Pittsburgh Steelers: 3 most dangerous Panthers on Thursday night
The Pittsburgh Steelers are on a roll with four wins in a row. They welcome the Carolina Panthers for Thursday Night Football in arguably their toughest test of the season.
While credit can be given all around the Steelers’ players and coaching staff for finding their stride in October, the opponents the Steelers have faced haven’t been of the highest quality. This changes in Week 10 for Thursday Night Football. The Steelers host the 6-2 Carolina Panthers on a short week.
The Panthers are more than a formidable foe. They boast a dynamic offense and stout defensive front that can give any offensive line, even one as good as the Steelers’ unit, a difficult time.
The Panthers don’t boast too many dynamic players, but they have enough dangerous pieces that the Steelers have to gameplan for in order to extend their winning streak to five games. And of course, it all starts with the quarterback.
Cam Newton
Anyone who’s won an NFL MVP is always worthy of a list like this. You can argue what you want about where Cam ranks with the other quarterbacks in the league. What you can’t argue with is his dynamic playmaking ability.
Newton hurts you one of two ways: with his arm or with his legs. Pick your poison. Newton isn’t the greatest pocket passer, but his ability to move and run opens up defenses because they have to defend his ability to take off and run. And don’t get too hateful on Cam’s efficiency as a quarterback. He boasts a quarterback rating of 100.8 while completing 67.3% of his passes. He also boasts 15 touchdown passes to only four interceptions.
With the Steelers’ defense lacking speed up front, you almost always have to have a spy on the defense to watch for Newton to take off. This of course, leaves a man out of blitz packages or in pass coverage. So either you go the conservative route and drop a spy or you blitz and try to get to him before he can run from you. Either way you skin it, he’s dangerous and will be the number one threat to the Steelers on Thursday night.