Week 6 WIN Against Seattle - Stats & Analysis

[KB_fan]

Nice analysis of "little big plays" at C-S-R

http://www.catscratchreader.com/2015/10/20/9571851/little-big-plays-carolina-at-seattle-week-6

This play by Kony Ealy is one of the plays I think was one of the keys to our win - limiting SEA to a FG when they were threatening more:

3rd Quarter

10:02 – Panthers 7, Seahawks 17. SEA ball 2nd-and-6 on CAR 29. Russell Wilson faked a handoff to his left, then spun right to run. Kony Ealy (+1, -3) stayed at home on the end and was suddenly one-on-one with the nimble Seattle quarterback. Wilson juked, but Ealy read Wilson perfectly, stayed in front of him, and pounced like a cat to drop Wilson for a five yard loss. Ealy’s incredibly athletic play helped end the series with a 50-yard Seattle field goal, upping the Seahawks lead to 20-7.

This play by Cotchery was voted by readers as the key "little big play" of the game, and I think I'd have to agree.  Absolutely CLUTCH catch by Cotch.  I'm still in awe of how he fought for that ball when I watch the replays:

:54 – Panthers 20, Seahawks 23. CAR ball 3rd-and-3 on SEA 33. Facing third down on the edge of field goal range, Jerricho Cotchery (+2) ran a buttonhook just past the first down marker. Cotchery was blanketed by safety DeShawn Shead, and the Panthers receiver simply outmuscled Shead to make the catch. The physical grab by Cotchery set up the epic game-winning touchdown to Greg Olsen on the very next play.

[KB_fan]

Nice film analysis of Carolina's game winning drive:

http://www.catscratchreader.com/2015/10/20/9574189/film-analysis-the-panthers-game-winning-drive-against-the-seahawks

 

[KB_fan]

BBR has posted the touches and targets for week 6

http://blackandbluereview.com/panthers-touches-targets-week-6/

In addition to the stats, Voth has a few interesting notes:

NOTES

• Breaking own rule here, but let's do a quick comparison of Kelvin Benjamin and Devin Funchess as rookies. Through five games last year, Benjamin had 24 receptions and three touchdowns on 31 targets. Funchess has caught five of his 18 targets.
• Another comparison to 2014: It took Cam Newton seven games to hit 50 carries last year. Much healthier, Newton is currently at 50 through five games.
• Ed Dickson has seven catches on 11 targets. He didn't see his 11th target until Week 11 last year and he caught his seventh pass in Week 13.
• The Panthers needed just six plays to convert all three of their red zone opportunities in Seattle. A couple were finished off by Jonathan Stewart after Greg Olsen was twice tackled at the shadow of the goal line.

[KB_fan]

A couple more articles with interesting analysis of our win at Seattle:

Greg Cosell breaks down the tape of the game:  "The Ingredients for a Panthers Comeback"

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/greg-cosell-s-week-6-review--the-ingredients-for-a-panthers-comeback-163951280.html

 

Film Breakdown of Greg Olsen's play during the game: 

http://nflbreakdowns.com/panthers-greg-olsen-seahawks-131yads-1td/

 

GIF Review of key plays (by both teams) in the 4th quarter: 

http://www.catscratchreader.com/2015/10/21/9582862/panthers-27-seahawks-23-gif-review

 

[KB_fan]

Bill Voth has some more interesting stats.  I've not checked this out closely, but apparently, this is the 1st time under Cam that we've come back from a 4th quarter deficit greater than 3 points.

Article is here. 

http://blackandbluereview.com/panthers-rally-against-seahawks/

When Carolina quarterback Cam Newton led the Panthers on his ninth career game-winning drive Sunday in Seattle, he broke what had been an ugly o-fer.

According to Football Outsiders, the Panthers were 0-27 when trailing by more than three points in the fourth quarter during the Newton/Ron Rivera era.

Down six to the Seahawks after the third, the Panthers put together their biggest rally since they came back from eight down against Washington almost six years to the day.

Panthers' Biggest Deficit Overcome After Three Quarters:

 

1. -10 vs. Jacksonville, 9/7/03

T1. -10 vs. Arizona, 10/9/05

3. -8 vs. Washington, 10/11/09

T3. -8 vs. St. Louis, 11/5/00

5. -7 vs. New Orleans, 10/7/07

6. -6 vs. Seattle, 10/18/15

 

Newton and Rivera also keep improving their record in close games. Sunday's 27-23 win makes them 14-16-1 in games decided by seven or fewer points. That number was 2-14 after the Panthers lost a late lead at Buffalo in Week 2 of 2013.

 

This actually seems misleading to me, since we were actually down 9 in the 4th quarter following Seattle's 4th Q field goal to make it 23-14 Seattle.

I'll try to look at 4th quarter comeback data more closely tomorrow if I can find time.

[pstall]

The word i used a lot last year is coming through this year. Chemistry.  Every facet of the team has great chemistry. 

Cam is showing the maturity of guy whose film work and playbook study is paying off. He is letting the game come to him and not the other way around. Oh and no Turnstile Byron Bell. 

[KB_fan]

Here's an interesting stat tweeted by NFL Network.   Cam is just 1 TD shy of moving into 2nd place in the NFL for most rushing TDs by a single player (including RBs) since 2011...  That's our QB!

[KB_fan]

Here's another monkey we can get off our backs this year with a win over Philly:

Jonathan Jones ‏@jjones9 25m25 minutes ago

The Panthers are 13-20 all-time in primetime games and 0 for their last 4.

 

We've killed the "starts slow" monkey

We've killed the "always lose close games" monkey

We've killed the "lose after a bye" monkey

We've killed the "can't beat Seattle" monkey

Time to kill the "Panthers suck in Primetime" monkey!

[KB_fan]

PFF Article analyzing what makes Josh Norman so good right now:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/10/22/what-makes-josh-norman-top-nfl-cornerback/

The league has yet to catch up to the idea that Norman is a really good corner, so he continues to be targeted, though that rate is slowing down. Only 14 cornerbacks have seen the ball come their way more than the 37 times Norman has this year, and none of them has performed to his level.

He has allowed just 45.9 percent of those 37 passes to be caught and opposing passers throwing his way have a passer rating of just 24.1. That is the best mark in the NFL, and to put it in some context, just throwing the ball into the turf every play would give a passer rating of 39.6, 15 points better than putting the ball near Josh Norman.

In six games he has allowed just 17 receptions for 127 yards (7.5 per catch), and has yet to be beaten for anything longer than 23 yards.

We are talking about a shutdown corner here.

 

[KB_fan]

An article on a Houston Texans blog lists the most penalized player per team.   Apparently for the Panthers it's Greg Olsen.  (We all know he's had some strange / bogus calls against him this season...)

http://www.scout.com/nfl/texans/story/1601965-most-penalized-player-every-nfl-team

The article also noted we;re 2nd in terms of the least penalties this season.

I checked it out at NFL.com stats.  With  33 penalties so far, we're tied with the Jets & 49ers for 2nd fewest penalties.  Vikings lead with 32.

A commenter on another thread put this in perspective, in terms of Carolina's great improvement in decreasing the number of penalties committed over the past few years.

Here's what @ecu88 posted:

RR era

2011 27th

2012 13th

2013 6th

2014 4th

2015 2nd ?!?!

[KB_fan]

PFF has an article about Olinemen and current longest streaks without allowing a sack.  Two Panthers have great sack-less streaks going on.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/10/21/10-best-sack-less-streaks-at-every-o-line-position/

Left tackles

Rank	Left tackle	Team	Snaps without allowing sack
1.	Andrew Whitworth	CIN	819
2.	D’Brickashaw Ferguson	NYJ	563
3.	William Beatty	NYG	362
10 best current and all-time streaks for LTs

Left guards

Rank	Left guard	Team	Snaps without allowing sack
1.	Clint Boling	CIN	360
2.	Allen Barbre	PHI	302
3.	Matt Slauson	CHI	302
10 best current and all-time streaks for LGs

Centers

Rank	Center	Team	Snaps without allowing sack
1.	Joe Hawley	TB	709
2.	Jeremy Zuttah	BAL	603
3.	Lyle Sendlein	ARI	551
10 best current and all-time streaks for Cs

Right guards

Rank	Right guard	Team	Snaps without allowing sack
1.	Marshal Yanda	BAL	719
2.	Manuel Ramirez	DET	634
3.	Trai Turner	CAR	627
10 best current and all-time streaks for RGs

Right tackles

Rank	Right tackle	Team	Snaps without allowing sack
1.	Doug Free	DAL	484
2.	Mike Remmers	CAR	425
3.	Ricky Wagner	BAL	413
10 best current and all-time streaks for RTs

Each list will be updated on a weekly basis.