How will the Panthers defense bounce back?

Hello CSR! We’re onto week 5, hopefully putting a horrific week 4 loss to the Patriots behind us. The Panthers will welcome the Dolphins to Charlotte for their second home game of the season, and currently the Panthers have surrendered ZERO points at home this season. That trend should continue, right? Let’s dive right into the matchup for the Panthers defense!

• Show me the plan at EDGE! The Panthers edge rushers and subsequent pass rush has been all out of sorts since the very beginning of the season. And against what should have been a decent matchup for them last week, the unit only managed 2 pressures and 1 sack. This week, they’ll be facing off against a relatively weak offensive line group for the Dolphins, but the matchup hasn’t seemed to matter a ton as the Panthers continue to figure out what their front seven is supposed to look like. DJ Johnson started the game last week rotating with Princely Umanmielen, now Johnson is no longer on the roster. While DJ Wonnum and Patrick Jones are working to return as part of the rotation, the Panthers will have to lean on rookies Nic Scourton and Umanmielen a bit more, even if both those guys return. The Panthers need to show some life from their pass rushers if their offense continues to struggle moving the ball for more than one drive a game.
• Contain De’Von Achane. While it felt like the Panthers got absolutely run over in every category last week defensively, they managed to hold the Patriots to just 104 yards rushing as a unit despite the defense routinely getting put into bad situations by the Panthers offense and special teams unit. The Patriots definitely were effective when they ran the football, that is not to be questioned, but this Panthers rush defense is doing better than its 2024 counterpart. This week, the Dolphins will likely try to lean on their rushing attack since they will be missing top WR target Tyreek Hill. De’Von Achane has been a consistent problem both on the ground and as a receiving threat, and he faces a plus matchup against a Panthers linebacker group that has played from bad at best to embarrassing at worse all season. Expect Achane and the rest of the running backs to be heavily involved to take some pressure off Tua Tagovailoa and the rest of the passing attack.
• Limit Jaylen Waddle and Darren Waller. While the Dolphins won’t have Tyreek Hill, the passing attack now runs through Waddle and Waller. Waddle has remained relatively in check this season, catching 17 balls for 185 yards and 2 TDs throughout 4 games. However, Waller caught 2 TD passes in his first game of action last week, which does not bode well for a Panthers defense that has been routinely gashed by opposing tight ends throughout the season.

What are you looking for from Ejiro Evero and the defense on Sunday, Panthers fans?