Cam Newton returned to action last week to lead the Carolina Panthers (1-0) to victory over the hapless San Francisco 49ers while the Buffalo Bills (1-0) started the Sean McDermott era with a win of their own over the even more hapless New York Jets.
As they say in boxing, this Sunday somebody’s “0” has got to go.
The Game: Buffalo Bills at Carolina Panthers (-7)
The History
There isn’t much history between the two teams. The Bills lead the all-time series 5-1 and they basically play once every four years since the league reorganized to 32 teams. Before that, they played every three years. The only Panthers win came in November, 2005.
The storyline you’ll get leading up to this game is former Panthers defensive coordinator Sean McDermott is now Buffalo’s head coach. We’ve got a couple of these kinds of match ups this week.
Of the now seven games between Buffalo and the Panthers, this will just be the third to take place in Charlotte, N.C.
BUFFALO BILLS (1-0)
Congratulations, Bills. You weren’t a complete disaster against the worst team in football last week and came away with a nine point win. That’s going to amount to jack and shit against the Panthers Sunday.
The Bills do have some legitimate reasons to be optimistic heading into this game. First off, as I mentioned above, their head coach is Carolina’s former defensive coordinator. Does McDermott know some special weakness on the Panthers’ offensive attack? Does he have the inside track on how to rattle Cam Newton? It’s possible. The problem with this Bills team will be if they have the skill players to implement such a plan.
Helping McDermott is former Panthers running back Mike Tolbert who has admitedly been “snitching” on the Panthers’ offense to his current team. It’s nothing new and, frankly, up until this year Carolina’s offense wasn’t all that inventive.
The much maligned Tyrod Taylor (especially by me) wasn’t horrible last week against New York, completing 16-of-28 for 224 yards, two touchdowns and a pick. He hit new wideout Jordan Matthews twice for 61 yards and tight end Charles Clay four times for 53 yards and a touchdown. To compete in this game, Buffalo needs another big game out of LeSean McCoy who rushed for 22 times for 110 yards. It would help if he got into the end zone a couple of times.
CAROLINA PANTHERS (1-0)
The McDermott “advantage” could work both ways as the Panthers have implemented a more quarterback friendly (and healthy) offensive scheme this season. As much as McDermott knows about Newton and his tendencies, the offensive staff in Carolina knows the same thing about McDermott.
Newton wasn’t spectacular in his first real action of the year against the 49ers, but he didn’t have to be. He was held out of most of the preseason while he healed up from off-season shoulder surgery and may not still be 100 percent. Newton completed 14-of-25 passes for 171 yards, two touchdowns and one pick against San Francisco.
Like the Bills, the Panthers will lean on their running game Sunday and they have two guys that can hurt you. Carolina split carries between Jonathan Stewart and Christian McCaffrey to the tune of 112 yards combined last week. Kelvin Benjamin had a slow day Sunday with just one catch for 25 yards. I expect him to be a lot more active in the game plan against Buffalo.
The Panthers starting defensive unit looked good all preseason and kept the pace in Week One, though it’s hard to tell if that means anything against the 49ers. Frankly, they could shut down Buffalo this week and we’d still know nothing. We’re all Jon Snow in our hearts.
The Pick
I think Newton takes a step forward in his recovery this week and I don’t think the Bills have a defensive back that can cover Benjamin. That’s another big spread sitting there, but I’m comfortable that Buffalo, on the road, with no big weapons in the passing game won’t be able to stop Carolina from covering. This could be a big game for Christian McCaffrey too, especially as a receiver out of the backfield. Panthers 27, Bills 13
This week
Straight up: 0-1
Against the spread: 1-0
Season
Straight up: 10-6
Against the spread: 9-7
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