Carolina Panthers: How They Can Defeat Washington

The 9-0 Carolina Panthers are welcoming in the Washington Redskins on Sunday for Week 11 of their 2015 campaign. The Redskins bring a 4-5 record which includes an 0-4 mark on the road this year.

The Panthers are a large favorite coming into this game, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t head into this game, and every other, with caution for the dreaded “trap game.”

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The ESPN Matchup Predictor gives the Panthers a 74.5 percent chance to win this game on Sunday. That’s the largest margin that the team has enjoyed via the predictor at any point this season. There are a number of reasons as to why the Panthers are favored so highly against the team from the nation’s capital.

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The glaring issue for the Redskins is their run defense. They are currently allowing 135.3 yards per game and a massive 5 yards per attempt. This plays right into the Panthers strength. Carolina is the third best team in the league with 139.7 yards per game and 13th best with 4.1 yards per attempt.

The Redskins have a massive calling in stopping the combination of Cam Newton and Jonathan Stewart who are the leaders of this Panthers running core. The immediate expectation is that the Skins’ defense will be ready for the run on early plays in the series, but the struggle will be how the Panthers chip away at every first down. The Panthers haven’t had many huge plays this season, but they’ve amassed majority of their yardage through the run game and finishing it off with a touchdown. This is a staunch difference in how the Panthers performed in the past.

Carolina’s defense is going to play a major point in this game as well. The Redskins’ offense hasn’t been spectacular at any point this year as three of their wins were close encounters. When they beat the Saints that 47 point stomping was more of an exception for how the unit has performed this year. Carolina has excelled in getting takeaways while Washington is in the middle of the pack with 14 turnovers this year. It will be interesting to see if the pressure that Carolina brings rattles Kirk Cousins and the crew enough to keep this trend going another week.

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The Carolina Panthers continue to excel this year. While some of that is due to the schedule they’ve played this year, few can turn a blind eye for how well this team is operating regardless of the issues that they started the season with. They can continue this historic streak with a win on Sunday against the Redskins. On paper, this is a game that the team should be able to take in nearly every facet.

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