Steve Wilks shares importance of Falcons game in division race

Many didn’t think Steve Wilks would have the Panthers in the middle of a divisional race, but some solid play coupled with a faltering NFC South has Carolina right in the thick of things.

That makes Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons that much more important, but Wilks isn’t putting any extra pressure on his team ahead of the matchup.

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“You know, again, it’s the next opponent,” stated Wilks. “It just so happens it’s Atlanta, divisional game. We want to win this game no different then how we wanted to win last week’s game. It does put us in a situation where we’re one game out, being able to get this game, so it’s important, but it’s not the end of the year. 

“We’ve got to go play hard, we’ve got to come out and execute and be the team that I know we can be, as we’ve shown the previous two weeks.”

Nevertheless, Thursday night’s game for the Panthers also provides a chance to exorcise some demons for Wilks and company, as they lost a heartbreaker to the Falcons just two weeks ago in Atlanta.

If they find a way to get a victory, they’ll be just one game out of the playoffs, and Wilks and company will have something big to play for over the remainder of the season.

Steve Wilks says eliminating the run is key to beating Falcons

Last week against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Carolina Panthers struggled to mightily against the run as Joe Mixon ran for four touchdowns. Steve Wilks knows that’s an area his team needs to address with a run-first offense coming to Charlotte in the Atlanta Falcons.

The Falcons have the third-best rushing offense in the NFL, totaling 1,466 yards this year. However, they went four weeks without Cordarrelle Patterson, who came back from injured reserve to score two touchdowns last week against the Los Angeles Chargers. Add in an athletic quarterback in Marcus Mariota and the Panthers have their work cut out for them.

“We know for a fact that we’ve got to stop the run against these guys,” Wilks said ahead of the Thursday Night Football showdown. “They do a great job running the ball. Patterson is back this go-around, which we didn’t play against him before. Likewise, we have to do a great job of establishing the run up front. I think that’s where the game is going to be won — in the trenches at the line of scrimmage. 

“Based off what we didn’t do this past week, we’ve got to do a great job early on of stopping that run. They’re going to take their shots over the top. That’s what they do with the vertical game off play action. We’ve got to be ready for that.”

Getting Patterson back is a welcome sight for Atlanta. Even despite missing so much time after a knee procedure, he’s second on the team with 384 rushing yards — just 39 yards behind Tyler Allgeier. He’s also not the prototypical running back considering he started his career as a wide receiver and can run through defenses.

Wilks is more than aware of what Patterson can do.

“I think he’s just so explosive,” Wilks said. “Hard-nosed runner. He can run between the tackles, outside, he creates different matchup problems. He brings that element also in the kicking game if they decide to use him there.”