Lori Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 CAROLINA PANTHERS (7-3) AT BUFFALO BILLS (4-6) SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2005 – 1:00 PM ET RALPH WILSON STADIUM, ORCHARD PARK, NY FOX: Sam Rosen, Bill Maas, Jay Glazer (sideline) REGULAR-SEASON SERIES RECORD: Buffalo leads 3-0, including 2-0 at home. PLAYOFF RECORD: none LAST MEETING: Bills 25, Panthers 24 December 9, 2001 – Ralph Wilson Stadium Buffalo’s only home win of the year, and one of the few bright spots in the dismal 2001 season. The Bills were fresh off a prime-time 35-0 beatdown in San Francisco and the Panthers hadn’t won since the first game of the season, so fewer than 45,000 people (who apparently had nothing better to do that afternoon) showed up to watch two 1-10 teams face off for the right to follow the expansion Houston Texans in the 2002 draft. Carolina scored early and often; rookie QB Chris Weinke ran for one TD and threw for another to give them a 24-6 lead with just 0:36 left before halftime. Those thirty-six seconds turned out to be one too many for Carolina’s sake - a lightning-quick seventy-yard Buffalo drive ended with 0:01 on the clock, as Peerless Price pulled in a 7-yard touchdown pass from Alex Van Pelt. The Bills defense showed some life in the second half; they not only kept Carolina off the scoreboard, but added some points of their own when Brandon Spoon scored his second interception-return TD of the season. Travis Henry’s one-yard fourth-quarter TD run put Buffalo ahead to stay and earned Van Pelt his first win as a starting QB since the 1997 season. In the long run, though, the Bills probably lost more than they gained by winning that game. The following April, Carolina would use the #2 overall pick to select DE Julius Peppers; Buffalo ended up taking Mike Williams two spots later. OVERVIEW OFFENSE: (#24 in total offense, #26 rushing, #15 passing, #6 points scored) The overall numbers may rank the Panthers offense in the middle of the pack or worse, but there’s nothing average about the All-Pro season WR Steve Smith is having. He leads the league in catches (72), yards (1,106), and receiving touchdowns (9), and (barring injury) is all but certain to eclipse Muhsin Muhammed’s team single-season records in each category. Smith is one of the top ‘home run’ threats in the NFL; he’s already had four catches of 50+ yards this season. 2004 #2 pick Keary Colbert is the other starter, although the ageless Ricky Proehl has 15 catches to Colbert’s 14. The Panthers also traded for Rod Gardner in the offseason, but he hasn’t had much of an impact. RB DeShaun Foster’s 21 catches make him the team’s second-leading receiver right now. QB Jake Delhomme will try to rebound from an eight-sack, two-INT outing against a tough Chicago defense last week; the Bears’ pass rush pressured him into some bad decisions and even worse throws. He’s got the arm strength and the attitude to take some shots downfield, which has resulted in some big plays both ways – three of his 12 INTs have been returned for touchdowns. It would help Delhomme a lot if someone besides Smith could get open more consistently… The Panthers’ biggest offseason move may well have been signing LG Mike Wahle (Green Bay) early in free agency. Wahle’s addition allowed them to move last year’s starting LG, Travelle Wharton, out to tackle and flip Jordan Gross back over to RT, where he started all 16 games in 2003. Center Jeff Mitchell and RG Tutan Reyes round out the starting five. They’ve done a decent job of protecting Delhomme (other than the Chicago game, of course), but the running game hasn’t found much traction. Foster is the only Carolina back averaging over 3.0 yards/carry this season, but has yet to score a touchdown. Following microfracture surgery, Stephen Davis doesn’t look like he has many more carries left in that reconstructed knee. (Then again, he hasn’t had the opportunity to play against the Buffalo run D yet this year, either...) Davis is still good in short-yardage situations, though, and leads the Panthers with 12 rushing TDs. DEFENSE: (#7 in total defense, #4 rushing, #18 passing, #T8 points against) Carolina misses Kris Jenkins at DT, but even without him they still have an above-average front four. DEs Mike Rucker and Julius Peppers both have Pro Bowl appearances on their résumés; so far this year, they’ve combined for half of the team’s 24 sacks. Tackles Brentson Buckner and Jenkins’ replacement, Jordan Carstens, anchor a solid run defense - Carolina has held their opponents to an average of 85.1 rushing yards/game, good for fourth in the league. MLB Dan Morgan is one of the best in the league when he’s healthy… which seems to be an ongoing problem with him. He has yet to play in more than twelve games in a season, and left the Chicago game with a sprained ankle. Chris Draft will get the start if Morgan – the team’s leading tackler – isn’t available this weekend. Will Witherspoon and Brandon Short are the outside ‘backers. The cornerbacks are talented but inconsistent. CBs Chris Gamble and Ken Lucas might give up a chunk of yardage on one play, then come up with a big play of their own on the next one; they each have four of the team’s 14 interceptions. Steady veteran Mike Minter moved to FS this season after the projected starter there, Colin Branch, shredded an ACL in the preseason. The Panthers first tried rookie Thomas Davis at SS, but settled on journeyman Marlon McCree. (Some of you may remember Bobby Shaw burning McCree to a crisp in the Bills-Jaguars game a couple of years ago. Jacksonville released him two days later.) SPECIAL TEAMS: In his fifteenth season, John Kasay - the last original Panther – is still more than capable of handling the kicking duties. He’s 12-13 from inside 50 yards this season; the only miss was from 46 yards last week in Soldier Field, not exactly an easy stadium to kick in. The Panthers swapped punters with the Broncos in the offseason, unloading Pro Bowl talent (but locker-room headache) Todd Sauerbrun. Jason Baker is averaging a decent 38.7 net, and 13 of his 46 punts have been downed inside the 20. Steve Smith and Chris Gamble have split time on punt returns; Rod Smart (of “He Hate Me” XFL fame) is the lead kickoff returner. They’ve broken a couple of long runbacks, but haven’t managed to put one in the end zone. The coverage teams are good – they haven’t given up a punt return longer than 18 yards or a kickoff longer than 43 yet this season. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OUTLOOK: The Panthers need to win this game to keep pace in the three-way battle for the NFC South division title. The Bills? Doing something – anything, really - to help alleviate the embarrassment from last week’s 48-10 meltdown might be a good start. Keeping the Panthers under 20 points is a difficult task; of Carolina’s first ten opponents, only the Bears managed that feat. I think that’s the only way the Bills win this game, though, because it doesn’t look like they have enough firepower to get involved in a shootout any time soon. (Just a reminder: with six games remaining, Buffalo still needs nine more touchdowns to tie the team record for fewest TDs in a sixteen-game season. Ouch.) Seeya in Lot 1 Sunday morning. (Bring your snow shovels. No, wait - pack your rain gear instead. No, wait…) Oh yeah… Go Bills. Links: NFL.com: injury report / Panthers depth chart /Panthers team stats Ourlads.com: Panthers depth chart Official team website: www.panthers.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cåblelady Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 (Just a reminder: with six games remaining, Buffalo still needs nine more touchdowns to tie the team record for fewest TDs in a sixteen-game season. Ouch.) Double Ouch. Seeya in Lot 1 Sunday morning. (Bring your snow shovels. No, wait - pack your rain gear instead. No, wait…) Same time. Same place. Oh yeah… Go Bills. Should I make a JUST WIN sign? 512269[/snapback] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost of BiB Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 Another long afternoon? At least it's on at one this week, so I can drink myself into numbness early. That said, I'm taking the Bills as my long-shot pick this week. Weather will be a factor, I hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick in* england Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 The last time the Bills played the Panthers at RWS - we won, and I got engaged sat in Section 123. Happy days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 good preview! who wrote that? anyhow, i think the panthers line is about as bad as ours (o line that is). they are a bad running team too, so they should be built to make us look good. i expect our D to bounce back and our O to be OK enough to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cåblelady Posted November 25, 2005 Share Posted November 25, 2005 The last time the Bills played the Panthers at RWS - we won, and I got engaged sat in Section 123. 512492[/snapback] Cool. That's my section. Maybe "naked guy" will propose to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted November 25, 2005 Author Share Posted November 25, 2005 good preview! who wrote that? I did. Thanks. anyhow, i think the panthers line is about as bad as ours (o line that is). they are a bad running team too, so they should be built to make us look good. i expect our D to bounce back and our O to be OK enough to win. 512635[/snapback] Only one problem with that theory - previous bad running teams (see Oakland) have looked pretty good against the Bills D. I hope you're right, though... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori Posted November 25, 2005 Author Share Posted November 25, 2005 The last time the Bills played the Panthers at RWS - we won, and I got engaged sat in Section 123. Happy days. 512492[/snapback] So you were part of the 45K who "had nothing better to do that afternoon"? Me too. (Well, not the getting-engaged part... ) And considering the way most of that season went, it was nice to finally (!) see a win.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick in* england Posted November 26, 2005 Share Posted November 26, 2005 So you were part of the 45K who "had nothing better to do that afternoon"? Me too. (Well, not the getting-engaged part... ) And considering the way most of that season went, it was nice to finally (!) see a win.... 512696[/snapback] Not only did i have nothing better to do... but I travelled 3,000 miles to do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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