After suffering a broken foot in last weekend’s game, Carolina Panthers defensive end Jared Allen has been ruled out of Sunday’s NFC Championship Game against the Arizona Cardinals.
DE Jared Allen is OUT for Sunday's game. #AZvsCAR
— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) January 22, 2016
While not surprising, this isn’t great news for the Panthers.
This puts the onus on second-year man Kony Ealy to step up in Allen’s absence, and it caused the team to activate rookie Ryan Delaire for the upcoming championship tilt against the pass-happy Cardinals.
Thankfully all is not lost. While Allen brings plenty of experience and skill to the table when healthy, Ealy and Delaire have both contributed this year for Carolina, accounting for 7.5 sacks between them.
The Cardinals feature one of the league’s most dynamic passing attacks, but as the Green Bay Packers showed last weekend it can be hampered with a solid pass rush. Palmer threw two interceptions in that game and could have coughed up a couple more if not for some bad drops by Packers defenders.
Of course, Mother Nature could dictate a different game plan altogether. Winter Storm Jonas could have a big impact on the championship game, and if it’s snowing hard then the Cardinals might not be able to take advantage of their explosive passing attack.