Prisco: Jumping on the Patriots bandwagon
Do I truly believe the Carolina Panthers will win this battle? I'm not sure what to believe. Do I absolutely believe that they will cover? You betcha.
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Julius Peppers and his friends on the defensive line will be a lot for the Patriots to handle. (AP) |
Watching the Panthers' defense and their ball-control offense can lead to painful heart problems. Call it the Cardiac Control Offense. It ain't pretty, it ain't flashy, but it is effective.
The Panthers now have two years under their belts of playing games that go down to the wire. It's John Fox's modus operandi. Keep it close down the stretch and anything can happen. Whoever makes the last mistake makes the fatal mistake.
Just keep it close, baby ... and keep Adam Vinatieri off the field in big games!
One huge key will be Jake Delhomme. The young, brash Panthers quarterback will see things from New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel's defense that he hasn't seen before (or at least he'll think he hasn't seen them before).
The quicker he recognizes what sort of defensive concoction the Patriots have cooked up the sooner the Panthers can become viable candidates to pull off an upset.
In the Patriots' last game, they went to a very conservative scheme, keeping a safety back in coverage and jamming the receivers at the line. This time, Delhomme can expect at least eight men in the box and a handful of innovative blitz packages. Duck Jake, duck.
The Panthers have two keys that can win any team a title -- a stifling defense and a tremendous running game. The Panthers need to get Stephen Davis 25 to 30 carries while running their play clock down inside five seconds on every single offensive play. In other words, just play a frustrating game of "keep away."
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's statistics have been stellar. But he also got lucky a few times in the AFC title game as some of his passes were dropped by Colts defenders.
The Panthers will put pressure on Brady. They will force him into making some bad throws. If the Panthers are going to win they will need to capitalize on those mistakes and turn them into points. Just getting a pick or a fumble isn't good enough. They must result in points.
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The front four of Julius Peppers, Mike Rucker, Brentson Buckner and Kris Jenkins match up extremely well with the Patriots' front line. They must dominate this matchup in order to cover up for shaky depth in the secondary, especially if the Patriots spread the field and force the Carolina dime package into action.
If they can get to Brady, this game suddenly shifts toward the Panthers.
So what is going to happen in this game? Delhomme will throw one interception -- probably to Ty Law -- but then settle down by the second quarter. He'll finish the game with about 18 to 20 attempts with 12 completions. Davis and youngster DeShaun Foster will have 35 carries between them and frustrate the Patriots much like New England frustrated the Rams two years ago.
Defensively, Brady will come out of the blocks fast. He'll carve up the Panthers defense for a bit but as the game kicks into second gear, that front four will begin to harass him. They'll bang him and bruise him and suddenly this game will become a good old-fashioned brawl.
I'd rather go to battle with Rucker, Jenkins and Peppers than Russ Hochstein, Matt Light and Dan Koppen. After a bunch of smoke and mirrors by the coaching schemes of both teams, eventually somebody has got to win a fight.
So, in classic Panthers fashion the Carolinas will be rewarded with a heart-wrenching two-point victory ... I think -- 22-20, Panthers.
