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[Carolina Panthers]

Panthers vs Saints: Defensive Preview

Hello CSR! We’re onto the next game as the Panthers will welcome the 1-8 New Orleans Saints to Charlotte for part one of their annual NFC South two-game-tilt. The Panthers are coming off their biggest win of the season, as their defense managed to hold a very good Packers offense to only 13 points in their home stadium. Meanwhile, the Saints are coming off a 34-10 beat down by the Rams where their offense struggled to run the football and the leading receiver from the day Rashid Shaheed has since been traded. Rookie 2nd round pick Tyler Shough has taken the reigns of the offense, let’s dive right into the matchup!

• Contain Alvin Kamara and Tayson Hill. While the Saints offense has been very bad this season, in recent history Alvin Kamara and Taysom Hill have notoriously given this defense problems. Granted, this Panthers defense is performing (most weeks) well above what we’ve come to expect for quite a few seasons. Still, the Saints should lean on Kamara and Hill both in the rushing game and as passing threats. Kamara is coming off a rough 5 game stretch where he hasn’t run for more than 31 yards in any of them, and in only one game he eclipsed that number as a receiver. He also hasn’t scored since week 1. Taysom Hill’s production has been relatively limited all season, though he ended up being the leading Saints rusher last week with 30 yards on 4 carries. This team hasn’t been able to find much of a groove all season in the rushing game, but this is the perfect game for them to try and turn that ship around. The Panthers offense is playing a much more ball control, low margin for error game plan, so the Saints may follow suit and try to lean on the guys who have often given this defense headaches in recent years.
• Take advantage of a weakened offensive line. The Saints also just traded away OG Trevor Penning, and starting right tackle Taliese Fuaga is expected to miss Sunday with a high ankle sprain. That means at least two backups will be starting for a unit that hasn’t run the ball very well and is starting a rookie quarterback. While the Panthers pass rush hasn’t been a strength this season, they’ve started to wake up a bit over the last several games. Being beat up at EDGE certainly isn’t helping things, but this is definitely a game to pile on some sacks and affect throws from Tyler Shough. They often need to dial up the blitz to get pressure, this may be a game where they won’t have to do it as much.
• Juwan Johnson and Chris Olave should be priority #1 for the secondary. As stated earlier, the Saints just gave up a promising young piece in Shaheed. Chris Olave and Jaycee Horn is always a fun matchup to watch, while Juwan Johnson is having himself a pretty good season as now their 2nd leading receiver. Olave is going to be the primary threat, as he’s responsible for almost a third of the target share for this offense, but the Panthers should not ignore the tight end position either. Reigning NFC defensive player of the week Tre’Von Moehrig should be heavily involved around the line of scrimmage once again this week, and should see a fair amount of Juwan Johnson.

What are you looking for from the Panthers defense this week, Panthers fans?

Source: https://www.catscratchreader.com/ca...on/56646/panthers-vs-saints-defensive-preview

 

[Carolina Panthers]

CSR Weekend Warriors: 11/7-11/9

Greetings, Panthers fans. Welcome to the weekend.

Feel free to use this thread to chat about (almost) anything you want: video games, food, movies, non-football sports, you name it. As long as it’s allowed by the site’s ToS, it’s fair game here.

You know the drill.

This is now an open thread

Source: https://www.catscratchreader.com/the-scratching-post/56594/csr-weekend-warriors-11-7-11-9

 

[Carolina Panthers]

Panthers Injury Report & Transactions – Week 10

The Carolina Panthers front office is busy throughout the season with transactions, roster moves, and injury updates. Here’s what’s happening at Mint Street this week.

Injury Report​

The Panthers injury report is pretty clean this week. The most notable player listed as “out” is guard Chandler Zavala with an elbow injury. His absence will continue the carousel of new faces along the Panthers offensive line.

Two wide receivers are showing as questionable in rookie sensation Tetairoa McMillan and second-year free agent Brycen Tremayne. McMillan popped up unexpectedly on the injury report on Friday as a limited participant in practice, so here’s to hoping it’s nothing serious and he can take the field against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday. Tremayne has 10 receptions on 13 targets this year for 116 yards, making him a more integral part of the offense than most Panthers fans realize.

Transactions​

It was a pretty quiet week on the transactions front as well. Carolina’s front office must be out enjoying North Carolina’s beautiful Fall weather because they haven’t pulled the trigger on any roster moves since before last Sunday’s game. That said, there were a couple of moves made last Saturday, November 1st that happened after our weekly Injury & Transactions article was posted. Here’s what happened last Saturday, the day before the Panthers beat the Green Bay Packers.

Released RB DeeJay Dallas (Nov. 1st)

Dallas was a fourth round pick back in 2020 by the Seattle Seahawks. In four seasons with the Seahawks he rushed 112 time for 468 yards (a healthy 4.2 yards per carry) with four touchdowns. Dallas was equally effective as a receiver out of the backfield for the Seahawks with 61 receptions for 396 yards and another score. He spent 2024 with the Arizona Cardinals, appearing in all 17 games with nine carries for 49 yards plus an additional three receptions for 11 yards.

He joined Carolina’s practice squad back in August. He appeared in two games for the Panthers with one carry for zero yards. It wouldn’t be all that surprising to see DeeJay bounce around Carolina’s practice squad, active roster, and the waiver wire for the remainder of the season.

Activated OLB Jeremiah Moon from the practice squad (Nov 1st)

Moon is a third-year journeyman having spent his first season in 2023 with the Baltimore Ravens and 2024 with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Panthers signed him to the practice squad on October 21st and activated him for last Sunday’s game against the Packers. Moon played six special teams snaps last week but didn’t record any stats.

Source: https://www.catscratchreader.com/ca...5/panthers-injury-report-transactions-week-10

 

[Carolina Panthers]

5 Questions with Canal Street Chronicles

Now that the Super Bowl favorite* Carolina Panthers are expected to easily—almost effortlessly—expand their winning record against the New Orleans Saints (up to -5.5 favorites on FanDuel this morning), I thought it would be gracious to allow a fan of the 1-8 Saints to explain their situation from their perspective. To that end, Nic Jennings of Canal Street Chronicles was most cooperative.

All jokes aside, the Saints a struggling team who just sold off what little value remained on their team at the trade deadline. They are competing with the New York Jets for the first overall pick more than they are the Panthers for any particular position in the NFC South. This is exactly the kind of dead-on-arrival team that the Panthers would lose to in years past.

Read on to find out what is left on their offense, how Chase Young is going to wreck Bryce Young’s day, and what may be next for a franchise that is overdue for leadership changes.

With Spencer Rattler benched, and Rahid Shaheed and Trevor Penning traded away, what’s left for the Saints offense?

Not much. The Saints have little to no rushing attack, and the offensive line and skill positions aren’t talented enough to hold up for an entire game. Taysom Hill’s 29-yard run was the Saints’ only rush of more than four yards against the Rams—29 of their 53 rushing yards came on that one play, and without it, they averaged just 2.4 yards per carry. New Orleans is in a tough spot, having to evaluate two young quarterbacks without much of a supporting cast around them. I’m interested to see how Tyler Shough fares in his second start after performing pretty well against a feisty Rams pass rush.

How is Taysom Hill, a career tight end and distraction, still the best quarterback on the Saints roster?

He’s not. If that were the case, he would’ve been the successor to Drew Brees. There’s a reason Taysom hasn’t started a game at quarterback since the 2021 season. He’s one of the best in the league in his role—if not the best—but he isn’t a starting NFL quarterback.

Spencer Rattler and Tyler Shough have shown flashes of potential, but like I said earlier, this roster simply isn’t talented enough. It’s hard to evaluate two young signal-callers in this situation, especially with a first-year head coach.

Obviously, 1-8 is 1-8, but how has Kellen Moore fared in his first season as a head coach?

Kellen Moore immediately won over the fanbase this offseason with the initiative he took and his night-and-day approach compared to former head coach Dennis Allen, especially when it comes to recovery and team bonding. However, it feels like he’s letting the noise get to him and is starting to feel the pressure during games.

He’s often seen standing by himself on the sideline with his head buried in a clipboard, steering away from the things that make his offenses successful—the run game, the deep shots and trusting his offense on short-yardage fourth downs. He’s also hesitant to rely on his kicker, with Blake Grupe struggling, which has led the Saints to punt in too many situations that could have given this offense some momentum. This will likely improve over time, but coaching has definitely dragged down a team already lacking in talent.

Are there any defensive players on the roster younger than and better than Cameron Jordan?

Cam Jordan hasn’t been the future Pro Football Hall of Famer we all remember him as for quite some time now.

That said, Chase Young has been outstanding since returning from his calf injury in Week 6. He’s already second on the team in sacks (4) and pressures (13), and this marks the first time in his career he’s recorded a sack in three straight games. He also notched the fifth multi-sack performance of his career against Tampa Bay in Week 8, while earning a 90.7 pass-rush grade on the year through four games, per PFF.

Do you trust current General Manager Mickey Loomis to make the first overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft?

Absolutely not. Loomis’ draft record over the past few years has severely set the team back. The Saints have needed to embrace a rebuild for a long time now, and these poor draft classes have made it nearly impossible to do so. You need a foundation of young players who can be part of your future plans, and the amount of whiffs—especially in the first round—has taken its toll on the franchise. Marcus Davenport, Payton Turner, Trevor Penning (just traded to the Chargers) and others come to mind.

There need to be changes in the decision-making process, and it starts with Loomis. It would do everyone a favor if he assumed a higher-level role in the front office and allowed a more modern approach to take over personnel decisions—because, unfortunately, Mickey (24 years as GM—the longest-tenured in the NFL) isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Source: https://www.catscratchreader.com/general/56660/5-questions-with-canal-street-chronicles