How did anyone have faith in this defense coming into the season?

[CPantherKing]

24 minutes ago, GoobyPls said:

People in this board have terrible memory. The first half of the season our pass rush was horrific. We went 3 whole games without a legit sack . Norman still shutdown his side of the filed with no pass rush.

That is exactly why the Panthers burned a draft pick to rent Jared Allen as a starter. That led Kony going back to the bench when CJ and Allen could both play.

The Panthers patched up the holes with rentals in Allen, Tillman, Harper, and Coleman. It worked better than expected. Keep in mind all of them were able to generate turnovers. Now their replacements are lost and not able to make an impact. The takeaways went from best in Panthers history to worst in Panthers history.

Opposing offenses had a small window to the sideline opposite Norman or to launch it deep on Coleman and Harper and hope they came down with the catch. That is how Coleman got all of his interceptions.

Now, it is too easy to work around the DTs and LBs. Too easy.

[csx]

wishful thinking on my part. I thought we could be ok with Benwikere and the slot guy from UGA whos name I cant remember. I figured they would bring in a vet and the youth wouldnt be depended on. 

[Banjo]

It's just arrogance. Teams that make the Super Bowl (or even WIN the Super Bowl) always think they're gonna coast into the playoffs no matter what the weaknesses are. Last year was a perfect storm of schedule and Cam elevating his play to extraordinary levels.

[ncfatcat]

Davis is a step slower this year I think this will be his last year


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[Adb6368]

Remember all that talk about how Josh Norman was just a system corner, a product of our amazing front seven?

Maybe our front seven was a product of Josh Norman?


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[Kakarot]

7 hours ago, Cpt slay a ho said:

On this forum people overrated a lot of things and are full of themselves when we're winning. Even last year our pass rush and secondary were weak link at times. People have short memories we blew a lot of leads last year and got away with it. As a gm idk how you look at film and determine a dt, and rookie cb's were going to solve those issues. Front 7 has been overrated since Hardy left and o got tired of hearing they were the reason Norman was good, if I had time I'd go back and call all those fools out but I'm not that petty 

There were quite a few posters who were condescending to anyone who ever said a thing about Gettleman or questioned any of the moves made this past offseason. A few of them are quiet now.

Should have kept the damn tag on Norman. At least it would've given us a year to groom Bradberry and given the rookies on the def time to adjust while Norman was shutting down his side. It would've saved Bene also, as his role wouldn't have been as big and he could've truly healed. Too much was put on him and the rookie CB's. I'd bet 2 of the 3 rookies won't ever really amount to much (Worley, Sanchez).

[csx]

Maybe we lost a lot of experience and talent from Norman to Tillman to Harper to Allen to now Benwikere. As a big Gettleman supporter in the past I put this all on him. Its his job to field the team and if he decides to move on from some guys or they retire he has to make up for it. The veteran plug in strategy while drafting best players can work but then he just seemed to give up on that in mid stride 

[TheMaulClaw]

8 hours ago, GoobyPls said:

Just breaking it down player by player.

 

TD, Luke, KK and Star are all studs, the problem is you can't rely on DT's to get pressure. 

 

Coleman has been the worst safety in the league, he was a complete product of Norman. He sucked in Philadelphia, and continues to suck here.

 

Worley and Sanchez, what was going through their heads when we drafted these guys? They were terrible at OU and WVU. They couldn't cover college receivers, how on earth would they cover NFL guys.

 

Boston was extremely inconsistent at UNC, a backup safety at best.

 

CJ was washed up 2 years ago, should of never resigned him. Ealy has never ever been good, he had one decent stretch outside of that he's been mediocre at best. Micheal Sam was better than him at Mizzou 

 

Rivera was dealt a terrible hand

I think everyone thought Ealy was gonna break out considering his SB performance.

[GoobyPls]

14 minutes ago, TheMaulClaw said:

I think everyone thought Ealy was gonna break out considering his SB performance.

Not me, I don't fall for streaks. He was so bad last season he was benched at one point 

[TheMaulClaw]

2 minutes ago, GoobyPls said:

Not me, I don't fall for streaks. He was so bad last season he was benched at one point 

Maybe not everyone but a lot of people. He is a young player....so at least to me it looked like the light came one the second half of last year for Ealy.

[Benotheking]

6 hours ago, CPantherKing said:

That is exactly why the Panthers burned a draft pick to rent Jared Allen as a starter. That led Kony going back to the bench when CJ and Allen could both play.

The Panthers patched up the holes with rentals in Allen, Tillman, Harper, and Coleman. It worked better than expected. Keep in mind all of them were able to generate turnovers. Now their replacements are lost and not able to make an impact. The takeaways went from best in Panthers history to worst in Panthers history.

Opposing offenses had a small window to the sideline opposite Norman or to launch it deep on Coleman and Harper and hope they came down with the catch. That is how Coleman got all of his interceptions.

Now, it is too easy to work around the DTs and LBs. Too easy.

No we traded for Jared Allen because C.J got hurt and the value was to good to pass up on a H.O.F DE making 800k that year was a steal and how many sack did Allen have for us again ? 2. Also Kony had a sack in every single game from week 4 to 10 and you could make the case he should have remain a starter. If the replacements look lost that's on coaching. Ron M.O is his defensive mind our defense should never be this bad if he was the defensive coaching genius people claim he is. Harper was a liability in coverage you and many other panthers fan called for his head every time he give up a completion. Harper routinely got beat in coverage and was the weakest link in the secondary. Kurt had a great season last year and that had more to do with his play then the play of Josh Norman. Was Josh Norman responsible for Kurt Coleman 7 interception when he was jumping routs and using his instincts to do so. Kurt also played good in run support can't take that away from him. Kurt is playing out of position for most of this year that's why he's not playing good . When your DB LB and D-Line  is out of sync that's on the coaching and that's why our defense is not playing well. Poor communication skills on all three levels of the defense and players not being in the position to succeed is also a big reason why our defense sucks.           

[juliosantos]

it was an unknown , same way we had confidence in 2014 as well . we didn't know what our secoundary was capable of .i didn't want to be negative but i was concerned when whorley bradberry and sanchez were getting destroyed by kelvin and funchess all camp.  also after the tarje sharpe preseason game 

[Craig Pruitt]

11 hours ago, KillaCamNewton said:

As much as I hate to say this, because TD is my favorite player and Luke is a first ballot HOFer and KK and Star are studs, but our talent on defense is at the least impactful positions on the field. Thats not a slight to them at all, but reality is none of those guys are capable of ruining an entire offensive gameplan like a shutdown corner or a dominant pass rusher is. Luke and TD are probably the best in the league at their position, but they almost become obsolete when theres no pass rush and guys can just pick us apart downfield due to a lousy secondary. Its like having 2 dominant post players in basketball but not having a point guard thats capable of bringing the ball down the court. And the lack of talent at DE is taking our tackles out of the game because they can get double teamed every play without the offense worrying about leaving a lineman on an island against one of our ends. Every elite defense right now either has elite talent in the secondary or a dominant edge rusher, we have neither

A couple of years ago I was talking to a friend and we agreed that LB is arguably the least important position in todays NFL for the very reason you just cited (unless you're running a 3-4 and using them for edge rushers).

DE's (and in some cases DT's) are needed to pressure the QB's. You need strong corners to cover the WR's. And, it's nice to have at least one ball hawk at the safety spot.

Luke and Thomas are great. But they can have double digit tackles every game and the team can still give up 35 points per game.

Davis will be retiring in the not too distant future. I would never get rid of Luke. But, in the future I'd make sure most of my money was spent on the secondary and D-Line. No way I'd draft a LB this year...no matter how good he is. We have a #1 draft pick at LB (S.Thompson) who hardly plays on 3rd down (the passing down mind you). Even if he did play he wouldn't impact the game like a DB or D-Lineman.

[Krovvy]

9 hours ago, Promethean Forerunner said:

Did you not watch the Redskin-Eagles game today? He's lucky that the Eagles' receivers are terrible (can't catch) and that one big play was negated because of a penalty. Norman would have given up 100+ yards and a TD.

- Coleman, a product of Norman? That's rich. You Norman nuthuggers keep amazing me. No, numbskulls, he was a product of our front seven.

Man, the Huddle has really lost its mind. The stupidity around here is running rampant. No wonder the quality posters are posting in the All Pro section.

Keep telling yourself that.