Jonathan Stewart: Determining Factor in Seattle?

The Carolina Panthers go into their game with Seattle looking for a plan for victory. I spent some time mapping out some things that the Panthers could do against the Seahawks. However I might have missed a big one. That one was provided by former Panther general manager Marty Hurney on his ESPN Radio Show ‘Inside the Lines’ on 730 AM.

Hurney pointed out that the Seahawks defense was built on speed. This meant that outside runs were not a good idea against the Seahawks. Hurney stated that for the running game to be effective, it would have to be right up the gut to limit the amount of time that Seattle could react with their speed.

Hurney liked this idea because he likes Jonathan Stewart. He also likes the middle of the Panthers offensive line, where Ryan Kalil, Andrew Norwell, and Trai Turner operate. Further Hurney believed that middle linebacker Bobby Wagner would not play this week, opening an opportunity there.

So I had to ask, did this make sense? Could Stewart turn the game against Seattle, or was Hurney overrating a player that he himself drafted into the league years ago?

Stewart has played three games against the Seahawks, which corresponds to the Panthers’ recent four game losing streak to those guys. Now he did share carries in each of those games, but let’s look at what he did individually.

Stewart carried the ball 41 times for 187 yards and a touchdown over those three games against Seattle. He averaged 4.56 per carry. That would be sixty two yards per game. His average per carry makes Seattle Stewart’s 10th most favorite opponent to run against in the league.

So now we need to take those figures and game out what kind of opportunities that Stewart will get. Stewart has not seen twenty carries all season. My guess is that the limited designed runs for Cam will increase his load. To be safe we will look at two scenarios: a 15 carry and a 20 carry scenario.

15 carries (4.56 yards per carry) = 68 yards
20 carries (4.56 yards per carry) = 91 yards

Does 91 yards against the Seahawks by the primary running back mean anything to Seattle? Ben Cunningham had 45 for the Rams. James Starks had 95 in a Packers win. Matt Forte had 74 in a loss. Ameer Abdullah had 33 in a loss. Gio Bernard had 80 in a Bengals win.