Panthers vs. Cardinals Week 4 preview: 5 questions with Revenge of the Birds

Sep 30, 2022 - 2:00 PM

Welcome to your Week 4 edition of 5 questions with a blogger for the Carolina Panthers opposing team. This week sees the Arizona Cardinals come to Charlotte, so I reached out to Seth Cox over at Revenge of the Birds.

We talked about organizational dissatisfaction, pass rushing successes and woes, and a handful of reasons why these two teams are so hard to pin down for 2022. In other words, here is your weekly dose of chaos commiseration with a fan of another middling organization:

The Kyler Murray/Kliff Kingsbury combination has not been everything that Cardinals fans might have hoped through their first three seasons together. Do fans place more of the blame on the coaching, the quarterbacking, or is it a fairly even split?

The question seems to be leaning more towards Kliff Kingsbury at this point. He is becoming a coach who seems to have decent ideas, but lacks preparation and his teams seem to come out flat week-in and week-out. Why not change or make some adjustments?

When he has talent his schemes work, but sometimes you don’t have that talent and you need to change and or adapt to the talent you have on the field.

I think the biggest blame comes down to Vance Joseph at this point from fans, with Steve Keim a close second or even 1b, while Kliff comes in third and Kyler is like outside the top five because a lot of fans also blame the owner.

However, out of the two listed it seems to favor Kliff at this point.

Another week and another narrow line. The Panthers opened as one-point home favorites over the Cardinals per our friends over at DraftKings Sportsbook. What about Arizona has Vegas viewing them as unpredictably as they view the Panthers?

I think it comes down to the opponent. They got one right last week against the Los Angeles Rams but I don’t think Vegas felt comfortable with how it unfolded.

This week, with the potential weather, with the unknown of the Panthers and the lack of urgency from the Arizona Cardinals, a close line for the Panthers at home makes sense. I would say the Cardinals win was slightly better than the Panthers, but we don’t rank wins in the NFL, so the Panthers are coming off a win, while the Cardinals are coming off a loss. If it were vice versa or even last week, I would think the Cardinals are favored, but with the Panthers pulling one out and the Cardinals coming back out lifeless for the third game in a row, the Panthers get the defacto “favorite” call.

The Panthers are coming off of a win over the New Orleans Saints that was equal parts dominant and skin-of-their-teeth, in true Carolina fashion. A large part of that was due to the injuries that affected the Saints play. How healthy is this Cardinals roster?

Umm. I mean health is a relative term. From players who have been on the roster since week one, not too bad if everyone plays this week and Rondale Moore comes back. They will be without A.J. Green, but that may be a blessing in disguise. From players they were hoping to have contribute, it gets a little longer, with Antonio Hamilton still dealing with burns, Rondale Moore having not played a snap, and the interior offensive line being banged up and old.

Rookie left tackle Ickem Ekwonu is putting together a solid season coupled with some rookie mistakes/penalties and some very public lessons from premier pass rushers. How, uh, educational is JJ Watt feeling these days?

He has a sack in each of his two games played. Zach Allen has been good too, after that it is… Not good. That is the issue for the Arizona Cardinals, after Watt being really, really good still and Allen coming into his own, they have nothing at the pass rushing position. You may be thinking… Two pass rushers is good. Except, Allen is getting only pressures, while Watt gets about 55-60% snaps. So, the rest of the time it is ugly at best and non-existent at worst.

My own assumptions lead towards chaos and have me rooting for a tie. Who do you think is going to win this game and what gives them the decisive edge?

I have to keep some hope alive, so I will say this is the week the Arizona Cardinals get it going and become a dangerous team again. Seems naive and maybe I just want to be hurt, but that is what I am going with.

Kyler Murray still has some magic in him, and I think this week we see four quarters of it instead of one or two and the Cardinals come out and are able to throw the ball and get an early lead.

If Christian McCaffrey plays the goal is simply don’t let him dominate the game, because if that happens… Goodnight Cardinals and a 1-3 start is on the horizon.

Good luck and good health to your Carolina Panthers.