Jordan Love may be walking into a tricky-looking matchup on Thursday night, but CBS Sports analyst Pete Prisco sees the Packers quarterback as the player most likely to break it open.
The Carolina Panthers’ issues are easy to spot right now. They’re getting mauled in pass protection, and that’s been a major part of why the offense keeps stalling. Entering Week 7, the Panthers had allowed the highest rate of pressures per dropback, and they only made that problem worse by giving up five more sacks of Bryce Young.
The other side of the ball hasn’t held up much better. Carolina’s run defense was hammered again in Sunday’s 43-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who leaned on their backs 45 times for 246 yards and three touchdowns at Bank of America Stadium.
That combination has made the Panthers look vulnerable in the same two places over and over: up front on offense and up front on defense. But Green Bay doesn’t exactly bring the kind of ground game that usually turns that into a simple formula.
The Packers have the league’s worst rushing attack, which could push this game toward Jordan Love’s arm instead. And Prisco thinks that’s where the damage comes from.
“These two are both coming off losses. The Carolina loss featured the Bucs running over them for 258 rushing yards.
It's been a problem all year. But the Packers don't run it very well, so something has to give.
Carolina gave Jordan Love fits last year, but that will change here. Carolina gives up 27.7 points per game.
Love lights them up and Josh Jacobs gets the run game going. Pick: Packers 31, Panthers 24”
Carolina’s pass defense, though, has been tougher to crack than the season-long score would suggest. Even with Jaycee Horn and Mike Jackson sidelined for much of the year, the Panthers are allowing just 195.7 passing yards per game, a mark that only five teams have been able to beat.
That means pressure on Love will matter a lot if Carolina wants to slow Green Bay down. When Love gets sped up, the numbers haven’t been kind: he’s completing less than 60 percent of his throws and already has five interceptions this season.
The Panthers also had his number in last year’s matchup in Green Bay. Love put up 273 passing yards, but he finished without a touchdown and threw one interception in a 16-13 Packers loss.
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