Thanks for checking out my preview of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the Carolina Panthers to be played on Christmas Eve day 2011. The Panthers beat the Buc’s handily back on December 4^th as you can read about here.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were considered an up and coming team coming into 2011. But now they may be a team looking to fire their coach after a less than stellar year. The Carolina Panthers are a team on the rise and are fresh off an upset of the Houston Texans.

And that may be why this could be a classic trap game for the Carolina Panthers. The Buc’s would like nothing better than to come into Bank of America Stadium and knock off the Carolina Panthers.

To beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the Carolina Panthers need to keep the sloppy play to a minimum. That means eliminating some of those penalties that have plagued the team all year. Cam Newton must keep his turnovers down like in the Houston win.

“Double Trouble” DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart could be primed for big games against the Buc’s. Tampa currently ranks 29^th in the NFL at stopping the run. Of course they also rank 26^th against the pass so Cam Newton could have a big stat game as well. Look for Olsen and Shockey to see more passes thrown their way than in recent games.

A good dose of the Panthers running game will keep Josh Freeman off the field. Freeman has been banged up but he still has moments where he looks like an elite NFL quarterback.

On defense the Carolina Panthers will be seeing a dose of LeGarrette Blount. Teams continue to attack the center of the injury depleted Panthers defense with their running attacks. Kellen Winslow always seems to give the Panthers a tough time so they must try to cover him.

This is an important game for the Carolina Panthers as they continue to try to build momentum for 2012. The time for thinking of a high draft pick is over. Now we need the Panthers to get their confidence up and also make them an attractive option for potential free agents for next year.

Sweeping the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will also give the Panthers a boost in the NFC South where the Falcons will be declining soon. Next year the Panthers will be contending for a playoff berth in my opinion and this game is a step in that direction

This is my preview of the Carolina Panthers at the Houston Texans to be played on Sunday December 18^th 2011. The Houston Texans having lost two quarterbacks for the season still clinched their division last week. The Carolina Panthers started strong againstAtlanta before faltering in the second half.

With the Texans clinching their first playoff berth in franchise history it’s unclear if they will rest their starters or not. I will assume the Houston Texans will go all out against the Carolina Panthers to try to secure a home playoff game.

The Texans have won seven straight and now have rookie T.J. Yates at quarterback and one of his backups is former Carolina Panther Jake Delhomme. I am not worried about Delhomme helping the Texans much as the Panthers did not use the same offensive system when Jake played for them.

To beat the Houston Texans, the Carolina Panthers need to play four quarters of mistake free football. Under Wade Phillips the Texans have a very sound defense against the run and the pass. On offense with a rookie quarterback the Texans will try to have their number three rushing offense in fine working order.

I think the Carolina Panthers should go old school John Fox ball and run often. To keep the Texans from running on the banged up Panthers defense, the offense should run on Houston.

I feel that DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart are primed for big games if they get the opportunity. Cam Newton needs to keep Steve Smith in his thoughts early and often against the Texans.

Look also for Coach Chud to get the tight ends and running backs involved more in the passing game. Against the 3-4 blitzing Texans defense Cam Newton will need to dump the ball off fast on shorter routes.

I expect a slight letdown by the Texans who have a large amount of injuries on their roster. They will try to win the game but I don’t think they can stay as high as they have been in recent weeks.

The Panthers are the perfect team to knock off the Texans in a classic trap game. Coach Ron Rivera wants to finish 2011 on a good note and will have the Carolina Panthers fired up to upset the Houston Texans.

My prediction for the Carolina Panthers at the Houston Texans is that Houston will win it at home 27 to 24. Please check back here for my review of the game when it’s over and check me out on Twitter here.

This preview of the Carolina Panthers at Atlanta Falcons game will have a Carolina slant of course. If you want to read up a little on the Falcons click this link to see the “Birds I View” blog by Brent Holloway.

I am happy to write this preview of the Carolina Panthers at the Atlanta Falcons because I smell an upset! Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers are tired of losing and are ready to take it out on somebody.

As you can see here the Falcons are very banged up with rookie wideout Julio Jones missing the Carolina game being the biggest blow to Atlanta. Click here to see the Panthers injury report. Charles “Big Money” Johnson and Jeff Otah are the injured Panthers of note but both are expected to play,

For the Carolina Panthers to beat the Atlanta Falcons then Tony Gonzalez and Michael Turner must be slowed down. The Panthers have struggled containing tight ends and at stopping the run. Neither Turner nor Gonzalez are the players they were even two years ago but both can be dangerous.

Matt Ryan is usually money at home but the Falcons have struggled to protect him, giving up 14 sacks in 2011. Combine that with the fact that the Falcons defense is average at best, I think Carolina can win this game.

The Panthers and Cam Newton must score early and make Atlanta throw the ball. Now I know making Matt Ryan throw to Roddy White and Gonzalez may sound foolish. I feel the Panthers can pressure Ryan and I know they don’t want to try to stop Turner if the Falcons decide to run all day.

If the Panthers can get the lead then Charles Johnson can tee off on Matt Ryan and apply pressure. Johnson is a Georgia native and nearly signed with Atlanta before Carolina signed him to a big contract.

Cam Newton is not the turnover machine most rookie quarterbacks are but he and the team need better play in the Red Zone. Carolina must avoid the penalties they have been getting in order to upset the Falcons.

Legedu Naanee needs to have a big game if he wants to keep his starting job. Naanee has been under fire all week for diving to the ground to avoid contact after a catch. David LaFell is having a nice season and I feel he will be starting soon, opposite of Steve Smith