Eric Washington had a strong debut performance against the Cowboys. In his first game as defensive coordinator Womens Taylor Moton Jersey , he saw his defense stifle the Dallas offense, allowing only 232 yards and a single late touchdown. While Dallas will likely struggle offensively a lot this year, that doesn’t take away from the fact that only two teams gave up fewer yards and fewer points than the Panthers, and one of them was playing the Bills, so they don’t really count. This weekend’s test will be much tougher. The Panthers will hit the road for the first time this season to take on a Falcons offense that has all the pieces to be a dominant group. Last year Matt Ryan and friends finished the season 8th in total yards, proving that they’re capable of moving the ball. However, the Falcons finished the season just 15th in scoring thanks to their red zone struggles. Those red zone woes popped up again in the Falcons season opener in Philadelphia. They managed to work their way into the red zone five times and to the Philadelphia 25 yard line on a sixth occasion and only managed one single touchdown. That leads us to our keys to the gameon’t get beat by the deep ball to Julio Jones or anyone else. Jones kicked off his 2018 campaign by hauling in 10 of 19 targets for 169 yards against a strong Eagles defense. He does most of his damage far away from the end zone but has the potential to take any catch to the house. Keeping the Falcons aforementioned red zone struggles in mind, the Panthers should take extra care to not give up any long touchdowns. Make the Falcons prove they can put the ball in the end zone from in close. Trust the front four to get to Matt Ryan. This one is tough. The Falcons have a good offensive line, so the temptation to blitz a lot to generate pressure will be there. But Ryan has been very good against pressure throughout his career, including last season when he posted the 7th best passer rating against the blitz. The pass rush getting to the quarterback is as important as always, but bringing extra players in to rush at the expense of the secondary plays right into one of Ryan’s strengths as a quarterback. Leave Julio Jones open in the end zone. Jones is apparently physically incapable of catching red zone touchdowns. I mean, look at this:And watch this too:The Panthers almost certainly won’t have the same success this Sunday that they had in week one, but that’s okay. The Falcons offense is a tough one to match up against. The key will be for the defense to keep plays in front of them and count on the Falcons to collapse in the red zone like they have been for the past season plus. When Eric Reid of the Carolina Panthers stepped over the sideline and onto the playing field to instigate a heated pregame confrontation with Malcolm Jenkins of the Philadelphia Eagles, the Panthers safety figuratively crossed an important line regarding civility and tolerance. Based on multiple reports including The New York Times and ESPN (please read these articles if you are not familiar with the details of the backstory), the root cause of the conflict is the two men disagree on the best approach to address matters of social injustice and inequality. Both Reid and Jenkins are passionate and thoughtful about these issues. And, as often happens with complex topics http://www.panthersfootballauthentic...rsey-authentic , they’ve reached different conclusions about the most appropriate solutions. That’s fine. Mature, thoughtful adults can rationally evaluate facts, assess options, arrive at very different conclusions, and still respectfully disagree with each other. It’s call civility. It’s called tolerance. It’s called diversity of thought. Rational people do not resort to physical confrontation and name-calling toward those with whom they intellectually disagree. These are precisely the behaviors Eric Reid demonstrated on Sunday. He allowed a philosophical disagreement to boil over into a heated confrontation to the point where he had to be physically restrained by his teammates. After the game, Reid resorted to labeling Jenkins as “corrupt”, a “sellout”, and a “neo-colonialist”.Remember, these are two men who ostensibly agree with each other about the need to raise awareness and find solutions to social injustice and inequality. The conflict is they’ve simply reached different conclusions about the best solutions. Based on his actions, Eric Reid is extremely intolerant toward Malcolm Jenkins’ sincere, well-reasoned opinions that happen to clash with his own. When debating issues such as these, more tolerance is needed, not less. Some will attempt to justify Eric Reid’s actions under the banner of “passion.” They will argue that he’s so invested in this cause that his behavior was justified, perhaps even necessary. This perspective is not only wrong but potentially dangerous. My assumption is almost every NFL player is passionate about social and political issues that are deeply personal to them. Some players may feel just as intensely as Eric Reid does about The Players’ Coalition - some opposing it and others supporting it - but of the 1,500-plus NFL players who take the field every Sunday only one has allowed this “passion” to explode into an angry and ugly confrontation. This is not passion. This is a lack of tolerance and civility. Malcolm Jenkins, on the other hand Womens Christian McCaffrey Jersey , behaved with thoughtfulness and respect when addressing this issue after the game. According to the Charlotte Observer, when speaking about Eric Reid and Colin Kaepernick, Jenkins said, “You couldn’t pay me to say anything negative about them. I look around the league and I’m proud of guys that are active in their communities, that are using their voice as a platform like never before — including Colin and including Eric.” Jenkins, the NFL’s 2015 Walter Payton Man of the Year, was making these measured, thoughtful statements around the same time Reid was calling him a neo-colonialist.If Eric Reid wants a more tolerant, inclusive world, he should start by demonstrating these behaviors himself. It’s ironic, if not outright hypocritical, that Reid’s approach is to demean, marginalize, and physically confront people with diverse opinions that differ from his. A more civil world isn’t grown by sowing the seeds of incivility. A more tolerant world isn’t forged by fanning the flames of intolerance. Eric Reid’s reckless actions don’t help solve complex problems, they only serve to make them worse.
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