Colts at Panthers: Game preview and prediction
Indianapolis Colts vs. Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers will light up Bank of America Stadium for Monday Night Football as they look to keep their record for the 2015 NFL season unblemished when they welcome Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts. While Cam Newton and the Panthers will be looking to keep riding high with their seventh consecutive victory to start the year, Luck and Chuck Pagano’s Colts team is looking to rebound after an abysmal start.
Much of the talk about the Colts coming into this Monday Night Football matchup is about Luck and his injury status. A report came out on Sunday alleging that the Indianapolis quarterback has been playing with fractured ribs, though he’s not been on the injury report. The Colts have denied this, but Luck’s shaky performances to this point in the year only fuel speculation that the star may be playing hurt.
If the Colts want to right the ship in this primetime matchup with the Panthers, though, Luck is either going to have to overcome this injury or prove to everyone that he’s healthy. The Panthers have been a top-10 passing defense to this point in the season, one of the reasons why they’re undefeated to start the year. Though they’re susceptible to the run, this Colts team can’t rely solely on Frank Gore; they’ll need Luck to pull through and make big plays in this matchup.
For the Panthers, however, they are going to need to rely on Cam and Jonathan Stewart to move the ball on the ground against a Colts defense that has been gashed by the run on more than one occasion this season. The Panthers offensive line is going to have to perform the way it has to this point in the year to take advantage of the Indy defense.
When it’s all said and done, I think the Panthers are set up to stop what the Colts do best and that Indianapolis cannot say the same about what Carolina does best. That should make all of the difference and leave the Panthers undefeated coming out of Week 8.
Pick: Carolina 27, Indianapolis 17