Panthers Offensive Line Is Almost Intact

Jordon Gross and Jeff Otah are back in the lineup for the Panthers, leaving center Ryan Kalil as the only missing piece from what Carolina envisioned as their starting offensive line. But I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing for the Bucs. Last week with Gross and Otah both out, the Panthers rushed for a season high 236 yards and Jake Delhomme had his second-best completion percentage of the year with 63.6%. Plus Delhomme wasn’t sacked. Of course, you could say that they were playing the Chiefs and that it’s more like a formal scrimmage than an actual game. But the Chiefs did beat the Broncos and the Broncos beat the Bucs, so unless you’re playing by Rock/Paper/Scissors rules, you have to give the Panthers their due respect for beating them.

For the first four games while Gross and Otah were playing, the Panthers averaged just over 100 rushing yards per game and never had a 100 yard rusher. If their starters aren’t as good this week as their replacements were last week, this might be a game where the edge rushers get some quick penetration and stop some runs for losses or get sacks. And if the Bucs defense detects a weakness and smells some blood on one side or the other, they could very likely overload that side and have someone like Ronde Barber or Jermaine Phillips swoop in there for a real impact play. I know Jonathan Stewart has been impressive, but there’s no way he’s learned the intricacies of properly blocking a blitzing cornerback like Barber. It won’t happen every play, but I’ll bet the Bucs edge rushers make some noise on Sunday.