Star Lotulelei's Injury Is Back-Breaking Blow for Underdog Carolina Panthers

As we ready for the divisional round of the 2014-15 playoffs, the Carolina Panthers are the week's biggest underdogs. According to Odds Shark, the powers that be in Las Vegas have installed the Panthers as 10.5-point underdogs against the Seattle Seahawks.

After playing the Seahawks tough in each of the past three seasons in Charlotte, more than a few pundits have given the Panthers a puncher's chance of pulling off the upset in Seattle.

Well, those chances just got punched—right in the mouth.

As Joseph Person of The Charlotte Observer reported, defensive tackle Star Lotulelei will miss Saturday night's game after breaking a bone in his foot:

"Star will not play this week. He broke a small bone in his foot and he had surgery this morning to repair it," head coach Ron Rivera said during a conference call on Wednesday. "It's one of those things that hopefully we get the opportunity to move on [in the playoffs] and if we do, he'll get to play."

Middle linebacker Luke Kuechly bemoaned the loss while speaking with reporters.

"Star has really come on the last few weeks for us and has been playing real well," he said. "It's unfortunate that he won't be playing. ... It's kind of been the theme to our season. One dude can't play and the next dude has to jump up and play."

As Kuechly alluded to, Lotulelei had been on a hot streak prior to this unfortunate development.

The second-year pro had four tackles in last week's Wild Card Round win over the Arizona Cardinals. The week before, in Carolina's NFC South-clinching win over Atlanta, Lotulelei was absolutely dominant, piling up seven tackles and a pair of sacks.

For the season, Pro Football Focus (subscription required) graded Lotulelei as 22nd-best at his position—a ranking that's respectable but hardly jaw-dropping.

This also won't be the first time the team is without Lotulelei's services this season. Lotulelei missed two games and most of another with an ankle injury earlier this year. During that time, Colin Cole stepped into the starting lineup for the Panthers, and Rivera told reporters he's confident Cole can fill the void again against the Seahawks:

"Colin Cole will assume a bigger role for us," he said. "He's been a solid and steady force for us, such a space-eater inside, holds the double-team at the point of attack and helps to allow our linebackers to run."

On some level, Rivera's optimism is understandable. After all, ESPN.com's David Newton indicates the Panthers allowed fewer than 90 yards per game on the ground with Cole subbing for Lotulelei earlier this year. During that stretch, the Panthers surrendered fewer than 3.5 yards per carry.

However, that glass-half-full thinking aside, it's hard to view this injury as anything but a hammer blow to the team's chances of pulling off the upset on Saturday.

For starters, that success against the run with Lotulelei on the shelf came against the Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons, a pair of teams with sub-.500 records this year.

The Vikings were 14th in the NFL in rushing this year. The Falcons were 24th. Neither averaged more than 115 yards per game on the ground in 2014.

The Seahawks? First in the league at a staggering 172.6 yards per contest.

Oh, and the Panthers lost those games to the Falcons and Vikings, so there's that.

Granted, Lotulelei's 25 stops and two sacks (in Week 17) this year hardly seem irreplaceable. The problem is Lotulelei's value doesn't lie in racking up tackles and sacks.

USA TODAY Sports

Lotulelei is the proverbial immovable object. He amounts to 320 pounds of lane-clogging, blocker-occupying beef-eater. His job is simple: hold the point of attack and allow linebackers Kuechly and Thomas Davis to penetrate and wreak havoc.

Now, Kuechly and Davis' jobs just got that much harder. Ditto for 3-technique tackle Kawann Short, whose second NFL season has been even more impressive than Lotulelei's.

Lotulelei's absence means more double-teams for Short and a much higher chance that when Kuechly or Davis hits the point of attack, they'll be greeted by an offensive lineman instead of clear sailing.

And all just before a matchup with the best running team in the NFL. A team that just so happens to feature the most punishing between-the-tackles runner in the league in Marshawn Lynch.

Is all hope lost? No. Like it or not, injuries are a fact of life in the NFL. While Cole isn't Lotulelei, he at least performed adequately when called upon earlier this season.

However, when you're a double-digit-point underdog preparing to play in the toughest venue for visiting teams in the NFL, the margin for error is nonexistent.

Losing a key defensive contributor before the game even starts certainly doesn't help.

Gary Davenport is an NFL Analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and the Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPManor.