The future and the Defense

[ladypanther]

The offense made great strides in 1 week.

The D (and special teams...which I do not have much/any hope for), lost this game.

D problems look like the 2nd half of last year. Can Meeks adjust? Are they still learning a new scheme...and is that part of the problem? I can't remember anything positive from the D today. I guess I want to know that there might be hope.

[Fan4life]

Ye it looks like it's the same old D from last year. Maybe hope.

[merchman567]

A pick and a force fumble... however not being able to stop anything on 3rd and long washes out alot of those.

[2plankingpanther]

If we had a good D,we would have won!The D lost the game for us!Most of the time,Jake is a good enough QB to manage the game!

[raleigh-panther]

Just my opinion, bottom-line, great players make an average scheme look great.

We don't have great players overall in the sense that we do not have a game changer, a Troy P, or an Ed Reed, and our scheme is average or below.

We have some players, who are paid like great players; but, we all know that.

We have no DTs.

We have a questionable secondary.

Not much point in saying anything about the DEs. That's been beat to death.

I'll say it again, and bombed for it I'm sure, Everett Brown, might be a good 3-4 Backer, but, he is way way too small to be a DE in the NFL. He'll get handled every single time,

and we gave up a #1 to get this guy. If a team gives up a #1, the guy best be a starter.

He looks like the little engine that can't out there.

[tarheelfreak]

Everyone knew the o was gonna have to carry us for a few games, there is hope

[goodlay]

The defense is the same mediocre defense we saw towards the end of last year, except it's even worse. Though I do wanna mention Beason and Davis for giving it their all on every play and that they are easily two of the best at what they do. Special teams is still god awful, how does Crossman still have a job?

[OneBadassCat]

The problem is 3rd down defense. We can't get a pass rush so we try to blitz. We suck at blitzing so Ryan still has plenty of time to hit an open target. Plus we cushion our zone so bad and our front 4 is so stagnant that its easy to pick up the 3rd and 5 and 3rd and 7's. How many times did we have them by the balls on 3rd and long and they still get a 1st down? That's what ultimately killed us.

[PantherPhann89]

I am now on the Fire Fox wagon, bring in Cower and let him clean house

[FLpanfan]

It was play calling that lost this game. Poor defensive play calling lead to multiple third down conversions and 2 fourth down conversions. We threw the ball 41 times and ran only 26, when everyone here know that we should be a run FIRST team. Terrible clock management. This loss was all on the coaches, and it's a shame. After 17 rebounded like that we still come out with a loss. A damn shame.

[grateflday]

The problem is 3rd down defense. We can't get a pass rush so we try to blitz. We suck at blitzing so Ryan still has plenty of time to hit an open target. Plus we cushion our zone so bad and our front 4 is so stagnant that its easy to pick up the 3rd and 5 and 3rd and 7's. How many times did we have them by the balls on 3rd and long and they still get a 1st down? That's what ultimately killed us.

This has been an achilles heal of this defense for years and it makes me want to bang my head against the wall.