26-year old DeAngelo Williams and 22-year old Jonathan Stewart give the Panthers the best tandem at RB in the NFL.  Williams played in 13 games for the Panthers last season and he carried the ball 216 times for 1,117 yards (5.2 ypc) with 7 TD runs.  He also caught 29 passes for 252 yards (8.7 avg) last season.  He would have put up monster numbers if he didn’t have to miss the last three games of the season due to injury.  Williams has now played in 58 games in his four years with the Panthers and he has carried the ball 754 times for 3,850 yards (5.1 ypc) with 30 TD runs.  He has also caught 107 passes for 861 yards (8.0 avg) with 4 TD grabs in his time with the Panthers.  Williams is a tad older than Stewart is but he still is the faster back.

Jonathan Stewart is a masher in the running game at 5′10″, 235 pounds and he does his best work between the tackles.  Stewart played in all 16 games for the Panthers last season and he carried the ball 221 times for 1,133 yards (5.1 ypc) with 10 TD carries.  He also caught 18 passes for 139 yards (7.7 avg) with 1 TD grab last season.  Stewart would be the main man on about 25 other teams in the NFL but he has to share time with DeAngelo Williams in Carolina.  Stewart has now played in 32 games for the Panthers (2 years) and he has carried the ball 405 times for 1,969 yards (4.9 ypc) with 20 TD runs.  He has also caught 26 passes for 186 yards (7.7 avg) with 1 TD grab in his career so far. 

36-year old WR Mushin Muhammad might be playing his last game for the Carolina Panthers this weekend.  If it is true then in his last game he will be the team’s #1 WR due to Steve Smith’s injury.  Muhammad has played in 13 games this season for the Panthers and he has caught 46 passes for 496 yards (10.8 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He has now played in 201 games in his NFL career and he has caught 853 passes for 11,353 yards (13.3 avg) with 62 TD grabs.  Even if Muhammad is playing his last game for the Panthers I do think some team will give him a job in 2010 if he wants to continue playing.

22-year old Jonathan Stewart has really played well once again this season giving the Panthers the best RB duo in the NFL (DeAngelo Williams).  He has played in 14 games for the Panthers this season and he has carried the ball 177 times for 802 yards (4.5 ypc) with 8 TD runs.  Stewart has also caught 16 passes for 123 yards (7.7 avg) with 1 TD grab.  The contrast in styles between Williams’ speed and Stewart’s power make them able to co-exist giving the Panthers one of the best 1-2 punches in the NFL at RB.

25-year old QB Matt Moore has looked really good so far this season.  He has played in 5 games in which he has completed 56 of 95 passes (58.9%) for 720 yards with 4 TD passes and 2 INTs (88.1 QB Rating).  He also carried the football 7 times for -4 yards (-0.6 ypc) this year.  Moore’s fine play so far has brought elite WR Steve Smith back into the offense making it so much better than it was with Delhomme under center.  If Moore plays well the last two weeks he will likely challenge Delhomme for the starting job next season.

Steve Smith’s season numbers don’t look that impressive.  He has played in all 10 games for the Panthers this season and he has caught 45 passes for 599 yards (13.3 avg) with 4 TD grabs and he has also carried the ball 2 times for 21 yards (10.5 ypc).  But, in his last five games Steve Smith has looked like his old self catching 24 passes for 340 yards (14.2 avg) with all 4 of his TD grabs.  He also has carried the ball 1 time for 17 yards in those games.  It’s no surprise that the Panthers have been scoring more points the last few weeks as Smith has been a key in that.  The Panthers will likely have to win out to make the playoffs this season so they need Smith to keep up the good work the rest of the season.