Alex Connell’s Opinion

This weeks matchup will be between the Carolina Panthers versus the Baltimore Ravens. i have picked the Panthers and Jacob lintner has picked the Ravens. this week will be a very close game but i feel that i will come out with a win this week.

I believe that the panthers will beat the ravens but i think it’ll be a close game. the panthers are coming off of a big loss against the steelers last week.  Quarterback Cam Newton had 250 passing yards last week and a quarterback rating of 98.5. this shows that even though it was a tough game he was still able to make completions and get a lot of yards against the steelers defense. the only downside is that the ravens defence is stronger than the steelers defence and he was held to only 1 passing touchdown against the steelers defense.

This week the Carolina Panthers have been working on fixing their run game. the biggest weakness that the panthers have is injuries this season. they lost Deangelo Williams with a thigh injury two weeks ago. then they lost Johnathan stewart to an ancle injusr last week then finally lost their second string mike tolbert to a hairline fracture. if a team has had this many injuries this early in the season then they have dealt with some adversity. i believe that they have handled it pretty well and that they will do some damage against the ravens this week.

the explosiveness of the panthers offense will be enough to shock the ravens and i feel that when they react it will be too late. the ravens defence has been on the decline since the loss of ray lewis. he was the main leader of the defense of the team and now that hes gone they haven’t completely recovered. You will see a lot of play changes audibles and a loty of points put up against the Ravens defence. you can also expect to see a high quarterback rating for Cam newton and a big win for the Carolina Panthers against the Baltimore Ravens.

Jacob Lintner’s Opinion

This week, my bud Alex Connell and I are picking the game between the Carolina Panthers and the Baltimore Ravens. The winning team in this, of course will be the team with the more consistent offense, as well as the team without Cam Newton, as he has not been the most efficient quarterback this season.

Cam Newton’s QBR (quarterback rating- a measure of a quarterback’s efficiency throwing the football, and the most accepted measure of a quarterback’s overall ability) is at just 51.5 on a scale of 1-100. He is 25 in the NFL in QBR this season, behind his replacement for Week 1, Derek Anderson. Since he entered The League in 2011, this is by far his lowest mark, as his previous QBR’s hovered around 60. Joe Flacco, on the other hand, has a QBR of 66.5 this season. This would be Flacco’s highest mark since he was drafted in the first round of the 2008 draft. This means that Joe Cool is on the top of his game, while Newton is falling behind.

Not only is Flacco tearing up opposing defenses with his arm, but he hasn’t lost a beat handing the ball off the carousel of running backs behind him. They’re eight in the NFL in rushing, averaging 137 yards per game on the ground. This is without Ray Rice, their leading rusher for the past five years. Justin Forsett is leading the team in rushing with 189 yards, while Bernard Pierce is second with 113. They also have Lorenzo Taliaferro, Joe Flacco and Jacoby Jones with 91, 16 and two rushing yards, respectively. This is compared to the Panthers, who, with six different players with a carry, have a total of 217 rushing yards. Now, I don’t know if this is a fluke or not, but the Panthers’ rushing game has been absolutely dreadful this season.

The defenses shouldn’t be compared in this game. Both of them are near the middle of the pack statistically, with Baltimore allowing 1058 total yards and Carolina allowing 1041. This game will definitely be in the hands of the offenses. The offense that will perform better will be that the Baltimore Ravens. They simply have too many weapons in the backfield between the right arm of Joe Flacco and three different running backs will completely different running styles. The combination of these two factors is what will lead the Ravens to a victory over the Panthers this week.

Record so far:

Alex Connell 0-2

Jacob Lintner 2-0