Inside the Numbers: Panthers vs Falcons Game Preview

Breaking down tonight's game in Charlotte.

If Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit think they've had to endure a lot of bad football on Thursday Night Football, they have another thing coming. The Carolina Panthers roll into this week's matchup against the Atlanta Falcons with a 2-7 record and are coming off an embarrassing 42-21 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.

After allowing 153 rushing yards and four touchdowns to Joe Mixon, the Panthers fired defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni. The team also parted ways with cornerbacks Evan Cooper.

As bad as things have been thus far for the Panthers, they can move to within a game of first place in the NFC South with a win tonight. Yes, that's how bad the NFC South is.

Can the Panthers avenge their 37-34 overtime loss to the Falcons just 12 days later? Let's take a look at the matchup.

When the Panthers have the ball

Sunday 'twas not a good day for Panthers QB PJ Walker. He managed to finish the game with a passer rating of 0.0 by completing just 3-of-10 pass attempts for nine yards and two interceptions. Baker Mayfield replaced him in the second half and gave the offense a spark going 14/20 for 155 yards and two scores.

Despite Walker's struggles, interim head coach Steve Wilks is sticking with him as QB1.

"P.J. will be the starting quarterback this week," said Wilks. "We'll see exactly how things go from there from week to week. Short week and when you look at really what he has done the last previous weeks, I felt like just that consistency -- giving him an opportunity to go back and with the gameplan that we're going to put together what he did against Atlanta before, hopefully we can get a spark out of the offense."

That performance Walker had against Atlanta a week and a half ago was without a doubt the best game of his career. He finished the day 19/36 for 317 yards and had arguably the throw of the year to DJ Moore to tie the game up at 34-34 in the final minute of the game on a frozen rope of 62 yards.

Considering the possible crappy weather conditions in addition to Walker's struggles just a few days ago, I would expect a run heavy attack from Carolina with a simplified passing game. Tons of screens, drags, slants, and rubs. Not a whole lot downfield and very few instances where PJ Walker has to go through several reads. 

D'Onta Foreman rushed for 118 yards and three scores in the first game against Atlanta and Chuba Hubbard appears to be healthy. If Carolina does anything but lean on the run game, they'll have a hell of a time coming out of this one with a win.

When the Falcons have the ball

Over the last two games, the Carolina Panthers have allowed 866 total yards of offense. What's even more alarming is that 408 of those yards came on the ground. Atlanta's offense is predicated on the success of the ground game. They live and die by it and this time around, they have Cordarrelle Patterson lining up in the backfield.

"He's a phenomenal player," said Carolina defensive coordinator Al Holcomb. "He's kind of a jack of all trades, no offense to him, because he can do it out of the backfield, he can do it in space. He made his mark in this league as a special teams ace. He's a violent runner. He's going to fight for extra yards. He brings a lot of versatility to that offense."

Although much of the Panthers' attention will be on that running game, they can't forget about tight end Kyle Pitts and wide receiver Drake London. If Marcus Mariota finds a rhythm and gets the ball to those guys with ease, the Falcons will be able to do whatever they want.

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