Greg Olsen key to Panthers cracking Seahawks' Legion of Boom

Thomas Emerick

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Greg Olsen key to Panthers cracking Seahawks' Legion of Boom image

Greg Olsen had already piled up 105 yards on six catches before an uncovered 26-yard touchdown dropped Seattle to 2-4 back in October.

The coverage busts plaguing the Seahawks early this season have been shored up for the reigning No. 1 scoring defense. That doesn't quite answer the question posed by Olsen, who with Cam Newton has buoyed Carolina's pass offense against Seattle. The teams' past two meetings have only seen Olsen and Kelvin Benjamin top 33 receiving yards in a game against the Legion of Boom, most of Benjamin's production coming in garbage time of last season's divisional round.

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The Panthers WR corps made strides this season and Cam Newton is a deserving MVP, but they face a dramatically tougher prospect in finding space downfield than with the poor secondaries Carolina enjoyed down the stretch.

Seattle gets personnel upgrades from the first matchup as All-Pro Bobby Wagner sat with injury in Week 6. That game saw Olsen work two players who won't be in the defensive equation Sunday, backup LB Kevin Pierre-Louis and since-cut CB Cary Williams. Those two matchups along with the Sherman-Earl Thomas coverage bust on the game-winning drive accounted for 94 of Olsen's 131 yards that day.

It's tough to say Seattle's scheme has been kind to tight ends over the years — just less brutal than the other positions. The Seahawks again ranked near the top in allowing the fewest yards to receivers and running backs while finishing closer to the middle against tight ends. Olsen figures to see several different players in coverage on Sunday. It will be interesting to see how Panthers offensive coordinator Mike Shula tries to game the Seahawks' predominant Cover 3/Cover 1 with Wagner back, slot corner Jeremy Lane healthy and DeShawn Shead upgrading the second cornerback spot from Williams.

One area that has dropped off a bit is the play at strong safety. Kam Chancellor, an elite player when healthy, has dealt with a pelvis injury and it seemed to affect him in key moments at Minnesota last week.

It's been a down year with the obstacles of returning from holdout and injury, as Chancellor has dropped from 28th to 54th among 62 qualifying safeties in Pro Football Focus' measure of yards per coverage snap. Chancellor typically steps up in the playoffs and one could make an argument that, up until tearing his MCL in practice days before the Super Bowl, Chancellor had been the NFL's best player of the past two postseasons.

Chancellor has an exceptional track record against Carolina. His pick-six sealed the divisional round win and he only gave up 37 yards on seven targets. Chancellor was targeted only twice against Olsen in Week 6 and each resulted in fourth down.

But the Seahawks have reinforcements and the cracks are now brutally difficult to find.

Seattle visits Carolina for a 1 p.m. ET Sunday kickoff. 

Footage via NFL Game Pass.

Thomas Emerick

Fantasy football and NFL contributor at Sporting News. May have also seen work at USA Today, Bleacher Report, Pro Football Focus, The Sports Daily and the late AOL FanHouse. VT grad. Reach me at [email protected], @ThomasEmerick on Twitter, ThomasEmerick on Google+ and Thomas Emerick, NFL Writer on Facebook.