and he’s starting to heat up. His last two games include an eight-catch, 99-yard performance against Tampa Bay and nine catches for 102 yards last week against Philadelphia.
Thielen had a solid game last year against the Cowboys and he’s been known to put up some big numbers against them. While with the Vikings in 2020, he caught eight passes for 123 yards and two touchdowns. It was his best game of the season. The Cowboys just gave up a big game to JaMarr Chase. Don’t be shocked if Thielen is a pesky thorn in the Cowboys’ defense on Sunday.
3. RICO’S ON A ROLL
Through the first 10 weeks of the season, the Cowboys didn’t know what they wanted to do at running back. During that span, only once did running back Rico Dowdle have more than a dozen carries in a game. Lately, they have committed to giving Dowdle more touches. Over the last three games, he’s averaging 20 carries for 110 yards at 5.6 yards per carry. Dowdle has also snuck inside the top 10 in yards per carry (4.8) and rushing success rate (54.6%) for the year, ranking eighth in the NFL for running backs in both categories.
The Panthers have a horrid run defense. They have allowed a league-worst 170 yards per game this year. Four times this year they’ve surrendered over 200 yards a game, including each of their last two contests. It’s nice to see the Cowboys running game start to gain traction and they should be able to keep that momentum going against the Panthers on Sunday.
4. DON’T BE SO QUICK TO PULL THE TRIGGER
With a name like Cooper Rush, it’s only fitting that he’s in a hurry. The Cowboys quarterback likes to get the ball out of his hands quickly. That’s nice when plays have developed, but it can be a bit of a problem when they haven’t. Rush’s internal clock must be loud because he tends to panic amidst the slightest amount of pressure. He releases the ball 0.38 seconds after facing initial pressure according to NextGenStats. That’s the fastest draw this side of the Mississippi (and across the entire NFL).
The issue with Rush’s quick trigger is two-fold. First off, he’s going to his checkdowns far too often. This has led to a 4.6 average yards per attempt when pressured, the fourth-worst in the league. Secondly, his frantic passing has produced quite a bit of off-target throws, giving his receivers no chance to make a play. For Rush to be effective, he needs to muster courage and stand in the pocket like a big boy.
5. CAN WE PLEASE GET SOME MINGO?
Before the trade deadline, the Cowboys shipped a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Panthers for former 2023 second-round pick Jonathan Mingo. The hope was that a change of scenery would help spark an otherwise underwhelming start to his NFL career. Well, it hasn’t gone well in Dallas. In four games, Mingo has only been targeted 11 times. He has just two catches for 10 yards.
Mingo heads back to Carolina in what typically is viewed as a “revenge game” as he faces the team that drafted him. There will be no stellar performance in this one, but for now, we’d settle for a “shoulder shrug” game where he just put together a respectable performance. The Mingo experiment has been a painful one thus far, but if there is any chance of him turning a corner and showing some promise, it needs to happen real soon.
