And why.
We’re gonna find out real quick how smart Ken Whisenhunt might be. If he listens to the all-too conventional wisdom and tries to Establish a Running Game, he’ll be playing into the Panthers’ hands. John Fox loves to shorten and compress games, not get into shoot-outs. Yet Zona is built for shoot-outs. Foxy will turn Jake and #89 loose when behind — one wonders if that’d happen so readily without the pair’s fiery style — but it is not his preferred way to play.
We know how Foxy likes to play, so the game boils down to the way Whisenhunt chooses to approach it. If I’m him, I take one look at the October game tape and see that the Panthers sat back and gave Kurt Warner leap-years in the pocket, not even attempting to bring pressure with press coverage until the fourth quarter, and resolve to go out and score 21 points by halftime, 35 by the start of the 4th. In effect, dare the Panthers to match such an output. I wonder if the Panthers could.
But I do not think that Whisenhunt will play that way. I think he’ll play it conservative even as Carolina’s ground game revs up. By the time he turns Warner loose, it’ll be too late. I also think the Panther defense will get a comfort level from not being attacked upfield from the outset, get more comfort from playing with a lead, and turnover the Cards a couple times.
As a result, the Panthers win fairly comfortably, 29-14.
