The Panthers are a one-man band right now and for the first time in a long time that man isn’t Cam Newton, it is Christian McCaffrey.
As much as they want to fight it, CMC is really their only weapon right now and Cam Newton just hasn’t looked right since he injured his shoulder. With bad protection around Newton, the Panthers are going to have to be a team that keeps games close or else opposing defenses are going to be able to pin their ears back and come after Cam Newton.
On the other side of the ball, I think Luke Keuchly and Brian Burns are the most important defensive players on this team and if they don’t figure out how to get both of them going at a high level or add some other people to the mix, it is going to be hard to see them anywhere but 3rd in the division long term.