Panthers-Chiefs: Carolina Tries To Down KC, Take First Place Exclusively

Sunday afternoon the Carolina Panthers will face the Kansas City Chiefs at 1:00 PM in Bank of America Stadium. 

The Panthers enter the game 3-1, having beaten the Chargers away and the Bears and Falcons at home.  Their only loss came against an inspired Vikings team playing in the Metrodome. 

The Chiefs have gone 1-3 insofar this season, having lost to the Patriots and Falcons on the road and the Raiders at home but beaten the Broncos at home.

The Chiefs have three main weapons offensively—running back Larry Johnson, tight end Tony Gonzalez, and receiver Dwayne Bowe. 

However, Gonzalez and Bowe are mostly neutralized by a nightmare of a quarterback merry-go-round that is nothing but inconsistent.  Still, with Damon Huard taking the snaps this week, they will do much better than they had a chance of doing against the Falcons.  If nothing else, Huard brings experience, which results in better decision-making ability.  But I still don't expect either of them to be game-breakers.      

Meanwhile, Johnson supposedly proved last week that he is again an elite back.  Think again. 

He ran for nearly 200 yards on a team whose rush defense ranks 24th in the NFL in yards allowed per game (132.8).  A 200-yard rushing day is insane for any back.  But Johnson wouldn't have run for more than 125 yards against a better run defense.

In addition, it's worth noting that the Panthers are ranked 19th in the NFL in run defense.  The toughest run defense Johnson has faced this year is the Raiders, ranked 18th.  He only gained 22 yards on 12 carries against Oakland. 

A performance like that is what we're more likely to see out of Johnson against the Panthers, whose run defense is actually really good despite their No.19 ranking in the league in rush defense.

KC's other two offensive threats, receiver Dwayne Bowe and tight Tony Gonzalez, alone are no match for a pass defense ranked seventh in the NFL (172 yards allowed per game).

Carolina shut Chargers receiver Antonio Gates down for only four catches amassing 61 yards in Week One.  And, as we all know, Gates is one of the best tight ends in the NFL, if not the best.  Clearly they're capable of taking Gonzalez out of the game, too. 

If there's one true threat on this Chiefs offense, it's Bowe.  He's faced two very good pass defense teams in the Falcons and Patriots and done well against them.  He's also massacred two teams with bad pass defenses.  But he still isn't a game-breaker who can win a game—or at least not this particular game—on his own.  

He will need Gonzalez and Johnson to have career games so he gets balanced out if the Chiefs are to outscore the Panthers offense.  But chances are Gonzalez gets shut down and Johnson stalls.  Good lucke, Bowe.  You're gonna need it.

The Panthers offense shouldn't struggle to score.

The Chiefs are ranked 29th in the NFL in total defense.  More specifically, the pass defense is 14th in the league, the rush defense 30th.  That rush defense ranking is really good news for Panthers fans.

Every Panthers fan knows that this team loves to run the ball.  Head coach John Fox loves to coach a ball-control offense that can run the ball well.  Fox will get the best opportunity of the season to do just that Sunday—run, run, and run some more. 

If you're a fantasy owner and you don't have Jonathan Stewart or DeAngelo Williams, pick them both up just for this one week.  You won't be sorry.

You'd think that the Panthers might have a lot of trouble passing on this KC defense that features cornerback Patrick Surtain.   But I don't expect them to.

Carolina just played Atlanta, whose pass defense is one spot above the Chiefs' in the league rankings.  Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme lit the Falcons up with 20-of-29 passing for 294 yards and two touchdowns.  You think that he won't do just as well against the Chiefs?

Plus, the Kansas City pass D has only gone up against one good QB—Denver's Jay Cutler, who ripped their secondary apart for 361 yards and a touchdown.  I'm expecting a similar performance out of Delhomme, though not quite as good as that Cutler's if only because Fox will want to run the ball far more than pass it.

If you need yet another reason to believe that the Panthers should win, this game is at their home field, Bank of America Stadium.  They're 2-0 there so far this season, and they've played teams just as good as or better than the Chiefs for both of those wins.

Overall, this game looks like another fairly easy win for the Panthers.  The Chiefs don't have much to strike fear in opponents offensively or defensively.  The Panthers do.  End of story.

If the Panthers win, at worst they will be sharing first place with the Bucs, like this week. 

But the Bucs have a challenging game coming up against the Denver Broncos, whose high-powered offense is the top-ranked offense in the NFL right now.  The Bucs' strength is defense, so it should be a challenging game for both teams and be a great one to watch.  I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see how this weekend's games turn out.