The Carolina Panthers will travel to San Francisco, California on Sunday to face the undefeated San Francisco 49ers.
The Panthers come into this game 4-2 following a bye week last week, and the 49ers remain one of two teams coming into Week 8 undefeated. San Francisco is heavily favored to win this game, according to the ESPN Football Power index, at 70.4 percent.
Panthers quarterback Kyle Allen, who has been the starting quarterback for the last five games, passed for 227 yards and two touchdowns in Week 6’s London game and has eight touchdowns versus zero interceptions for a 113 rating his four career starts on the road.
Allen is the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to begin his career 5-0.
Running back Christian McCaffrey also recorded both a rushing and a receiving touchdown against Tampa Bay in Week 6 and has played five games where he posted both rushing and receiving touchdowns, which are the most in the NFL since 2019.
In the last meeting between the two teams, McCaffrey had 85 scrimmage yards but is aiming for his fourth game in a row versus an NFC West opponent with 185+ scrimmage yards.
McCaffrey also ranks second in scrimmage yards and is tied for first in scrimmage touchdowns so far this season.
Wide receiver D.J. Moore, who led the Panthers with seven catches for 73 yards in Week 6, is going for his third games in a row with six or more receptions.
Curtis Samuel posted 70 receiving yards and two touchdowns, one receiving and one rushing in London, which was his second career games with both a receiving and rushing touchdown. Samuel has 50+ receiving yards and a touchdown in three of the past four games on the road and tight end Greg Olsen has four receiving touchdowns in the past five games on the road against an NFC West opponent.
On the Panthers defensive side, linebacker Luke Kuechly recorded two pass deflections and an interception against Tampa Bay and is aiming for his third game in a row against San Francisco with at least one interception. Kuechly has 17 career interceptions which are the most among active linebackers in the league. Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy had two and a half sacks in week six which was his eight career games with two or more sacks. McCoy is going for his fourth game in a row against the 49ers with at least one sack, and cornerback James Bradberry posted a career-high eleven tackles, four pass deflections, and two interceptions in London, which was his first career games two interceptions, and is aiming for third game in a row with two or more pass deflections.
The 49ers come into Week 8 after shutting out the Washington Redskins of play and have posted 387.2 offensive yards and 223.5 defensive yards so far this season. Jimmy Garoppolo has 114-of-167 completed passes for 1314 yards, seven touchdowns, and six interceptions for a 90.8 rating. Matt Breida has recorded 73 carries for 411 yards and a touchdown, while George Kittle has 34 receptions for 576 yards and one touchdown. Dee Ford leads the team with 4.5 sacks, while Richard Sherman and K’waun Williams both have two interceptions so far this season. Robbie Gould is perfect in PAT kicking 16-of-16 and successfully kicked 12-of-19 field goal attempts.
Quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is 5-0 with eight touchdowns versus three interceptions for a 103.3 rating in his five home starts with San Francisco. He is also 14-2 as a starter, the highest winning percentage in NFL history with a minimum of 15 starts.
Running back Matt Breida has posted 85+ scrimmage yards in four of his past five games at home and leads the NFL running backs in yards-per-carry with a minimum 50 attempts in the 2019 season.
Tevin Coleman is going for his eight games in a row with 50+ scrimmage yards and has recorded four downs in his last six games against an NFC South opponent tight end George Kittle has recorded six or more catches in the last five out of six games at home, and among NFC tight ends he ties for third with 34 receptions and ranks fourth with 376 receiving yards so far this season. Wide receiver Kendrick Bourne San Francisco last week with 69 receiving yards.
On the other side of the ball, Defensive lineman Deforest Buckner has recorded five sacks, five tackle for loss, two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in the last four home games and is going for his fifth game in a row at home with at least one sack. Nick Bosa set career highs in tackles and tackle for loss in week seven, and is tied for second in the NFL with eight tackle for loss. Dee Ford also posted a sack last week and is going for his third game in a row with at least one sack. Ford is one of two players with 15= sacks and 0+ forced fumbles, the other Khalil Mack. Kwon Alexander recorded five tackles and forced a fumble in Week 7, and has 28 tackles, three tackles for loss, and an interception in the last three games against Carolina. Cornerback Richard Sherman is going for his third game in a row at home with two or more pass deflections and has recorded four pass deflections, a tackle for loss and an interception in his past four games against the Panthers.
San Francisco is the sixth team since 1990 to allow seven or fewer points and 200 or fewer net yards of offense in three consecutive games. In order to make this a fourth consecutive game, the 49ers are going to have to contain Allen and McCaffrey. The game will be televised on Fox at 4:05 pm EST.
The #49ers are back @LevisStadium this Sunday and will take the field in their #94Niners throwback unis 🙌
Be sure to follow us and RT for the chance to win four tickets to #CARvsSF!
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— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 24, 2019
