Why The Panthers Offense Was Abysmal Week 2 - The Impact Of Losing Ryan Kalil

[Saca312]

Vincent's already made himself one of my favorite analysts from the roaring riot report. In this breakdown, he goes over Cam's rust issues, the offensive line and the lack of communication that existed, and Shula's playcalling, leading to a lot of things going wrong.

https://theriotreport.com/seeing-red-what-is-causing-the-panthers-scoring-struggles/

Once again, read the whole article. It's got a lot of stuff. The one thing I want to highlight is just exactly what went wrong with our o-line: losing Kalil

Blocks in the Road
The offensive line play last season was, to be frank, absolutely abysmal. While injuries certainly didn’t help, if the Panthers cannot show a marked improvement this season then they will have significant difficulty in avoiding long third downs and probably worse.

There are times in the red zone when teams simply have to be able to punch the ball in. Some of what goes on in the above play is due to poor technique or lack of power; Greg Olsen shouldn’t be blocking defensive linesman on goal-line runs; but a lot of it has to do with communication.
This play looks as though Stewart should punch the ball in by running behind Ryan Kalil and Williams over the left guard. Matt Kalil and Norwell do a decent job of clearing out the left side, and Funchess does a good job of sealing off the edge rusher. However, Turner fails to hold his block and Stewart is forced to bounce the ball outside.

While Turner’s missed block is an issue of technique; he sets himself too high and is driven up; but the more significant issue it the apparent lack of coordination. Williams doesn’t seem to know who it is he should be blocking and as a result doesn’t end up effectively blocking anybody. If Turner makes his block, then a seam could have been created by Williams pulling behind him and helping Ryan Kalil to clear a seam.

These apparent communication issues were certainly not aided by Ryan Kalil’s injury before the Bills game. On the first play, Matt Kalil just completely fails to block the edge rusher allowing quick pressure on Cam and so prevents the easy completion to McCaffrey. While this might look like ineptitude on Kalil’s part, something that cannot completely be ruled out; it is far more likely to be a failure to communicate responsibilities, with Kalil thinking that McCaffrey was meant to be blocking the edge defender.

The communication issues manifested in the run game as well. On this play, Williams makes a nice block on the pull and while Kalil largely whiffs, that should have been largely inconsequential. What actually prevents this play from being a much longer run and possibly a touchdown was Larsen’s failure to push up to block the linebacker. He looks uncertain as to his responsibility and as a result ends up allowing the crucial tackle.

Communication issues like this should be fixable with reps, but the return of Ryan Kalil will hopefully go a long way in terms of assignments.

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Again, biggest thing comes from lack of solid communication. As everyone know, Ryan Kalil's the main guy to help steady the offensive line and ensure everyone knows their assignments. His leadership and directing is key to the success of the offensive line. With him back next week, this issue should be fixed rather well.

Once again, read that article. Highly recommend.

[Wolfcop]

Wow...that run play would have easily been a TD if Ryan were playing.

[ColumbusCounty]

Is it just me or does anyone else notice that defenders try to put all the strength they can muster into trying to sling Cmac to the ground lol?  Almost every tackle since opening Sunday resembled a body slam. 

Willing to bet next year he's going to come in freakishly strong for his size.