A second straight win last Sunday, one at the expense of the Seattle Seahawks, now has the Carolina Panthers right in the thick of the NFC South race. They’ll try for a third straight, and a possible share of first place in the division, with the physical Pittsburgh Steelers coming to town.
Here are six things to know about the Week 15 matchup.
Ties that bind
Before David Tepper took over the Panthers in 2018, he was a minority owner of the Steelers. He purchased a 5-percent share of the Pittsburgh franchise back in 2009 before, of course, corralling a club of his own.
Tepper has cited the building process of the Steelers multiple times, and referenced how he wants to build the Panthers in a similar manner. Now, he gets to see his former franchise firsthand, which could make things very personal for Tepper.
Carolina Kryptonite
The Panthers have not done well against the Steelers in the past. They sit at 1-6 in the all-time series, with five of those losses coming by at least 18 points.
Over the seven matchups, Pittsburgh has averaged 32.4 points per contest with Carolina at 14.0. The most painful blowout came in 2018, when 6-2 Panthers went into the Steel City and came out with a 52-21 pounding—one that began a 1-7 slide to close out the year.
Hopefully for Carolina, they can reserve this trend and clinch the first losing season of Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin’s career.
26-year drought
As we noted, the Panthers’ history versus the Steelers has been an abysmal one. In fact, they haven’t even beaten Pittsburgh in this century.
The last time they did was 26 years ago, all the way back in 1996. That victory, which came in the very first matchup between the two franchises, saw a 24-year-old Kerry Collins pass for 166 yards and a score.
Hold the 'Berger
Pittsburgh’s last four wins over Carolina, which spanned from 2006 to 2018, had one constant—Ben Roethlisberger. And over those outings, he completed 73.1 percent of his passes (the most against any team he’s faced at least thrice), for 969 yards, nine touchdowns and zero interceptions.
But now that the two-time Super Bowl champion and future Hall of Famer is retired, it’s rookie Kenny Pickett’s turn . . . or former North Carolina Tar Heel Mitchell Trubisky’s turn. Either way, perhaps this change under center will help change the Panthers’ fortunes against the Steelers.
QB scramble
Both the Panthers and Steelers have done their fair share of alternating under center. The former has gone through Baker Mayfield, PJ Walker and Sam Darnold with the latter going from Trubisky to Pickett.
Both teams, however, seem to have their solutions for at least the rest of the season . . . even if they aren’t exactly great ones in Darnold and Pickett. Neither will likely be the focal point of the offense this Sunday, and it may come down to which quarterback makes the fewest mistakes.
Ground and pound
There is little doubt about what the offensive game plan for both teams will be. With dominant front sevens who possess top pass rushers in T.J. Watt and Brian Burns—they will look to keep things on the ground and remove their quarterbacks from danger.
Both teams are built upon running the football. In fact, they rank right next to each other among attempts in the league—with the Panthers sitting at 361 and the Steelers at 350.
They both have big, powerful backs in Najee Harris and D’Onta Foreman—who will look to wear out the opposing defenses and make things a little easier for their respective passing games.
