CHARLOTTE, NC – The Dallas Cowboys (6-3) are heading to Carolina (1-8) to take on the Panthers. Dallas is looking for their second straight win after beating the Giants in a blowout win in AT&T Stadium in week 10.
Carolina is struggling this season, coming into this game with a 1-8 record. With that being said we could see a defensive domination by the Cowboys defense. The Panthers have a bottom five ranked offense led by rookie QB Bryce Young. He will have his hands full with a hungry pass rush led by Micah Parsons and a deadly secondary led by DaRon Bland. Bland recorded his fifth pick of the season last week against the Giants and10th in 26 career games.
Offensively, in the last four weeks we’ve seen solid productivity mainly in the passing game. Most productivity has come from QB Dak Prescott and WR CeeDee Lamb. Lamb is 25 yards away from hitting 1,000 career yards this season. WR Brandin Cooks got in on the action on Sunday against the Giants as well, leading in receiving with 173 yards.
We could see Head Coach Mike McCarthy run the ball more this Sunday. Expect a big day for Tony Pollard and Rico Dowdle as the Panthers are ranked dead last in the NFL when defending the run.
An injury update going into this game, the Cowboys announced that linebacker Leighton Vander Esch will miss the rest of the season with his neck injury. He was originally only supposed to miss 4-6 weeks.
Jerry Jones stated on Tuesday, “I would say that’s accurate. We had just completely left it up to how he was evolving. But of course, it’s a very significant loss. He’s an integral part of that defense out there. We just wish him well.”
These two teams will go head to head at noon in Carolina.
