Pick-Six Preview: Panthers at Packers

Carolina Panthers (5-3) at Green Bay Packers (7-2)

The vitals: 3:25 p.m. Sunday at Lambeau Field.

TV: Fox (Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Erin Andrews).

Series: The Packers lead the regular-season series 8-6, though Carolina has won the last two. The teams’ first matchup came in the 1996 playoffs, with Green Bay winning the NFC championship 30-13.

The last time: On Dec. 17, 2017, Aaron Rodgers returned from a broken collarbone but the Panthers won 31-24. Cam Newton threw four touchdown passes for Carolina, which won the turnover battle 4-0. Rodgers had scoring strikes to Davante Adams, Randall Cobb and Richard Rodgers.

The quarterback

The Packers won’t miss Cam Newton, who has missed most of this season with a foot injury and was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday. In four career starts, Newton threw for 1,176 yards, rushed for 209 yards – that’s an average of 346 total yards per game – and accounted for 11 total touchdowns.

Kyle Allen, an undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M last year, is 5-1 as the starter this season and 6-1 for his career. For this season, he’s completed 60.9 percent of his passes for 1,291 yards with nine touchdowns, four interceptions and an 87.8 passer rating. He’s 28th in completion percentage, 27th in yards per attempt, 17th in touchdown percentage and 17th in interception percentage. He’s not Cam Newton but he’s an efficient runner with a 5.3-yard average.

His top weapon

In last week’s win over Tennessee, running back Christian McCaffrey became the sixth player in NFL history with 1,200-plus scrimmage yards and 13 touchdowns in the first eight games of the season. With two rushing touchdowns and one receiving touchdown, he notched his sixth game of the season with at least 150 scrimmage yards and a touchdown, joining Jim Brown (1963) as the only players with six such performances in the first eight games of a season.

McCaffrey is first in the league in scrimmage yards (1,244), scrimmage yards per game (155.5), rushing yards per game (110.1), rushing touchdowns (10), total touchdowns (13) and 20-yard rushes (six). He’s the best all-around back in the league and a leading contender to win NFL MVP honors. Last season, he caught 107 passes – most ever by an NFL running back. This season, he has 42 catches and is first among all running backs with 100 rushes with a 5.3-yard average.

Getting defensive

Kuechly is as dominant as ever, with a team-high 78 tackles to go with two interceptions and seven passes defensed. A six-time All-Pro in his first seven seasons, he is a sure tackler with a nose for the football that’s born from superior preparation. Since entering the NFL in 2012, Kuechly leads the NFL with 1,026 tackles and NFL linebackers with 18 interceptions (seven more than anyone else). He has averaged 9.3 tackles for his career, second only to Zach Thomas (9.8) in NFL history. Paired with Shaq Thompson, the Panthers might have the best inside linebacker tandem in the league.

Noteworthy number

34: The Panthers lead the NFL in sacks. A league-high nine players have at least two sacks. The pressure comes from everywhere. Mario Addison has a team-high 6.5, first-round pick Brian Burns has 4.5 and veteran Bruce Irvin has 3.5, Thompson and safety Eric Reid are among those with 3.0, and veteran defensive tackle Gerald McCoy has 2.5.

The big picture

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