The Thursday Night Football matchup kicks off Week 12 tonight and it features a game between the Atlanta Falcons and the New Orleans Saints at the Georgia Dome and should be a solid divisional matchup between the two teams.
The Panthers are coming into the game after two straight wins and this is the latest in the season that the team has been at .500 since Ron Rivera took over and they will put their 3-3 record to the test against the winless Buccaneers are 0-6 and it could actually be a good matchup, as the Panthers are playing some solid football over the past two weeks. Cam Newton has looked comfortable in the new offense the team has after Rob Chudzinski left for Cleveland and he has been more accurate than he was in earlier years and that could mean big things for Carolina.
Rivera was considered a defensive guru when he took the job, but his teams did not follow suit and now the Panthers finally are, as they are ranked in the top five in both passing and rushing yards allowed per game this season. The team is ranked fifth in passing yards allowed per game with just under 220, while they are ranked fourth in rushing yards with under 90 per game and that has been helped from strong games against the Giants, Rams, Vikings and Cardinals, as they all struggled with the ball on the ground. Rivera has turned around the defense and got them to play better up front and the play of linebacker Luke Kuechly has continued to be stellar so far since winning rookie of the year last season.
The team is coming off a dominating win over the Rams and during the past two weeks the Panthers have scored 65 points while allowing just 25 and that could continue against the terrible Bucs, who will be missing Doug Martin after he injured his shoulder in last week's game. Mike James will get the start on Thursday night and he could be a solid fantasy option for the team. The Panthers are ranked 28th in the league in passing yards per game, but the rushing attack is in the top 10 and it could get even better when Jonathan Stewart gets back to join Mike Tolbert and DeAngelo Williams.
The Panthers got off to another bad start this season, but they have turned it around by winning two games in a row and now after playing the Buccaneers they play the hardest stretch of the season. The team has a divisional game at home against the Atlanta Falcons and then plays on the road against the San Francisco 49ers and then after that comes a big test against the Patriots. The team will host Monday night football for Tom Brady and the Pats and that comes before a tough road matchup against Miami.