Keys to Victory - Seahawks at Panthers

After a much improved game against the Falcons, fans are wondering which Panthers team will show up on Sunday. I am not ready to give up on this 1-3 team But lets face it, Seattle is also 1-3 team. Lets not count their win against Greenbay and the worst officiating call in years.

This is a very winnable game, here is how.

The Seahawks have a fantastic running back in Marshawn Lynch. Lynch is leading the league in rushing yards per game at 105. Throw in the fact that the Panthers run defense ranks 25th in the league will be trying to stop him and you can pretty much assume Marshawn will run for over 100 yards on Sunday..... but that's ok!

Lynch ran for 118 yards against St Louis, and lost the game 19-13. However, he only ran 20 times.

The Seahawks trailed the entire second half of the game. Once the Seahawks are playing from behind and forced to throw the ball, they put the game in the hands of their 5'10 rookie QB. (He is listed at 5'11 but that's being generous). That QB threw 3 picks last Sunday.

So this week the Panthers job is to make the Seahawks play from behind.

Seattle allows the second fewest points and yards in the NFL. YIkes,

Taking a closer look, their weakness appears to be stopping third down conversions, where they rank 24th in the league.

To win this game, the Panthers must put themselves in manageable 3rd down situations and do what they have not been good at so far this season, convert them. Firstly, this means play a perfect game in terms of penalties. Holding calls and false starts will definitely lose this game for us. Secondly, you are not going to go sideline to sideline on this group rushing the ball. They have the speed to shut down the option. Oh, and the wildcat? Tear it out of the playbook and burn it.

Play them straight up and win the battle in the trenches. A healthy Jonathan Stewart should be able to pick up some yards in this game. I don't expect Deangelo to do much against them unfortunately.

In short, the offense must take a slow methodical approach in this game. Field goals can beat this offensively inept Seahawks team, a big change from playing the Saints, Giants, and Falcons. There won't be many home run 20+ yard plays. Run the ball and complete underneath passes that the defense gives you. Yes, I know this goes completely against Chudzinski's philosophy, but I for one am hoping he will make this one game exception.