Panthers And Steelers Coming On Strong Heading Into Contest
It’s a matchup of two teams trending in the right direction as Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers travel to Heinz Field to take on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Both teams are streaking and are playing their best football as they each have their eyes on a Super Bowl title in 2018.
Pittsburgh has won four straight games after a 1-2-1 start while Carolina has rolled to three straight victories, the past two by a combined 29 points.
Before this huge non-conference Thursday night tilt, we’ll take a look at the headlines going into this NFC South vs AFC North matchup.
Let’s take a look.
Has The Steelers Defense Turned A Corner?
The Steelers are winning, and a big reason why is because of their defense, which has allowed on average of 18 PPG while recording 13 sacks.
There’s reason to believe the defense is not just benefiting from a soft part of their schedule as the Atlanta Falcons and Cincinnati Bengals both have high-powered and high-scoring offenses, both of which Pittsburgh handled themselves well against.
The defense notoriously gave up 45 points in the Divisional Round of the playoffs last season to the run heavy Jacksonville Jaguars.
Those struggles continued into the regular-season as they gave up 42 points to the Kansas City Chiefs and allowed both the Buccaneers and Ravens to rack up yardage and big plays in Weeks 3 and 4.
Pittsburgh, however, seems to have recovered from their early season woes as the secondary play of Mike Hilton and Sean Davis has improved over the past four weeks.
That’ll be important moving forward if Pittsburgh wants to continue its roll vs Carolina.
Cam Newton’s Best Season Ever?
It’s been quite a season so far for Cam Newton, who is thriving in his first season with much renowned offensive mind Norv Turner as his offensive coordinator.The offense, on a week to week basis, is unpredictable. That’s been a plus for Newton, as the Panthers have shown versatility in their offensive attack, using their entire roster to create positive plays.
Just last Sunday, three different running backs scored touchdowns for the Carolina Panthers. When it comes to the play of Cam Newton, the 2015 NFL MVP is on pace for arguably his best season ever.
Cam Newton has thrown for 1,893 passing yards, 15 touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 67.3 percent of his passes with a 100.8 Passer Rating.
He’s protecting the football as well as he did back in 2015 while throwing the ball with accuracy better than he ever has. Accuracy has been a criticism for Newton that has followed him throughout his entire career, but he’s silencing his critics in his eighth season.
When considering his career-high in completion percentage is 61.7 percent, Newton is enjoying his most impressive season as a pro while still being very much a threat as a runner.
What To Do When Le’Veon Bell Returns
All-Pro Le’Veon Bell appears set to return to the Pittsburgh Steelers next week before the deadline of November 13th, and that will be an interesting story to follow once he does.
James Conner is second in the NFL in rushing (706 rushing yards) and has been equally effective as a pass catcher as he has 38 receptions for 379 receiving yards and one touchdown.
In some respects, he’s doing better than Bell did all of last season as he’s averaging 4.7 rushing yards per carry. In comparison, Bell only averaged 4.0 yards per carry in 2017. Pittsburgh in all likelihood believe they need Le’Veon Bell to win a Super Bowl, but the question becomes how will the Steelers locker room embrace the embattled running back?
The offensive line, the guys blocking for him, have been outspoken about Bell since training camp and were peeved when Bell’s departure lingered into the regular-season.
Prepare for some fireworks.
Who wins Thursday night’s game at Heinz Field? Leave your comments below!
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