The Panthers have three very distinct segments of their schedule. We go through them one by one.
The Carolina Panthers’ schedule can kind of be divided into three clear segments, both because 18 is divisible by three and because each of those segments has its own common thread that runs through it.
The first part of the Panthers schedule is the easiest part. Here are the games:
- Week 1: at Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, September 7th at 1:00 PM ET
- Week 2: at Arizona Cardinals, Sunday, September 14th at 4:05 PM ET
- Week 3: vs Atlanta Falcons, Sunday, September 21st at 1:00 PM ET
- Week 4: at New England Patriots, Sunday, September 28th at 1:00 PM ET
- Week 5: vs Miami Dolphins, Sunday, October 5th at 1:00 PM ET
- Week 6: vs Dallas Cowboys, Sunday, October 12th at 1:00 PM ET
None of the six teams the Panthers play in the opening stretch of the season had a winning record last season. The Cardinals, Falcons, and Dolphins all tied for the best record of the group at 8-9. The collective record of those six teams was 39-63. It’s a new season with new versions of every team, but none of those look so drastically different from last season that you’d expect them to be an unwinnable game.
The Jaguars shocked the NFL by trading up to select Travis Hunter. We’ll have no idea how he’ll be deployed when the teams open the season, but I can’t imagine he alone is going to do much to help what was one of the worst teams in the league last season. It’s a chance for the Panthers to start the season on the right foot. It’s also a meeting between the past two Buccaneers offensive coordinators and the Etienne brothers, which I’m sure will get the juices flowing.
The Cardinals looked like a good team for parts of last year but fell off the wagon down the stretch as they are wont to do. The Panthers always seem to handle the Cardinals well.
Speaking of teams the Panthers can handle, they’ll try to make it two in a row over the Michael Penix-led Falcons. It’ll be the home opener, so it’s another game the Panthers can be optimistic about.
The Patriots were uncharacteristically dysfunctional last season, and that resulted in the dismissal of head coach Jerod Mayo after just one year in charge. They replaced him with a good head coach in Mike Vrabel, but this is still not a good roster and it’s going to take time for Vrabel’s impact to be felt. Again, a good chance for the Panthers to steal a win.
The Panthers return home to face a Dolphins team that boat raced them last time the teams met. However, they’ve kind of simmered down after being one of the hottest teams in the league a couple of seasons ago. They’ve been so decimated by injuries that it’s hard to know what this team is really supposed to look like.
The Panthers wrap up the first third of the season with the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys had a disastrous 2024 season and are probably better now than last season’s 7-10 record. This is definitely the toughest game on paper in the first segment of the season. But on the bright side, next up is the New York Jets.
The Panthers themselves aren’t a good team, so they’re definitely not going to win all of these games. That said, they got about as soft as an opening month and a half as they could have asked for. It’s a good chance to build some momentum, and if the Panthers can do that, it’ll help them potentially steal some games against the significantly more difficult run of teams coming up in the next part of the schedule.