Pondering the Panthers

As I sit right now watching the Who Dat Saints lose to “America’s Team”, the Dallas Cowboys, I am pondering what a victory over the Panthers this Sunday could possibly mean for the Vikings. On a side note, who voted the Dallas Cowboys as “America’s Team”? I never got to vote, and I would have voted differently. Anyways, back on topic, the Who Dat’s are losing 24-10 with under 10 minutes to go and it means if the Vikings win, the Purple would be just 1 game back.

I’m getting ahead of myself though, because the Vikings still have to win on Sunday to pose any sort of threat to the Saints having home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. Not to mention, the Saints just scored to be within 7. The Panthers are sitting at 5-8 and well out of playoff contention, but they’ve played well at times during the season. Hot and cold would be a good description of their play. Their games against the Cardinals, who they put a whooping on, and the Falcons at home were all-around well played by the Panthers. They’ve also had games against the Bills and Jets in which they failed to reach the end zone.

DeAngelo Williams is by far the Panthers’ best offensive weapon and it’s too bad that he has to face the 4th best run defense in the league this week. However, he is averaging 5.3 yards per carry and has 7 TDs while splitting carries with Jonathan Stewart. The Vikings will have their hands full with both RBs, but it does get a little easier as they can focus pretty much all of their attention on stopping the run.

That’s because Matt Moore is starting in place of Jake Delhomme at QB for the Panthers. He is just 35 for 62 with 2 interceptions and only one touchdown pass in the four games he’s appeared in, two of them being starts. He’s also been sacked 4 times this season and you can expect the Vikings to try and double that stat on Sunday with one of the best defensive lines in the league.

I expect Adrian Peterson to have another big day Sunday. The Panthers have the 26th ranked run defense in the league allowing 137.3 yards per game on the ground. Percy Harvin may be out again this week due to migraines, but they may not need him. The Vikings should be able to put up an early lead forcing the Panthers to throw the ball and that’s never a good thing with an experienced QB at the helm.

If everything goes the way I expect it to, the Vikings should beat the Panthers handily. This victory would not only clinch the NFC North regardless of whether Green Bay won earlier in the day, but it would also put the Vikings just one game behind the Who Dat Saints who just lost to the Cowboys. That means that if the Vikings win out and the Saints lose one more game, the Vikings would have home-field advantage throughout the playoffs due to division record tiebreaker (the Saints play their last two games against divisional opponents). I know it’s a ways out and it’s a lot of “if’s” but it’s now a much more realistic possibility since the Saints have done their part and lost one of the two games the Vikings needed them to lose.

Enjoy the game Sunday night folks!

Tags: Adrian Peterson, deangelo williams, matt moore, NFL, panthers, Percy Harvin, saints, Vikings