Niners at Carolina

[Niner Outlaw]

The Panthers have one of the most anemic offenses in the league and Mayfield is playing poorly. They are dead last in yards per game on offense, and middle of the pack in points. BUT, They beat the Saints, so they can't be taken lightly. McCaffrey is a dangerous pass receiver and should get a lot of attention.

OTOH, the Niner defense is one of, if not the, best in the league, and the Niners are favored by 6.5 points. Just think of how much better the Niner defense could be--J.Ward, Armstead, AlShair, and Kinlaw all missed the Rams game. On the good news front, J.Ward and J.Verrett are now eligible to return to practice. The Panthers give up about 3 sacks per game on average, so the front 4 should wrack up a few more in this game, and the pressure will hopefully cause Mayfield to make mistakes.

As long as the Niner offense shows up, This is a game the Niners should win easily. ...should. The Niner offense is not good. We're 27th in points scored. The usual Shanahan running game just isn't showing up and that is hurting an already poor passing game (near the bottom of the league in passing).

Another issue for the Niners will be injuries. LT1 T.Williams is out. LT2 C.McKivitz is out for a few weeks too. That means Jaylon Moore will be the LT (why haven't we signed Jordan Mills or really any other OT at this point?). We also saw some odd rotation at RG in teh Rams game where Burford was rotating out every coupe of series with Brunskill. I don't get that at all.

Well, thoughts on the game?

 

[deep9er]

This is your classic trap game, the 49ers looked very good on Monday and now they face a poor team. Way too easy to bet on the 49ers after watching their defensive domination, but the short week, big emotional 'must' win, and east coast travel will take its toll. I expect a very slow start to the 49ers offense and Carolina may even be ahead at the half. I expect Carolina to cover the 6 but the 49ers should win this game, a close win.

Speaking of which, doesn't it seem like "all" of the wins are close? The 49ers can look dominant (eg Bears and Broncos) but still be ahead by only one score?! That's why Kyle is always accused of being conservative, seems like most games come down to the wire. I don't think he's THAT conservative but you can only lean on what your QB can do. We all know JG is limited and on top of that, you have to call quick throws now. We CANNOT let JG get injured so set and throw, set and throw.

 

[Sandisfan]

Well they avoided having a Trap Game. Won when they should.

 

[msgkings322]

Well they avoided having a Trap Game. Won when they should.

Didn't they have a shit ton of new injuries though?

 

[msgkings322]

At least they're alone in first place and the rest of the division seems to be having real problems.

 

[Niner Outlaw]

Niners likely lose E.Moseley to a torn ACL. He was having a career year. That means Womack will be getting more PT on the outside, where he was surprisingly ok, and Verrett is just about ready to come back and he'll be a great fill in for Moseley for however long he's healthy.

J.Ward came back for the first game this year and promptly broke his hand. We did ok without him, so no real worries there.

Bosa went down with a groin injury. No word on how long he'll be out.

Gould bruised his leg. They're calling it a contusion. So far, doesn't look like he'll miss any time.

 

[deep9er]

Well they avoided having a Trap Game. Won when they should.

Goes to show what i know.

Yes, they NEED to win these 'winnable' games, unlike the Bears game.

 

[deep9er]

Didn't they have a shit ton of new injuries though?

Unfortunately, it hit another key player in E-man. We might argue J. Ward is a key player too but IMO, not like E-man.

For the overall number of injuries on this team, yes we now have enough injuries and can't afford to lose key spots. They most key spot of all is clearly QB, we MIGHT survive else where but not at QB. Our running game is not strong enough to carry the offense, ala 2019.

 

[MHSL82]

Doesn’t it seem like a very Harbaugh place to start up a team? I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.

Source: Panthers owner, Jim Harbaugh talked job

Panthers owner David Tepper has spoken to Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh about the soon-to-be-vacant Carolina coaching job, a source told ESPN's David Newton.

www.espn.com

 

[Niner Outlaw]

Doesn’t it seem like a very Harbaugh place to start up a team? I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.

Source: Panthers owner, Jim Harbaugh talked job

Panthers owner David Tepper has spoken to Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh about the soon-to-be-vacant Carolina coaching job, a source told ESPN's David Newton.

www.espn.com

I think Harbaugh is a better fit in Denver, but I could definitely see him landing in Carolina too. Sure looks like Jim wants back in the NFL. Dan Patrick was speculating this morning about where Harbaugh would land and where was the best spot.

Carolina has no QB, but has a good running game and defensive pieces. Would Jim be happy with Jimmy or Carr?
Denver is locked into Wilson and has no draft picks, but they have WRs and a good D.
Indy is something of a mess.
Houston would let Harbaugh have his pick of young QBs (#1 overall pick).

 

[MHSL82]

I think Harbaugh is a better fit in Denver, but I could definitely see him landing in Carolina too. Sure looks like Jim wants back in the NFL. Dan Patrick was speculating this morning about where Harbaugh would land and where was the best spot.

Carolina has no QB, but has a good running game and defensive pieces. Would Jim be happy with Jimmy or Carr?
Denver is locked into Wilson and has no draft picks, but they have WRs and a good D.
Indy is something of a mess.
Houston would let Harbaugh have his pick of young QBs (#1 overall pick).

I think football wise, you are right. I just don’t know why, but something in my brain told me that it would make sense or be no surprise for him to go to Carolina. They seem like to be at the same place as we were when he came. I don’t follow Carolina, so I feel that the limited time is I hear about them, it seems like a team that he could turn around but not necessarily win a Super Bowl.

Football wise, I think Denver’s defense is still good and I think that he’s going to get a lot more from Russell Wilson, then the current guys are. I think years ago people were linking him to Miami? Well, he’s going to be able to use his sweater more in Denver.

 

[Niner Outlaw]

I think football wise, you are right. I just don’t know why, but something in my brain told me that it would make sense or be no surprise for him to go to Carolina. They seem like to be at the same place as we were when he came. I don’t follow Carolina, so I feel that the limited time is I hear about them, it seems like a team that he could turn around but not necessarily win a Super Bowl.

Football wise, I think Denver’s defense is still good and I think that he’s going to get a lot more from Russell Wilson, then the current guys are. I think years ago people were linking him to Miami? Well, he’s going to be able to use his sweater more in Denver.

Good points. I agree that he could get more out of Wilson than hackett did. He knows what Wilson is capable of, having coached against him for years in SF.

Harbaugh just turned 59. He's probably thinking that if he's going to the NFL, he's running out of time to do it. This looks like his year. He's done just about all he can in Michigan--2 playoff appearances, beat Ohio State twice, etc.