NFL Week 12 Byes: Panthers, Steelers Limp Into Bye Week
By Andrew Garda
Our last NFL bye week review of the season takes a look at the Steelers and Panthers
This is it folks, we’re finally out of the woods. Bye weeks are over, which means playoffs are just around the corner.
Next to Christmas morning, is there anything better?
Only two teams are on bye this week and both really need it.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Sure the Pittsburgh Steelers won this week, but they struggled at times against a Tennessee Titans team they should have destroyed and trailed for three quarters. Coming on the heels of dropping a game to the sad-sack New York Jets, the Steelers just aren’t looking themselves.
Overall the Steelers have had an up and down season. The highs have been really high—blowing out the Colts and Ravens in back-to-back weeks—but the lows are a concern.
It would be good to see the Steelers find ways to use LeVeon Bell at the goal line, especially with LeGarrette Blount now gone, but that’s a small concern. Mostly this is a matter of finding a way to play more consistently on both sides of the ball.
A week off will help them get ready for the final stretch and a chance at making the playoffs, if not winning the division, which is still wide open. They’d best get their rest now, though, as the last five games are quite a gauntlet.
They return from their break to face the New Orleans Saints. While the Saints have been a mess this year, and just lost rookie Brandon Cooks for the season, they are still a really dangerous team. By the time they head to Pittsburgh, they might be desperate for a win as they take on the Ravens this weekend. If they lose that game, they’ll be on a three game skid, having lost to the Bengals and 49ers the last two weeks.
After the Saints comes the first of two games against the Bengals, which of course will both have tremendous impact on the AFC North division race. The Steelers have split series with the Ravens and Browns and can’t afford to lose ground against the Bengals. A sweep of those games would be big for either team and despite the meltdown against the Browns a couple of weeks back, the Bengals are a dangerous teams.
They then head to Atlanta to face a terrible Falcons team, and then face Kansas City at home.
Finally they wrap the season up with the second Bengals game.
It won’t be easy.
Carolina Panthers
As shaky as the Steelers look, the Panthers look worse.
Nothing like heading into the bye week on a five game losing streak (with a tie game before it).
The Panthers have been a real disaster this year, and that dates back to the offseason. With the exception of rookie Kelvin Benjamin, the situation at wide receiver is every bad as we thought it was when they dumped Steve Smith and Brandon LaFell. The running backs have been either hurt or just plain bad for most of the year. Cam Newton is getting destroyed behind an offensive line which is doing its best turnstile imitation.
Yet somehow they are just a game out of first place in the division. It has a lot to do with how awful that division is, of course, but
there are no bonus points for winning the division in a beautiful fashion. All they need to do it get into the playoffs.
As the saying goes, there’s always a chance if you’re in the dance.
Getting there is no easy task for this team as no game is an obvious win.
They come out of the bye to face the Minnesota Vikings, who are definitely still in shaky rebuild mode but also capable of playing some good football. After that is division foe New Orleans, who just beat them 28-10 in Week 9. Then they face another division test in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 15. The Bucs are awful, and that should be a win but the Panthers aren’t exactly a Hall of Fame bunch right now.
They finish off with what looks like a really tough Cleveland Browns team and a Week 17 matchup against the division leading Atlanta Falcons.
This team can make the playoffs, but they have to find ways to protect the quarterback and play better defense.
It’s crazy to think that this team looked so good last year, and now is the next best thing to a tire fire.
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