Week 3 WIN against New Orleans - Stats & Analysis

[KB_fan]

Once again, here's a thread to post interesting statistics and analysis from the game.   Tomorrow evening I'll hope to have some original tables and game analysis but for now will just post stats and interesting game analysis from other sources.

[KB_fan]

Jonathan Jones ‏@jjones9 29m29 minutes ago

First game for Cam Newton with at least 2 TDs and 0 INTs since the last New Orleans game 12/7/14

[KB_fan]

Steve Reed ‏@SteveReedAP 3h3 hours ago

Cam Newton with 35 rushing TDs -- that ties him for 7th all-time with Steve Grogan and Randall Cunningham in NFL history.

 

[KB_fan]

Black & Blue Review ‏@BlackBlueReview 3h3 hours ago

#Panthers have allowed a completion % of 80+ just seven times. Last: vs KC’s Brady Quinn (82.6%) on 12/2/12.

 

[KB_fan]

Panthers PR Dept. ‏@PanthersPR 3h3 hours ago

With the extra point, Gano has 305 pts as a Panther passing Muhsin Muhammad for the fourth-most points by a #Panthers player in team history

[KB_fan]

Panthers PR Dept. ‏@PanthersPR 5h5 hours ago

Cam Newton now has 86 career TD passes, tying Steve Beuerlein (1996-2000) for 2nd place on #Panthers all-time passing TD list

[KB_fan]

Some stats from the Observer:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article36763059.html

Before Sunday, it usually wasn’t a good sign when Cam Newton passed for more than 300 yards in a game.

The Panthers were 1-7 when Newton threw more than 300 yards in a game.

Win No. 2 came Sunday.

 

 

Greg Olsen: It was Olsen’s second career game of more than 100 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns. The first came against Denver in 2012. He finished with 134 yards receiving on eight catches, including a 52-yarder that was his longest catch as a Panther.

 

 

[KB_fan]

Black & Blue Review ‏@BlackBlueReview 6m6 minutes ago

Ted Ginn receiving yards:

2015 (CAR) - 188

2014 (ARI) - 190

2013 (CAR) - 556

2012 (SF) - 1

2011 (SF) - 220

2010 (SF) - 163

[KB_fan]

RUN DEFENSE ON POINT AGAIN: The pass rush has been a challenge, but Carolina’s run defense was stout once again in Week 3. After allowing just 61 rushing yards against the Texans, the Panthers surrendered 70 yards to New Orleans.

from here: http://www.panthers.com/news/article-2/What-We-Learned-Panthers-vs-Saints/909a6531-5c3d-462d-a277-ab3a63f3eca9

[KB_fan]

From that same Panthers.com article -

Ryan Kalil put his finger on what was perhaps the biggest offensive weakness of the game:

OFFENSE DISPLEASED WITH FOUR-MINUTE EXECUTION: Every offense prides itself on being able to close out the game when given the chance. The Panthers had the opportunity Sunday, taking over possession with 4:50 remaining in the game.

But Carolina went three-and-out, forcing the defense to hold onto a five-point lead and secure the victory over the final 3:50.

"The biggest thing we have to work on is closing out games," center

Ryan Kalil said. "In four-minute, when we get the ball we have to do a better job of converting."

[KB_fan]

Black & Blue Review ‏@BlackBlueReview 10m10 minutes ago

#Panthers had 3 penalties in JAX, their fewest ever in Wk 1. 10 vs HOU was most since 11/18/12. 10 again today.

[KB_fan]

Presumably this infographic posted by @MurkN in another thread includes today's game.  Very encouraging to see these stats:

[KB_fan]

On Panthers radio, during the post game show, one of the talking heads (it may have been Darrin Gantt?) mentioned how Panthers have become very good at winning close games in the past 2 seasons, after having been TERRIBLE in that department in Rivera & Cam's first 2+ seasons.

I didn't catch the numbers clearly, so I went and did the research.  It's pretty striking.

In 2011:  We went 1-5 in games that were won by 7 points or less.  5 of those games were the first games of the season.

In 2012:  We went 1-7 in close games.   Again, a lot of those games came early in the season (5 close games - all losses - in the first 7 weeks of the season).

In 2013: We started out in a similar fashion, losing two close games to start the season 0 - 2.  

In that "pre-Riverboat" era we went 2 - 14 in games won by 7 points our less.  OUCH.

Obviously we began our 2013 season turnaround in week 3 with the 38-0 blow out of the Giants, and I think it was in our week 5 win against the Vikings that Riverboat was born, if I recall correctly.

In any case, since that turnaround in Week 3 of 2013, here's how we've done in close games:

2013:  from week 3 onwards:  5 - 0

2014:  4 - 2 - 1

2015 to date:  2 - 0

These last two weeks' close wins gives us an 11 - 2 - 1 record in close games since the "Riverboat Ron" era began.  

Pretty exciting.  Our games may seem ugly and they may cause heart attacks, but more and more the Panthers are finding ways to WIN close games rather than lose them.  This is especially good to see EARLY in the season as losing close games early was something this team had a pretty well-deserved reputation for in 2011 - 2013.

It might be interesting to research the percentage of close games for various teams.   In the 67 games played in the Rivera & Cam era, 30 of them (45%) have been decided by 7 points or less.  

That seems high to me, but I honestly don't know how it compares with other teams.   In any case, we tend to have a lot of close games.  I'll gladly take these two close wins last week and this week, even if they were ugly, to get off to a 3 - 0 start.

 

 

[KB_fan]

OUCH.  A very painful stat re: the Saints:

Ian Rapoport ‏@RapSheet 2h2 hours ago

Ian Rapoport retweeted Canal St. Chronicles

That's incredible

Canal St. Chronicles @SaintsCSC

Correction:The salary cap this year was $145M. $71,592,000 (49%) of that for the Saints was spent on players who didn't play in today's game

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