Key Factors For The Detroit Lions To Beat The Carolina Panthers

The Detroit Lions are set to play the Carolina Panthers on Christmas Eve as both teams look to push for a playoff spot. This is a key game for both teams, as the Lions will probably need to win out to make the playoffs, and the Panthers are one game behind the Buccaneers for the NFC South Champions. So let’s break down what the Lions will need to do to win this game.

Key One- Defend The Run As Well As Previous Weeks

This season the Panthers are 0-7 when held under 100 total rushing yards, and recently the Lions have been one of the best teams in the league at defending the run. Since Week 8 the most rushing yards the Lions have allowed to an opposing running back is 72, to Devin Singletary. They have held elite running backs to very few yards including, Aaron Jones to 25 yards, Saquon Barkley to 22 yards, and Dalvin Cook to 23 yards and have allowed 3.47 yards per carry since Week 8. If they can stop the run like they have been able to recently it will be extremely hard for the Panthers’ offense to get anything going and this could be the biggest key in this game.

Key Two- Get The Run Game Going Early

The Lions have found so much offensive success recently because teams have been preparing for their dominant run game, so the Lions have been able to run play-action passes early in the game and confuse teams. However, now teams are starting to catch onto that, and the Lions’ rushing attack has suffered because of it and they have to rely on purely the pass. Now with teams preparing for the passing attack, it will give leeway to get the run game going and if you establish it early it will be hard for them to adjust.

If they can establish the run early it will open up so many opportunities and the Panthers will ultimately have to make a decision at halftime on what they want to do on defense. The Panthers have a significantly better pass defense than run defense so they will have to decide whether to stay ready for play action or commit to stopping the run. If they commit to stopping the run, then the Lions can take advantage and pull out more play action to Amon-Ra St. Brown, Brock Wright, or even a deep shot to Jameson Williams. If they stay ready for the pass, then the Lions can just continue to chip away at them with the run and expose their weakness. Ultimately, the run game will be the key to a victory on Saturday.

Key Three- Capitalize On Short-Field Opportunities

The biggest problem in the Jets game for the Lions is they could capitalize on opportunities their defense gave them or when they got down the field. On the first drive of the game, the Lions got all the way down to the one-yard line, then proceeded to run the ball four times and get stuffed on all of them instead of running play action on the last one which likely would’ve ended in six, instead it ended in zero. Another time Jerry Jacobs intercepted Zach Wilson and gave the Lions’ offense great field positioning, yet they only ended up with three on the drive.

While you could say a lot of that was because of how dominant the Jets’ defense is if you want to assure a win you need to score on great opportunities like those. The Panthers are another tough defense, but not as tough as the Jets, so this should be doable for the Lions. If the defense can create turnovers and the Lions’ offense can capitalize on them they should have this game won.