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Warning: Trap Game Incoming

Zod

By Zod,
in Carolina Panthers

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Zod Grand Master

Zod

Posted
Posted

This week's game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers should be a win for the Panthers. Afterall, they demolished the Bucs only a few weeks ago in Tampa Bay before a national television audience. Yet hardly anyone is talking about this game, which worries me.

 

The Bucs are on a 3 game win streak, most recently winning in Detroit against a decent Lions team. As the Panthers found out on Sunday, any road win against a legitimate NFL team is no easy task.

 

Warning: This is not the Buccaneers team the Panthers faced in week 8.

 

Many things add up to this being a classic "trap game" for the Panthers. A game that is overlooked and a win that is taken as a give.

 

1. The Panthers convincing victory over the Bucs in week 8.

2. The Panthers are riding high on a 7 game win streak (that will most likely end at some point).

3. A huge game against the Saints for the division lead next week on national television.

4. It is Thanksgiving week which means added distraction and extra time off for the players.

 

Add all of these things together, and Sunday's game against the Bucs could be the biggest trap game of the season.

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RelaxImaPro Contributor

RelaxImaPro

Posted
Posted

Don't know why anyone ever counts any game as a 'gimme win'.  This is the NFL, anything can happen on Sunday.  Especially when you're playing a division rival.

 

The players better not overlook the Bucs or else they're going to get slapped in the face (again).  We were lucky to rebound against the Dolphins, because that poo was starting to spiral out of control before halftime.

 

Besides, who the hell are we to overlook anyone?  Yeah, we've won 7 straight - that's great... but I seriously hope the players haven't forgotten the past few years that quickly.

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Vagrant Explorer

Vagrant

Posted
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Far more reason for this past week to have been an emotional letdown. Short week, emotional win, and national relevancy. All of those distractions still weren't enough. Tampa Bay is a divisional rival and we simply don't have trouble getting up for those games. They're not the same team they were in week 8 but we aren't either. The swagger is starting to come where we expect wins instead of hoping for them.

 

They haven't seen a defense like this one.

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stirs Grand Master

stirs

Posted
Posted

Two trap games in a row.

 

One worry was looking back on a big game, the next worry is looking ahead to a big game.

 

For an extremely young team, they sure need some vets to keep their head on straight and not buy into their recent newly acquired success, which by the way, none of them have ever experienced besides Smith for the most part.

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Achilles Newbie

Achilles

Posted
Posted

The way they started in the Miami game was typical of a "trap game" letdown.  The focus, execution, and play calling were all problems.  The fact that the players recovered, adjusted, and went out and took the W says a lot about this team.  I expect the team to be more focused than last week.  I expect the preparation and play calling to be improved.

 

We are playing in a divisional game at home in front of an enthusiastic crowd.  The game at TB looked like a blowout on the scoreboard, but what if TB had scored one or two more touchdowns on those possessions where the snap got fumbled?  It might have been much closer.  One of those was in the red zone.  Glennon stands tall in the pocket and has good vision. The Bucs also have good receivers who will get open and can beat us deep.

 

There is no reason to expect this next game will be a 2+ td win.  I don't think the players or coaches would have looked at the film from the last game and thought it was perfect or even good in certain spots.

 

This will be the second time we've seen them this season.  Who has the advantage there?  I think we do, because we have Cam's ability to run and elude tacklers.  He breaks defenses down this way because there's no way to predict when he will break contain and just pick up that 1st down by scrambling for 15 yards.  They can game plan against our running game all they like.  We are still going to convert on 3rd down.  On the other hand we know what they are going to do.  Set up the play action pass deep to VJax or the other guy.  We can stop the run and expect them to take their shots.

 

So, even if they know what we are trying to do and maintain coverage, Cam still gets it done.  If we get some pressure on Glennon (big ?) and the DBs play disciplined football, we should carry the day.

 

One thing for sure, it will be a more fair fight because Glennon likely won't make the same kind of rookie mistakes he made in the last game.  We will have to beat him straight up.  There's plenty of film on him now, though.

 

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Pimpdaddy Grand Master

Pimpdaddy

Posted
Posted

TB will be plenty stoked and motivated for this game, division games always carry special meaning... What makes them dangerous is they have nothing to lose, they will be taking a lot of chances on offense and going for it on 4th down...nothing more dangerous than a wounded animal...

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FootballMaestro Newbie

FootballMaestro

Posted
Posted

I'll be honest, I am convinced we would have blown out the Dolphuns if Cam hadn't gotten whacked on the first play. The whole offense was spooked.

Well, let's see how the game is officiated (though Miami was home)? Cause I wouldn't be shocked if Schiano believed what you believed, and tried to "Shake up" Cam early himself. 

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