Is anyone else feeling a little déjà vu?
Less than two weeks ago, we got one of the craziest games of the year when the Carolina Panthers visited the Atlanta Falcons. And now, with both teams hungry for a win in this wacky NFC South race, they’ll be meeting under the Thursday night lights.
Here are six things to know about this Week 10 matchup.
Unkind Thursdays
Week 10 will mark the 14th time that the Panthers will play on a Thursday But in their previous 13 outings, Carolina mustered up all of just four wins.
Staying on the theme of déjà vu, the Panthers hosted the Falcons on a Thursday night two seasons ago—a meeting that ended in a 25-17 loss for the home squad. Nonetheless, Carolina will look to make good on this latest primetime feature and chip away at that poor 4-9 record.
Undefeated the week after
In what may be the weirdest streak in the NFL at the moment, teams are 0-8 in the first game following their matchup with the Panthers. Perhaps it speaks to how Carolina has trended towards playing their hearts out and making their opponent give everything to beat them. (Just ignore that whole Bengals thing.)
Whatever it is, it does speak to some sort of success from the Panthers—but it’s just not directed their way. You should feel proud as a fan that you can puff out your chest and say, “You don’t want to face my team, you will lose the week after!”
Regardless, the latest victims of this oddity are these very Falcons—who fell to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 9.
Moore facing an injury streak
In yet another odd streak for Carolina, wideout DJ Moore will be going into another game in which the opponent’s No. 1 corner will be down due to injury. Atlanta’s AJ Terrell has been ruled out with a hamstring issue again—making Week 10 the fourth game in a row that Moore and the Panthers won’t be facing a team’s top cover man.
Moore has mostly been able to take advantage of that, seeing a large portion of his yardage this year over that stretch. And a good chunk of that came against the Falcons, with a season-high 152-yard output.
We will see if Moore can take advantage of it once again . . . and keep his helmet on this time.
No overtime, please
The Panthers have had a bit of trouble historically with the Falcons, as Atlanta leads the all-time series at 35 wins to 20. When you break it down, Carolina is 12-15 at home and 8-20 on the road in the matchup.
And when you break it down even more, Carolina is 0-4 in overtime games against this particular NFC South foe. Hopefully for the Panthers, they won’t need to go out of regulation like they did in Week 8.
New coaches . . . again
The last time Carolina took the field against Atlanta, it was just Wilks’ third game as interim head coach. There was a different feeling in the locker room and on the field.
Since then, things have certainly flipped after back-to-back losses. So now, the Panthers will go against Atlanta again with another difference in their coaching staff.
On Monday, Wilks dismissed cornerbacks coach Evan Cooper and defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni. Cooper has been with the Panthers since 2020, while Pasqualoni joined the Panthers this offseason.
It will be interesting to see if these moves can light a fire under their players moving forward.
Back in black
The Panthers will be debuting their new ‘blackout’ uniforms—which include a matte black helmet, black jersey and black britches. It is quite a slick look that a lot of fans hope may stick around long term, as it has been an item on their wish list for quite a long time.
We will see if the new uniform and swagger can held fade the matchup against the Falcons. It would be excellent to get a win in their new uniforms and start with a bright note to these dark uniforms.
