Colts vs. Panthers: Latest Social Buzz Ahead of Monday Night Football

With a Monday Night Football matchup between the Indianapolis Colts and Carolina Panthers, here's the latest buzz around social media.

Under their philosophy, "Keep Pounding," the Panthers come in at 6-0, setting up for a second consecutive game on the national stage. For one, the Panthers pound the ball with the run, using a power style that has them tops in the league with 144.7 yards rushing per game, according to John Benne of SB Nation.

The Panthers will carry that theme into Monday night, when Medal of Honor recipient Kyle Carpenter bangs the drum before the start of the game.

Further, quarterback Cam Newton enters Week 8 as the talk of the NFL, putting up MVP-like numbers in his fifth year. Though his completion percentage is at a career worst, he owns a 93 total quarterback rating in the fourth quarter, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The last quarterback to have a fourth-quarter QBR that high was Peyton Manning in 2006, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The Colts just so happened to win the Super Bowl that year.

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Colts' pass defense is ranked 29th in the NFL. pic.twitter.com/SHYXfBUuBN

— ESPN Monday Night (@ESPNMondayNight) November 2, 2015"

Conversely, the Colts are 3-4 and falling apart at the seams. Quarterback Andrew Luck has been anything but the NFL MVP, throwing nine interceptions to only 11 touchdowns this season. Additionally, so far in 2015, the Colts aren't good against the run, giving up 122.7 yards per game and almost 290 yards passing.

Coming in, both teams will be without important pieces to their offensive lines, as the Panthers will be missing center Ryan Kalil, and the Colts will be missing center Khaled Holmes.

The central opinion heading into this game is that the Panthers will cruise to a 7-0 record. Newton has been playing at the highest level of his career.

Stephen White of SB Nation said, "That [offense] includes an offensive line that hasn't been perfect, but Newton has been so good with his feet this season that they still haven't given up a bunch of sacks." Newton has only been sacked 10 times this year, per White.

As for Luck, Fox Sports' Jay Glazer reported he has been dealing with broken ribs, and CSNNE.com's Tom E. Curran noted if that's true, the Colts never reported it. That's no excuse for his play, but it's a highlight into what he may be dealing with.

Fans have turned on him, claiming that he may be overrated and hurting the Colts. An NFL Network poll even showed that fans would now take Newton over Luck as their franchise quarterback. (Here's the trending link on Luck.)

Luck also doesn't have the best track record on Monday, compiling a losing record.

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The Colts are 1-3 on #MNF with Andrew Luck as their QB. pic.twitter.com/MJ1bYsSCyn

— ESPN Monday Night (@ESPNMondayNight) November 2, 2015"

So, who would you take to lead your team? I'll take Andrew Luck 100 out of 100 times.

I'll preface this by saying I'm a huge Cam fan, and he deserves the accolades for carrying that offensive dreck to an undefeated record, but Cam Newton is not better than Andrew Luck. Luck has been as advertised, if not better than what he was expected to be.

Newton is playing like an MVP, and we couldn't identify his receivers if you gave us photos with labels under each. And Newton did not get the same injured treatment from the public last year as I'm giving Luck now. (Cam was hurt, plain and simple.)

But Newton is still throwing for 213 yards per game, 11 more yards than Colin Kaepernick and four less than Ryan Fitzpatrick. He's completing 55.8 percent of his passes, ranked 31st out of 33 quarterbacks who qualify.

The 30th best quarterback in terms of completion percentage: Andrew Luck. Luck has thrown for 280 yards per game this year, but we can chalk that up to garbage time and volume. I'm not saying Luck is having a good season, but why disregard his first three years already?

Monday night, focus on the individual performance of each player. Their stats are similar this season. They are both prone to turnovers, have bad offensive lines and minimal weapons. (Yeah, I'd somehow take the Colts' weapons, too.)

So who would you take to start a team? Luck or Newton? Let me know in the comments.