Panthers beat Cardinals, have bye in Week #9

Despite the unexpected return of Anquan Boldin and giving up almost 400 passing yards, the Panthers managed to defeat Arizona. The impressive part was the Panthers coming from being down 17 to 3 to win the game 27-23.

The Panthers got good performances from Steve Smith (5 catches 117 yards and 2 scores) and DelAngelo Williams who had 108 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Jon Beason got a very important interception on a tipped pass, which was the best play on defense in my opinion. But Defensive End Charles Johnson did add two sacks.

The Panthers showed the ability to stay focused in a game and do what they had to do, to win. They converted two Cardinal turnovers into points which is huge in a close game.

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The Panthers enter their bye week at 6 and 2 and lead the NFC South by one game over Tampa Bay. The Panthers next game in two weeks will be at Oakland.

The Panthers will spend their bye week recovering from the usual bumps and bruises and getting healthy. I also expect them to work on more ways of getting Julius Peppers more involved. Carolina has good but not great defensive backs and this defense is based on pressure on the passing game.

The most important thing will be to get the offensive line all back healthy. If they do this, it will greatly benefit Carolina’s offense. The Panthers are a ball control run first then play action pass kind of team.

Teams with a good defense and who control the clock on offense, tend to go far in the playoffs. I feel strongly that Carolina needs to win the NFC South to make a legitimate Super Bowl run. They need to beat Tampa in the next game to prevent Tampa from having the tie breaker. They also need to hope the Saints don’t get hot late and make a run at them.

If Carolina can get a first playoff week bye and play at least one game at home, they can surprise some people. I hope they ease off of giving Stewart the ball as much if they can. They need him fresh for the playoffs and I hope he don’t hit the rookie wall late in the season. Some NFL rookies lose their legs late in an NFL season just in time for the playoffs. It is because they play shorter seasons in college and their bodies are not used to a full NFL season.

I feel the Panthers will be in good shape coming off the bye if they can stay focused. They badly need to beat the Raiders to get their momentum going again, and I think they will do so.

By Randy Inman
ProFootball-fans.com Carolina Panthers Correspondent

For more of Randy's work check out FootballDogz.com where he is the Chief Writer!