Secondary. What Say You?

[Jakob]

Finnegan and McClain looked very serviceable in the first half, yet looked like complete liabilities in the second half. Should this be a serious concern or show this be attributed to our relaxed defense and lack of pressure on Wilson in the second half? McClain in limited minutes and Finnegan in the past few games had looked decent until that second half..

I just don't know how to feel, Huddle. Tell me your thoughts? 

[stankowalski]

I'm concerned about our secondary for this game.  Arizona's receivers are much better than Seattle's.  Hopefully McDermott can get a good scheme going for this game.  Going to have to get to Palmer to be effective; not necessarily sacking him but get him moving around.  

[Snake]

AZ interior line is there weak link and we are one of the best double mug teams. You do the math. 

[LinvilleGorge]

We can't take our foot off the gas if we get a sizeable lead.  That's when our secondary struggles, when we stop bringing pressure and start playing soft zone.

[General_Purr]

Is Lou Young on the roster? Wonder if we see any Colin Jones, more Tre Boston for the speed.

[LinvilleGorge]

The last time we saw Colin Jones manning the nickel he was getting torched unbelievably badly, hence the signing of Finnegan.

[PandaPancake]

I'm hoping like the Giants and Seattle fans they look to throw it in Bene's direction

[lightsout]

It's simple. Draw up a scheme, practice it with your personnel, and stick with it unless it isn't working. That was our second half problem. We stopped doing what we did in the first half. Sat back in shell coverage and let Wilson pick us apart. Both picks came off of tight coverage. Just saying.

[PanthersfanNYC]

3 hours ago, Jakob said:

Finnegan and McClain looked very serviceable in the first half, yet looked like complete liabilities in the second half. Should this be a serious concern or show this be attributed to our relaxed defense and lack of pressure on Wilson in the second half? McClain in limited minutes and Finnegan in the past few games had looked decent until that second half..

I just don't know how to feel, Huddle. Tell me your thoughts? 

From my view, there's a couple of things happening with the secondary. First, we should acknowledge that the strengths of Carolina defense mainly lies with the front line and the linebackers. Our secondary has held up okay for most of the year, but it has been prone to giving up some big plays especially in second halves against teams with elite QBs, and it has been magnified even more after they lost Bene Benwikere and Charles Tillman. The fact is McClain and Finnegan are just average players to begin with. What does all that mean for the panthers?

For most of the season, Carolina has been able to build decent leads in many games, and most of that is credit to the ability of the front 7 to pressure the QBs as well as stopping the runs, and the offense's commitment to establishing the run game. But that great defensive line seems to get tired as the game goes on and seemingly are not able to apply the same quality of pressure to the QB as they did in the first half. Combine that with the fact that Russell Wilson is the elite dual threat QB that he is, he's able to extend plays and make those passes, and the deficiencies from guys like McClain and Finnegan are exposed. Personally, I didn't think McClain and Finnegan played any better in the first half, it was just that the front 7 played with so much intensity and pressure on Wilson that it made them look better. 

This is my concern for this Sunday against Arizona as well. I believe we will see a similar breakdown in the secondary in the second half as we saw in the Seattle game as our defensive line gets tired and aren't able to apply the same pressure on Carson Palmer later in the game. That being said, the winning recipe for Carolina should still be the same as it was in Seattle game- We must pound them with the run game early and fast, and feed off of the defensive front 7 to pressure Palmer into taking sacks or making mistakes early in the game and jump onto an early big lead. The only thing I hope they change for this Sunday is to NOT take the foot off the gas on offense in the second half even if they do build a lead like they did against Seattle. Carson Palmer has too many weapons at his disposal and I'm concerned that the secondary will be exposed once again when the d-line gets tired. On the flip side, if Carolina starts the game flat and give up a lead to the Cards, that might be the dooms day scenario for Carolina and we'll just have to pray that Cam pulls off one more miracle clutch come back. 

 

[iamhubby1]

I got nothin.

 

Oh, oh. Play hard. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[The Lone Panther]

6 minutes ago, PanthersfanNYC said:

From my view, there's a couple of things happening with the secondary. First, we should acknowledge that the strengths of Carolina defense mainly lies with the front line and the linebackers. Our secondary has held up okay for most of the year, but it has been prone to giving up some big plays especially in second halves against teams with elite QBs, and it has been magnified even more after they lost Bene Benwikere and Charles Tillman. The fact is McClain and Finnegan are just average players to begin with. What does all that mean for the panthers?

For most of the season, Carolina has been able to build decent leads in many games, and most of that is credit to the ability of the front 7 to pressure the QBs as well as stopping the runs, and the offense's commitment to establishing the run game. But that great defensive line seems to get tired as the game goes on and seemingly are not able to apply the same quality of pressure to the QB as they did in the first half. Combine that with the fact that Russell Wilson is the elite dual threat QB that he is, he's able to extend plays and make those passes, and the deficiencies from guys like McClain and Finnegan are exposed. Personally, I didn't think McClain and Finnegan played any better in the first half, it was just that the front 7 played with so much intensity and pressure on Wilson that it made them look better. 

This is my concern for this Sunday against Arizona as well. I believe we will see a similar breakdown in the secondary in the second half as we saw in the Seattle game as our defensive line gets tired and aren't able to apply the same pressure on Carson Palmer later in the game. That being said, the winning recipe for Carolina should still be the same as it was in Seattle game- We must pound them with the run game early and fast, and feed off of the defensive front 7 to pressure Palmer into taking sacks or making mistakes early in the game and jump onto an early big lead. The only thing I hope they change for this Sunday is to NOT take the foot off the gas on offense in the second half even if they do build a lead like they did against Seattle. Carson Palmer has too many weapons at his disposal and I'm concerned that the secondary will be exposed once again when the d-line gets tired. On the flip side, if Carolina starts the game flat and give up a lead to the Cards, that might be the dooms day scenario for Carolina and we'll just have to pray that Cam pulls off one more miracle clutch come back. 

 

Our defense gets tired in the second half because we normally build up a fairly large lead in the first half, so then we get conservative on offense.  And every time we go conservative on offense, that usually means a 3&out, which then puts our defense back on the field with very limited rest time.

 

We need to do exactly what we did with our second offensive possession against Seattle.  A balance of run & pass, march right down the field, keep the clock moving, and getting a TD.  That keeps Arizona's offense off the field and our defense fresh.  So when our defense does go back on the field, they're ready to bring the pain and force a punt, giving our offense the ball back, and a tired Cardinal defense.  Need to win the time of possession in this game.  

[CPantherKing]

Anyone else tired of the "experts" stating the Cardinals have Larry Fitzgerald, John Brown, Michael Floyd, JJ Nelson, David Johnson, Andre Ellington, Jermaine Gresham, Darren Fells and Jaron Brown as if they will all be on the field at the same time?

6 blockers and 1 QB to face the front 4.

That leaves 4 receiving threats on 7 defenders. You can double 3 of them and single 1. If you go man. How is that an advantage for the Cardinals?

My suggestion is just keep the safeties deep until they prove they can run. Norman on 1 receiver out wide. Kuechly on Fitzgerald over the middle. TD or Shaq on Fitzgerald if he runs an out route from the slot. McClain with a safety shaded over top and a LB with the underneath coverage. If they go 4 wide taking David Johnson off the field, bring in Finnegan with the other safety shaded over the top.

Mix in a blitz with the double A gap look.

Cardinals always attack the intermediate crossing routes before they try to go deep by bringing up a safety. I would challenge them to try to drive down the field by completing passes on Kuechly and Davis all game. Deep safeties playing center field should never let a receiver get behind them until they can prove they will beat Kuechly and Davis with the underneath coverage. Doubt they can win by attacking the LBs.

[Goondal]

Our secondary, specifically Cortland and McClain is the only thing that worries me.  That being said, the QBs left are less mobile that Wilson and stay in the pocket more.  That is to our advantage.  If our D-line plays the way they started the last game then we will win the SB.  If they fail to get pressure then Cam is going to have to outscore people.

[stirs]

Everything comes down to the DLine and its ability to pressure Palmer.

If we get after him like the 1st qtr play of the game against Seattle, then he makes mistakes.  If not, and he has time, we are in trouble.

Very simple