Thanatos 2,847 Posted October 22, 2016 (edited) Alright ladies. Carolina is on a bye week, so it was past time to break out the film, I even have access to two games of All-22 footage thanks to Jeremy from over on the Panthers forums. I don't know if anyone else is even interested in discussing it, so if not, just let it lie, and I'll use this topic to write my own thoughts down. Let's start from the top. COACHING Ron Rivera has made critical mistakes in key situations that have cost his team at least one game. Calling a timeout in the TB game, with the score tied at 14, with TB with the ball near midfield, was an inexcusable lapse of judgement. Your best case scenario would be sending a Derek Anderson-led offense onto the field with no timeouts and roughly :50 left, from around the 20 yard line. An offense that you just refused to let throw the ball at all in an attempt to move into FG range when they had 3:31 left and all three timeouts. Sean McDermott I give much of a pass too, given the personnel he has to work with, which are absymal in the back end and the main issue on the defense. But knowing this, he constantly leaves his young corners isolated on receivers. Bene Benewikere and Daryl Worley cannot cover the likes of Julio Jones or Mike Evans 1 on 1. Hell I'm not sure they could cover them 2 on 1. They need safety help, and McDermott is constantly using safeties in the wrong manner- covering the middle of the field, not watching for the big play. Mike Shula has shown that 2015 was a fluke and he is in fact still an awful playcaller. The last possession Carolina had in the TB game? Run-run-run-punt. Throwing the ball with your backup QB on first and goal from the 1 yard line when Cameron and Fozzy had torn the Bucs up that drive? That is typical Mike Shula. SPECIAL TEAMS Graham Gano has already missed three FGs, all of makeable distances, and whiffed on two XPs. He's just not clutch. If he makes FGs in the Bucs and Broncos game, we could be 3-3 easily. The ST has also given up a just plain awful pair of long punt returns, one for a TD. The punt return TD in the Vikings game let them go into the half only down 10-8 when we had dominated them, and the punt return in the Saints game set them up to go up 21-0 which proved to be just too big of a lead to overcome. OFFENSE Anyone who saw Super Bowl 50 could have told you that Mike Remmers and Michael Oher cannot take on elite talent from the defense. They are servicable low-end starters. A team with Super Bowl aspirations should have attempted to upgrade that position, otherwise what stops a great defense from doing the same thing? Sure, maybe they didn't think they'd be 1-5 at the bye, but you're going to run into great defenses with great edge rushers in the playoffs at least, why would the Panthers offensive line be able to hold up then? The offense is still #4 in the league, they are doing a good job, but they are very streaky. They tend to put up their points all at once and then almost seem to relax. Jonathan Stewart being out for three weeks seriously hurt Carolina's offensive ability, but its really just the offensive line being non-existent that is killing the Panthers. Stupid mistakes and penalties are also hurting the Panthers scoring opportunities. In the game against Minnesota, Fozzy Whittaker had a long screen catch and run- started at the Vikings 48- that would have given the Panthers first and goal from the 2, if not a touchdown, (it was close, not sure whether he stepped out of bounds or not). But Kelvin Benjamin shoved a man in the back in a blatant and easy to call illegal block because he was frustrated with being shut down by the Vikings corners. What made it even worse is the player in question was not going to get Fozzy, he was already cutting back upfield. Kelvin cost us at least three and quite probably seven points with one boneheaded play. Football is a game of inches. If KB controls himself and the ST actually tackles on the punt return, the Panthers lead going into halftime is 17-2 instead of 10-8. Another example would be during the Falcons game. Mike Remmers had a false start penalty on first and goal from the 1, then a holding penalty two plays later to push Carolina all the way back to 3rd and goal from the 14. The fact that Greg Olsen bailed out the Panthers with an amazing one-handed touchdown grab does not erase how bad Remmers taking those penalties were. The false start is obviously unnecessary, but so was the holding penalty. Again, it was away from the play, Derek Anderson was rolling the opposite direction and Remmers man wasn't going to get to DA. The overall look on penalties is not that bad, but its the timing of them that is the major issue. DEFENSE This is far and away the largest problem Carolina faces. There are two major issues and they feed into each other. The first, and the less problematic, is the pass rush. (I have changed my opinion on the severity of this issue watching the All-22 film.) Kony Ealy, Kawann Short, Star Lotutelei and Charles Johnson is a solid front four. Four of them are great at run-stopping and three are great at pass rushing, (CJ being the lone exception in the latter group). Yes, they could be generating more pressure, but in actuality Carolina is generating around the same rate of pressure as in 2015. It doesn't result in sacks, but in terms of QB hurries and time to beat blocks, Carolina's defensive line is really doing a similar job to the 15-1 season. What is the difference then? Gettleman built his roster on one belief: A strong front seven can hide weaknesses in the secondary. Add Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis, and Shaq Thompson to those first four guys, and you have yourself a top-10, possibly top-5, front 7. I happen to concur that a strong front seven can indeed disguise issues in the back four... but what has happened to Carolina's secondary is far far worse than can be accounted for. The double move is absolutely killing the Panthers. The rookie corners are so concerned about getting beat at all that they bite on double moves all the time. Exhibit A: Zack Sanchez vs Brandin Cooks. Sanchez locks onto Brees when Cooks makes the move to the outside. By the time he realizes that Cooks has turned back upfield, the blazing speed of the Saints WR makes any attempt at playing catchup impossible. The result is an 87 yard touchdown. This is also an example of bad scheming by the DC. Kurt Coleman should have been further back in coverage to prevent a break like this, but he is assigned to the TE coming out of the slot. Thus Sanchez- a rookie who was called up from the practice squad just one week prior- is left 1 on 1 with Cooks. While this is a glaring weakness that teams are exploiting, it's more than just double moves. The secondary simply cannot cover. Teams are therefore using the Panthers own medicine from 2015 against them: the max protect. Tampa used it early and often, and New Orleans used it a lot. Take a look at the following. There are nine Saints at or near the line of scrimmage. This means there are two WRs for the Saints out running routes. There are four Panthers rushing the QB, which means seven Panthers are defending two Saints WRs. Yet what happens? Despite this seven on two advantage, both Saints WRs come open inside of three seconds. Brees could have thrown to either one of them. And indeed, the Panthers defense is lucky he did not see Brandin Cooks coming across the middle, because he was wide open for a TD. Gettleman's philosophy may not require a great secondary to find success, but it does at least require an NFL-caliber secondary, and the Panthers do not currently possess one. The back four are ranked dead last in the NFL according to PFF. Unless there is sudden and serious improvement from Carolina's secondary, it will matter little what else is done. Edited October 25, 2016 by Thanatos 5 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cherry 1,302 Posted October 22, 2016 (edited) Excellent read I told you coming into this year that I had a huge concern with that secondary. Even a great front seven can struggle to mask a secondary that is composed entirely of mid-round rookies or washed veterans. I didn't think it would be this terrible, but lack of talent always catches up regardless of how good you coach. Edited October 22, 2016 by 7-9 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted October 22, 2016 Brees torched our defense in 2015 too, but there is a stark difference in how he did it when you watch the tape. In 2015, it was Brees being an elite QB and fitting balls into tight windows. And our D-line was in his face all day. It was just a great performance by a great QB. In 2016, while he put up just 3 more points, it was far far easier. He must have been pinching himself seeing how wide open guys were. While Brees is capable of torching elite defenses, he didn't have to against us. Even if we had Josh I don't think it would make that much of a difference. The rest of the guys are just too bad. It might mean we were 3-3 instead of 1-5, but a contender? No. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SteVo+ 3,702 Posted October 22, 2016 This is some ace analysis, Thanatos. Feel like I could go into any sports bar in America and debate the Panthers like a boss. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Thanatos 2,847 Posted October 23, 2016 (edited) Added some stuff to the offense section. For those who don't want to read the whole thing again: Stupid mistakes and penalties are also hurting the Panthers scoring opportunities. In the game against Minnesota, Fozzy Whittaker had a long screen catch and run- started at the Vikings 48- that would have given the Panthers first and goal from the 2, if not a touchdown, (it was close, not sure whether he stepped out of bounds or not). But Kelvin Benjamin shoved a man in the back in a blatant and easy to call illegal block because he was frustrated with being shut down by the Vikings corners. What made it even worse is the player in question was not going to get Fozzy, he was already cutting back upfield. Kelvin cost us at least three and quite probably seven points with one boneheaded play. Football is a game of inches. If KB controls himself and the ST actually tackles on the punt return, the Panthers lead going into halftime is 17-2 instead of 10-8. Another example would be during the Falcons game. Mike Remmers had a false start penalty on first and goal from the 1, then a holding penalty two plays later to push Carolina all the way back to 3rd and goal from the 14. The fact that Greg Olsen bailed out the Panthers with an amazing one-handed touchdown grab does not erase how bad Remmers taking those penalties were. The false start is obviously unnecessary, but so was the holding penalty. Again, it was away from the play, Derek Anderson was rolling the opposite direction and Remmers man wasn't going to get to DA. The overall look on penalties is not that bad, but its the timing of them that is the major issue. Edited October 23, 2016 by Thanatos Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BwareDWare94 723 Posted October 24, 2016 Put a new coaching regime in place while Cam is still north of 30. Ron Rivera's schematics have run their course and the Panthers have suffered through sub-par coordinators on both sides of the ball throughout his tenure. Also, go sign a fucking cornerback. Not wanting to pay Norman was and still is a smart move. The Panthers don't need to break the bank to improve at the corner position, because it's that bad right now. Rebuild the pass rush. Replace either Oher or Remmers--bookend tackles aren't going to be found both in the same year but get at least one. Last but not least, obviously Gano needs to be replaced. He has always been inconsistent. That's not going to change. The Panthers simply need to accept that they have to go through something of an overhaul process or they're going to waste the prime years of Cam, Luke, TDavis, etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RazorStar 4,025 Posted October 25, 2016 Bware lives so far north that his compasses actually point south. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BJORN 679 Posted October 25, 2016 No mention of the refs? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
