Week 6 WIN Against Seattle - Stats & Analysis

[UKPanther94]

Pretty underrated that there weren't any field goals, whenever we got into range, the ball ended up in the endzone

[KB_fan]

Ok, I'm just now beginning to look at the drive summary chart, and it is amazing...  I'm pretty flabbergasted by one thing.  We had 25 1st downs in the game, which ties our season high so far (against Houston), but apart from 2 1st downs on our 4th & 5th drives in the 2nd quarter, we went 3 and out all day (or Cam was intercepted) except for our 4 touchdown drives.  CRAZY.

4 Touchdown drives:  1st downs = 23

8 other drives: 1st downs = 2

What a story of two extremes on offense:  near total offensive futility vs. incredible offensive efficiency and clutch play.

[KB_fan]

The Around the NFL crew has some very interesting comments about our win and gives the Panthers some good credit for a "gut check" win.   I especially appreciated their comments about how basically none of the yards on our 80 yard drives were "cheap" yards on penalties.  (We did get one 1st down on a SEA penalty - which otherwise would have been a big sack and loss).

 

[KB_fan]

✔ @Gil_Brandt

Cam Newton had pass rating of 7.1 on passes of 10+ air yards in the 1st 3 quarters yesterday. In 4th his rating was 153.3 on such attempts.

[KB_fan]

PFF's analysis of Cam's performance yesterday and season-to-date:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/10/19/carolina-is-for-real-and-so-is-cam-newton/

Here's an excerpt:

Newton is getting it done with a combination of his own rushing ability, his TE Greg Olsen, and the occasional play from other players.

Olsen has caught 61.5 percent of the passes sent his way, and has been huge for the Panthers at times this season.

Newton isn’t far off from leading the team in rushing, having 225 yards to his name on the ground compared to Jonathan Stewart’s 298 on 29 more carries. Newton doesn’t just scramble, though he is averaging 7.4 yards every time he does that, but he is a legitimate part of the running game with the kind of unique build to absorb that kind of punishment and not a risk of going down hurt in the way smaller quarterbacks are.

Every time he takes off I’m astounded by the sheer size of him, dwarfing linebackers as he speeds past them. Newton has 28 designed carries this season (not counting quarterback sneaks) that have gained 148 yards (5.3 per carry), giving the Panthers an added dimension to that aspect of the offense not available to most teams.

In addition to that he has been getting it done as a passer, too. He won’t ever be the most accurate quarterback in the league, and as we have mentioned his receiving corps won’t help that, but Newton sits firmly inside PFF’s top-10 graded quarterbacks with arguably less help than anybody around him in the rankings.

[KB_fan]

Here are PFF's highlights and top-graded players from yesterday:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/10/19/car-sea-grades-impressive-newton-throws-game-winner-to-drop-seahawks/

Carolina Panthers

– QB Cam Newton (+4.9) posted his fourth game over +1.0 and a nice rebound out of the bye week after his lowest-graded game of the season in Week 4. Connecting eight times on throws aimed more than 10 yards downfield before taking advantage of the Seattle coverage bust on the game-winner, Newton was on target with the majority of his patented fastballs.

– It was a rough afternoon for RT Mike Remmers (-5.2), as he was beaten handily by Seattle DE Cliff Avril. Giving up six hurries (four to Avril, one was erased by penalty), Remmers proved mostly susceptible to the bull rush. The most damaging example being at 4:20 of the first quarter, where Avril drove through him to get a piece of Newton’s arm, sending a fluttering ball into the waiting arms of Kam Chancellor.

– DT Kawann Short (+5.4) not only continued his run of big grades and maintained his place among the league’s leading interior defenders, he also filled up the stat sheet. His six total pressures (two sacks, a hit and three hurries) were joined by a batted pass, three defensive stops and two more pass rush wins where the pass was away before he could register pressure.

Top performers:

C Ryan Kalil (+5.5)
DT Kawann Short (+5.4)
QB Cam Newton (+4.9)
G Andrew Norwell (+4.3)
LB Luke Kuechly (+3.5)

 

[KB_fan]

Ouch.  PFF has Mike Remmers as the worst tackles in week 6 (along with Tony Hills who was with the Panthers in the pre-season). 

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/10/19/worst-players-at-every-position-for-week-6-2/

Tackles: Mike Remmers, Panthers (-5.2) and Tony Hills, Saints (-5.0)

Remmers allowed no sacks or hits, which might seem like a good day’s work, but his six QB hurries allowed proved it had more to do with QB Cam Newton’s athletic ability, and less to do with his pass blocking prowess. In the run game, Remmers was beaten multiple times for defensive stops, and didn’t really have any positive plays.

***

Four Panthers make the BEST players in week 6 list:   Ah it's SO good to have Luke back making the plays.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/10/19/best-players-at-every-position-for-week-6/

Guards: Andrew Norwell, Panthers (+4.3) and T.J. Lang, Packers (+4.3)

Cap purgatory has forced the Panthers to outperform the rest of the league come draft season, especially when it comes to undrafted free agents. Norwell highlights this with a big run blocking effort, continuing a season in which he is earning legitimate Pro Bowl consideration. Lang is a more familiar name, and while he has had a couple of poor games by his standards, he was at his best against the Chargers.

Center: Ryan Kalil, Panthers (+5.5)

The best center in the league? It’s been Kalil this year, and performances like the one against Seattle show why.

 

Defensive interior – ends: J.J. Watt, Texans (+7.1) and Kawann Short, Panthers (+5.4)

It was the good Watt this week, who was phenomenal rushing the passer with 11 quarterback disruptions. The excellent Short was fantastic himself, with six of his own along with some strong work in the run game.

 

Linebackers: Luke Kuechly, Panthers (+3.5) and Christian Jones, Bears (+2.7)

You think Kuechly was happy to be back on the field? 11 tackles, eight of them defensive stops, highlight a player who was all over the field. Jones wasn’t quite as disruptive, but made a mark with positive marks in coverage and against the run.

[KB_fan]

Steve Reed ‏@SteveReedAP 3m3 minutes ago

The #Panthers are 5-0. Of the 59 teams that have started the season 5-0 since 1978, 54 (or 93.2 percent) have made the playoffs, per STATS.

[KB_fan]

Here are the PFF rankings and grades for our entire roster from both week 4 and week 6 - sorted in order of week 6 overall grade, highest to lowest.

Biggest improvement in overall grade:  Bene, J. Stewart, Luke, Wes Horton, Ryan Kalil.

Biggest drop in overall grade:  Remmers, Harper, Delaire, Dickson, Star

(Colors are my own system, not PFF's colors.)

Just a reminder, these overall grades are SEASON GRADES as of the current week, so they are not exactly specific grades for the most recent game.

[KB_fan]

Nice write up at Panthers.com of some of the key defensive plays of the game

http://www.panthers.com/news/article-2/Creating-a-Comeback/cdfe7a9d-a1a9-41c4-978d-968e35554610

Here are two of the plays mentioned:

Third-and-5 from Seattle 35
8:53 remaining in 4th quarter
Seattle leads 23-14

This three-and-out was huge. Time was running out on the Panthers, who needed two scores. Third-and-5 is a comfortable distance for any offense, with much of the playbook available.

Davis flashed a potential pressure at the line of scrimmage. But he dropped back into coverage at the snap and ran with tight end Jimmy Graham to the flat. Wilson quickly targeted his playmaking tight end, but Davis’ speed made the difference. Graham was unable to turn up field, and Davis pushed him out of bounds two yards short of the line to gain.

Carolina found the end zone on the ensuing possession, cutting the deficit to three.

First-and-10 from Seattle 40
3:05 remaining in 4th quarter
Seattle leads 23-20

Wilson and the Seahawks knew a solid drive here can salt away the game. But after a 20-yard completion to Graham to start the series, the Seahawks are forced backward. Rookie linebacker

Shaq Thompson brought pressure off the weak side and was one-on-one with Lynch. Thompson blew past the running back and drew a holding call to make it first-and-20. Seattle proceeded to lose three yards over the next two plays, leading to a punt that gave Carolina that final possession with 2:20 remaining in the game.

[SamMills4Life]

We were the first team to score an offensive touchdown at Seattle this season.

We were the first team to score two offensive touchdowns at Seattle this season.

We were the first team to score three offensive touchdowns at Seattle this season.

We were the first team to score four offensive touchdowns at Seattle this season.

Go fug yourself Seattle.

[SamMills4Life]

Here are the PFF rankings and grades for our entire roster from both week 4 and week 6 - sorted in order of week 6 overall grade, highest to lowest.

Biggest improvement in overall grade:  Bene, J. Stewart, Luke, Wes Horton, Ryan Kalil.

Biggest drop in overall grade:  Remmers, Harper, Delaire, Dickson, Star

(Colors are my own system, not PFF's colors.)

Just a reminder, these overall grades are SEASON GRADES as of the current week, so they are not exactly specific grades for the most recent game.

The most shocking thing I see is Star. Do you think that he's still hurt?

[KB_fan]

From BBR:  Snap Counts for week 6

http://blackandbluereview.com/week-6-snap-counts-panthers-at-seahawks/

 

A few comments / things that strike me:

Huge props to Luke & TD - played 100% of snaps.  Luke is just incredible to play at such a high level following 4 weeks off...

Huge props to our Oline & especially Ryan Kalil.  How on earth he missed only one snap after the hit he took from Kam Chancellor amazes me.

Interesting to look at the WR snaps.  I haven't done all the math, but the targets to snaps ratio is interesting.  Funchess didn't play very many snaps, but got quite a few targets, where as Philly was in for 84% of snaps, but not many passing targets - he of course was used quite successfully on a few running plays.

And JStew with 51 snaps.  Wow.   He was running with such passion, fighting for every yard.   I still would like to see CAP play more, but I can understand in this game why they'd stick with the vets. 

It was interesting that Ron admitted in his press conference yesterday that they'd messed up by not getting Tre Boston more snaps.   I hope that we see more of him in rotation with Harper.  Harper was getting burned too much on Sunday.

[KB_fan]

Also from BBR, the interesting Stats & Superlatives:

http://blackandbluereview.com/stats-and-superlatives-panthers-at-seahawks/

Here's an excerpt - there's much more...

SERIES HISTORY

The Panthers:

• Snapped a five-game losing streak in the series.
• Beat the Seahawks for the first time since 12/16/07.
• Won for the first time in Seattle (previously 0-3, including January's playoff).
• Are 5-for-7 in the red zone over their past two meetings (including January's playoff) after going 1-for-6 in the red zone in their previous three meetings.

 

• The four regular-season matchups since 2012 have been decided by a combined 17 points.

 

• Seahawks coach Pete Carroll dropped to 5-1 against the Panthers.
• Panthers coach Ron Rivera improved to 1-4 against the Seahawks.

 

---

CAROLINA

• Set a franchise record with its ninth straight regular-season win, a streak that is currently the longest in the NFL.
• Won after a bye week for the first time in the Ron Rivera era. The Panthers were previously 0-5, having been outscored 125-46.
• Matched the best start in franchise history. The 2003 Super Bowl team began 5-0.
• Improved to 20-2-1 when scoring at least 20 points since the start of 2013.
• Earned its first win without a takeaway since beating Washington on 11/4/12.
• Averaged 10.5 plays and went 80 yards on all four scoring drives.
• Has totaled just 235 yards with no offensive touchdowns and two field goals in the first quarter this season.
• Has strung together a franchise-best 16 straight games with at least 100 rushing yards. The Seahawks have the NFL's longest such streak at 17 games.