Week 12 WIN against Dallas - Stats & Analysis

[KB_fan]

I may not post too much today, but I at least wanted to get this thread started.

So thankful for our 33-14 victory over Dallas!  It made for a wonderful Thanksgiving!  We've got lots to celebrate, that's for sure.

[KB_fan]

Here's the latest PPG graph from Sporting Charts.  Just incredible that we're now broken the 30 ppg barrier.  New heights for the Panthers offense!

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/teams/364/carolina-panthers/#Points%20per%20Game$SeasonMax=9999&SeasonMin=1990

We're currently averaging 30.2 PPG vs 18.6 points against.

Not only is our PPG total the highest in Panthers history, so is the points for vs. points against differential - at least in terms of a positive differential.  The biggest differential was our losing differential in 2010.  12.3 points for vs. 25.5 points against.

 

[KB_fan]

Here's a snapshot of key offensive statistics at this point in the season:

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/teams/364/carolina-panthers/

[KB_fan]

Here's the defensive stats snapshot:

The difference in our scoring efficiency vs. our opponents' scoring efficiency is huge.

We're 3rd best in the NFL in terms of offensive scoring efficiency, and best in the NFL in terms of the lowest scoring efficiency by our opponents.

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-scoring-drive-efficiency-statistics/2015/

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-opponent-scoring-efficiency/2015/

 

[KB_fan]

Here are the PFF highlights & top 5 grades:

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/11/27/pro-car-dal-grades-panthers-defense-dominant-versus-romo-cowboys/

Carolina Panthers

–Luke Kuechly (+5.4 game grade, +32.2 for the season) is playing a different game than all the other linebackers in the NFL. His interceptions on back-to-back plays at the end of the first half were master classes in coverage. The first interception was probably the best play I’ve seen from a linebacker all season. Kuechly was playing the middle linebacker position dropping deep in the Panthers’ Tampa-2 coverage on the play. The Cowboys were running the deep dig underneath a post route, and usually you’ll see the linebacker continue on the post route in the middle of the field since it’s occupying his area. But on this play Kuechly broke on the deep in-route without ever looking back at Tony Romo and made the pick-six. Truly a joy to watch.

–This Panthers secondary is starting to develop into one of the league’s best. Not many could have predicted that before the season. Josh Norman (+2.0) gave up 16 yards on 2-of-6 targets and is truly as good as it gets in the NFL right now. The safeties, though, have been the real surprise. Kurt Coleman (+3.1) has been a revelation this year and added a pick-six in this game, and Roman Harper (+1.5) has been far from the liability he has been in previous years.

–Another game, another positive grade for Cam Newton (+0.4). He may not be single-handedly winning the Panthers games, but his value has come in his consistency.  Newton made some big throws early in the game, highlighted by some ridiculous ball placement on a seam route to Greg Olsen (-0.5) at the end of the first quarter. The game plan became much more conservative in the second half with a big lead, where Newton did some good work with his legs.

Top performers:

LB Luke Kuechly (+5.4)

LG Andrew Norwell (+4.5)

S Kurt Coleman (+3.1)

WR Jerricho Cotchery (+2.3)

CB Josh Norman (+2.0)

[KB_fan]

Week 12 Snap Counts:

http://blackandbluereview.com/week-12-snap-counts-panthers-at-cowboys/

Here are the notes:

—Andrew Norwell didn’t miss a snap in his return from a hamstring injury that cost him three games.

—Devin Funchess again led receivers in snaps during his second start in place of Philly Brown.

–Despite 51 snaps, Ted Ginn didn’t receive a single target for the first time in his 27 games with the Panthers.

—Kony Ealy didn’t start, but he saw as many snaps as Jared Allen and was in for nine more plays than Charles Johnson.

—Shaq Thompson’s reps continue to be limited in a defense that features so much nickel.

[w280sax]

Its amazing to me that we averaged 12.3 ppg in our dark year of 2010.  I remember how little fun those games were.

We are truly lucky to have a team with this much talent 5 years later.

[KB_fan]

There's a nice analysis of the Panthers Defense at the Football Perspective site:

http://www.footballperspective.com/analyzing-team-stats-through-11-weeks-and-3-games/

Quote

The Carolina Panthers defense is really, really good. Let’s begin with the pass defense. Carolina has faced 444 pass attempts, and allowed 2,462 yards, 13 TDs, and 18 INTs. Carolina has also sacked opponents 33 times for 199 yards. That translates to an impressive 4.0 ANY/A allowed average, the best in the league. But let’s try to get a more precise measure of the passing game. First, we can add passing first downs: Carolina has allowed 134 of those (including the 13 TDs), so let’s add 9 yards for each non-TD first down allowed. Then, we should remove the 4 spikes the defense has faced.¹ Now, Carolina has allowed 6.34 Adjusted ANY/A. That may not mean much in the abstract, so here’s some context: Denver has allowed 6.31 Adjusted ANY/A, and the Cardinals are 3rd at 7.27 ANY/A. The Chiefs, Jets, and Rams are the only other teams that have allowed less than 8 Adjusted ANY/A. So the Carolina pass defense has been pretty fantastic.

What about the run defense? Carolina has faced 255 rush attempts, and allowed 976 yards, 7 TDs, and 49 first downs. The Panthers are also the only team in the league that has not faced a kneel, but for every other defense, we need to back out those data as well. Therefore, using 20 yards per touchdown and 9 per (non-TD) first down, Carolina has allowed 5.86 Adjusted YPC this season. That’s the second best mark in the league, behind only Baltimore.

There's a lot more to read, so check out the full article

http://www.footballperspective.com/analyzing-team-stats-through-11-weeks-and-3-games/

[KB_fan]

Ok, now for a bunch of tweets with stats that caught my eye the past 1 - 2 days:

 

[KB_fan]

David Newton ‏@DNewtonespn 20h20 hours ago

The 45 yards rushing the Panthers have allowed in the past two games combined is the fourth-best mark of any NFL team in the last 10 years, according to Elias. The two-game total is the best in franchise history.... http://espn.go.com/espn/now?nowId=21-0461983733461818752-4 

 

Joe Person ‏@josephperson 21h21 hours ago

Panthers' 45 rushing yards allowed against Washington and Dallas the fewest in a two-game stretch in team history.

 

Panthers PR Dept. ‏@PanthersPR 21h21 hours ago

This marks 1st time #Panthers allowed 45 or fewer rushing yards over 2 game span. Last NFL team to do so was Detroit in 2014 (39 allowed)

[KB_fan]

Black & Blue Review ‏@BlackBlueReview 23h23 hours ago

Panthers have 28 takeaways through 11 games. They had 26 last year.

[KB_fan]

I like Ron's one-sentence analysis of what is making the team win:

Bryan Strickland ‏@PanthersBryan 24h24 hours ago

"There's a certain something right now that's pretty special." - Ron Rivera on Panthers locker room.

 

And the Panthers seem pretty excited about the best stat of all:

 

 

[KB_fan]

Black & Blue Review ‏@BlackBlueReview Nov 27

Tony Romo had fewer completions (1) and passing yards (1) in the second quarter than Luke Kuechly had interceptions (2).

[KB_fan]

Black & Blue Review ‏@BlackBlueReview Nov 27

The Panthers are 3-0 against the NFC East. Combined score: 104-46.