Sir Purr
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- Mar 16, 2019
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Turner’s dynamic offense will square off against Phillips’ aggressive defense in the highly anticipated season opener Sunday, and it will be fascinating to watch. Phillips has the upper hand in the series, holding an 8-2 advantage whenever they’ve gone against each other as head coaches or coordinators.
The reigning NFC champion Rams are again loaded with talent on the defensive side of the ball, and Phillips knows how to maximize that talent.
“He’s always had quality players at the key positions,” Rivera said. “He always has a really good safety (the Rams have two in veteran Eric Weddle and rising star John Johnson III) who is really smart with great athletic ability, physical corners (Aqib Talib and Marcus Peters) who can get their hands on guys, good interior pressure guys (ahem, Aaron Donald), good edge pressure (a number of guys) and a real smart inside linebacker (Cory Littleton). When you look at who they got and how explosive they are, you know they’ve got playmakers.”
The Panthers faced one of Phillips’ best defenses on the biggest stage in Super Bowl 50 against the Broncos a few years back. The top-ranked Denver defense was daunting that night, sacking Cam Newton seven times (two strip-sacks) and producing 13 quarterback hits in their 24-10 win.
“I think everyone knows what to expect from a Wade Phillips defense. He's a great D-coordinator and a great man,” said Carolina center Matt Paradis, who was a member of the Super Bowl winning Denver team. “I think the biggest thing is they get pressure from so many different areas. He does a great job with that.”
Rivera echoed that sentiment: “Our challenge is going to be handling the different pressures we know that (Wade) is going to bring.”
Part of what makes Week 1 so interesting the newness of it all. You can study last year’s tape as much as you want, but coaches on both sides know to expect the unexpected when a new season begins.
“They’ve had a lot of time to look at us, we’ve had a lot of time to look at them. They are going to give us looks we haven’t seen – a new blitz or something along those lines,” Turner said. “Wade is one of the best in this league. He’ll have some wrinkles for us and we’ve got to handle them.”
Turner will have the Panthers ready for the Rams, and you can bet he’ll have some new wrinkles of his own.