The route tree

[electro's horse]

This is a very basic receiving route tree.

These are essentially the routes a running back can run from a given position on the field. Now obviously this is a little oversimplified, but for the most part, this is what a WR is expected to run. More importantly, this is what a quarterback is expected to be able to hit. 

When people talk about a QBs ability to "make the throws," what they mean is their ability to complete the route tree. They have the physical capacity to make these throws. This seems kind of obvious, but there's not a whole lot of dudes in the world that can do it. For example, due to the size of the field, a fifteen yard out is more like a 30-40 yard throw, etc. This is also the reason total poo retreads keep getting signed; they've proven they can make all these throws and run the damn practice at the very least. 

With Josh Norman, the Panthers were able to forget about one side of the field last year, and instead focus on the middle and other side. This allowed them to shift their coverage over. This allowed them to do more exotic coverages, try to trick the QBs and offensive coordinators, Now that Norman isn't there, the Panthers are basically just putting two rookies out on an island, and playing them very far off the receivers to keep them from getting burned. The result is that now it's just a matter of completing the throws. 

All they need is a QB that can hit every throw on the tree. And Bradford still has the most legendary pro day ever and can clearly make every single throw. The result is what you saw today. In the second half, the Vikings just started chewing the Panthers defense to pieces. They lack the players at defensive end to generate any pressure, and they're very hesitant to blitz due to their corners. They won't let the corners play tighter on the receivers, and worley and bradberry don't have the kind of closing speed that norman had last year to make up the difference.

Week 1 was the same thing. Kubiak has been running the same defense for damn near 20 years. This is literally the same offense the broncos were running in 1997 when Mike Shanahan was lining up a literally blind Terrell Davis to act as a decoy. River and McDermott are not stupid, but they gambled on a young QB not being able to run it. Turns out he could make all the throws and just took what was offered.

Every single pocket passing QB the Panthers play this year is going to eat this defense alive if they don't figure out a way to generate pressure. Ryan, Brees, and Palmer are going to read the poo out of this cover-2/3 with the DBs playing off and take 9-12 yards every single time. 

They're just running the route tree. And the Panthers don't have the players to stop it. 

[PanthersGOATFan336]

How about our receivers only run 7, 8, and 9..

[shreddingdefense]

Shula in his office: "What the hell is a slant, crossing, and quick out?"

[shreddingdefense]

Just now, El Dandy said:

I said all along that Norman made the defense look amazing. He shut down an entire half of the field all year long and that allowed the rest of a sub par secondary to ball hawk on the other side. 

Defense didn't lose this game...

[KillerKat]

Can someone e-mail this to Shula? He only  knows Go routes

[mc52beast]

Shula told me a route tree is something that only grows in the spring...

[Kevin Greene]

1 minute ago, shreddingdefense said:

Defense didn't lose this game...

Gave up only 13 points.

[KillerKat]

1 minute ago, mc52beast said:

Shula told me a route tree is something that only grows in the spring...

lulz

[Kevin Greene]

1 minute ago, mc52beast said:

Shula told me a route tree is something that only grows in the spring...

[cptx]

LOL we give up 8 sacks, 3 INTS and our two huge wideouts get blanked and we are gonna gripe about norman not being here?

 

[frash.exe]

I fuging lost it at "...literally blind Terrell Davis"

[electro's horse]

3 minutes ago, cptx said:

LOL we give up 8 sacks, 3 INTS and our two huge wideouts get blanked and we are gonna gripe about norman not being here?

 

there's more than one problem on this team. there's no shortage of posters pointing out the obvious stuff. 

it's unsurprising you'd fail to notice things more difficult to see. 

[cptx]

1 minute ago, electro's horse said:

there's more than one problem on this team. there's no shortage of posters pointing out the obvious stuff. 

it's unsurprising you'd fail to notice things more difficult to see. 

I mean if you want to talk about route trees, lets talk about how Shula's looks like a telephone pole.

The defense gave up 1 TD today

[frash.exe]

On a more serious note, this is the way the league is designed isn't it? For the vast majority of teams to have a run and then put-put back into irrelevance. We drafted Norman, developed him into one of the best CBs in the league and got maybe a season and a half's worth of good play out of him before he realized he could get a poo ton of money somewhere else. In 2014 we tried a few veteran corners and they failed miserably. Now we've got two rookies whom cannot possibly fill the void left behind by Josh. If either of them develop into all pros, we probably don't get the benefit of having them play for us through their prime.