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Green Bay Packers vs. Carolina Panthers

Is this the year they finally win a playoff game? Yes the Carolina Panthers do have a great defense but they rank 20th in run defense and get gashed up the middle quite often. Green Bay has won the past two meetings going back to 2011, including a 38-17 rout at Lambeau Field last season.

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So the best summation regarding this clash of NFC titans in Charlotte is this: If the Panthers win on Sunday, the race for the top spot is theirs to lose, but it isn’t over.

“Inconsistent but very capable”, Kornegay said of this year’s Colts, who headed into a Monday nighter against Carolina at 3-4. This year we’re a more confident group. We’re a better group. This game features one of the NFL’S highest scoring teams facing one of its stingiest defenses.

Gano missed an extra point in the final quarter as the Colts managed to force the extension, but he made sure to clean it up in overtime to help Carolina extend its season-opening winning streak. St. Louis Rams at Minnesota Vikings – Open: -2.5, Move: -1.5Todd Gurley has basically taken the league by storm thanks to four-straight games with at least 125 yards rushing. Since entering NFL in 2012, LB Luke Kuechly leads league with 519 tackles…. Carolina, on the other hand, plays a few of the most effective zone defense, led by breakout cornerback Josh Norman. His absence was the most glaring as safety-turned-nickel Charles Godfrey was burned time and again in the slot. “So we’re going to have to try to get him down as best as possible”. Last week, Aaron Rodgers had one of the worst games you’ll ever see from the MVP quarterback, throwing for just 77 yards and posting a quarterback rating of 69.7. But he hasn’t lost back-to-back starts in the regular season since October 2010.

The Packers were legitimately hyped before the 2015 season as a strong contender to be playing in San Francisco in early February in Super Bowl 50.

Indeed, just as fast as the Packers fell from the perch in the NFC by getting wiped off the field by the Broncos, they can be right back in the same lofty position if they knock off the 7-0 Panthers. You actually have to bring him down multiple times and get good hits on him.

Despite obvious shortcomings on offense in recent games and quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ airing grievances, head coach Mike McCarthy isn’t in favor of making a midseason change in the relay points of play calls.

Welcome to Week 9 of the National Football League season. The Packers are at 36.4 percent on third down and went 2-of-8 against the Broncos. If he has a multi-interception game like he did in two of the last three games, then Carolina will have no chance.

The defense is aggressive, a unit that has turned into one that can help carry the Panthers deep into the postseason.

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Can a non-divisional game in November get any bigger than this? They had been skating by with mediocre offense, especially in the passing game, through the first 6 wins, but their major flaws were seriously exposed by an elite Denver defense.

Five Key Matchups vs. Packers, revisited