Panthers huge improvement in YAC - it's happening!!

[KB_fan]

Hey Panther fans.  Part of the vision for drafting Christian McCaffrey is already being clearly fulfilled.  Panthers have improved dramatically in Yards After the Catch stats!

[Feel free to visualize the annoying It's Happening GIF.... I'm not going to bother to post it!! ]

Look at where the Panthers rank in the league through week 5 this season:

http://stats.washingtonpost.com/fb/tmleaders.asp?range=NFL&rank=231&type=Receiving

 

Panthers rank Seventh!!!

I don't have an easy way to go back and look at other rankings at a similar point (through game 5) of recent seasons, but here are Panthers team YAC rankings each of the past 9 seasons:

2016:  Rank 27,  total YAC 1525

2015:  Rank 30, total YAC 1490

2014:  Rank 30, total YAC  1537

2013:  Rank 22, total YAC 1736

2012:  Rank 15, total YAC 1880

2011:  Rank 10, total YAC 2008

2010:  Rank 30, total YAC 1336

2009:  Rank 27, total YAC 1333

[Data from Sporting Charts, https://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-yards-after-catch-statistics/  which sadly is now defunct.  No stats have updated for 2017]

 

So in 2016, Panthers averaged 95 yards per game in YAC for the entire team.

So far in 2017, the Panthers are averaging almost 126 yards in YAC per game, an increase of 32%.

 

Christian McCaffrey ranks 8th in the league in YAC stats:

http://scores.nbcsports.com/fb/leaders.asp?year=&type=Receiving&range=NFL&rank=231

 

I can't imagine the Panthers have had a player in the top 10 in YAC stats by this point in the season since perhaps 2012 or 2011...

It brings a much-needed dimension to our offense.  And CMC will ONLY get better, I believe.

[CarolinaNCSU]

Thank you Ed Dickson 

[Cat]

10 minutes ago, CarolinaNCSU said:

Thank you Ed Dickson 

That was a big difference between him and Olsen. Dickson got some YAC. If defensive players lay a pinky on Olsen he's going down. 

[Dex]

Just now, Cat said:

That was a big difference between him and Olsen. Dickson got some YAC. If defensive players lay a pinky on Olsen he's going down. 

[PandaPancake]

2 minutes ago, Cat said:

That was a big difference between him and Olsen. Dickson got some YAC. If defensive players lay a pinky on Olsen he's going down. 

But an Olsen drop is like seeing an eclipse

[Cat]

7 minutes ago, PandaPancake said:

But an Olsen drop is like seeing an eclipse

Yep, don't take my Olsen comment as me saying he is bad that would be silly. Getting a lot of YAC just isn't part of his skill set. 

[AggieLean]

Looks like that number went to sh*t once Steve Smith left. 

[Khyber53]

7 minutes ago, AggieLean said:

Looks like that number went to sh*t once Steve Smith left. 

Tackling Smitty after the catch required three players, two assistant coaches and a tire iron on some days.

[KB_fan]

Interesting... I'm browsing around Next Gen stats charts.

I don't normally think of Kelvin Benjamin as a YAC guy... but check out his route chart from week 4 vs. New England.  Look at those nice long green lines....!

 

So, clearly, Panthers improvement in YAC is not all due to CMC.  Ed Dickson, KB, Funch & others are also contributing.

Drafting CMC showed a desire to improve YAC and that has an effect on all the receivers as coaches emphasize it.  But with his skills, having CMC on the roster improves YAC - gives us a leader in that area.

[therealmjl]

This is pretty good considering CMC hasn’t ripped off a big one yet. It’s coming though. Oh it’s coming.

[CarolinaNCSU]

More on my Dickson comment, but I kind of don't buy the YAC yet.  Improvement, obviously...but...

 

A lot of the YAC (and could be said for anyone), has been on busted plays by the defense (New England leaving KB WIDE open) or Dickson's one big day.  KB and Funch have ran through some people and are hard to take down, but we still haven't seen a pure WR or RB making people miss IMO.  If CMC or Samuel can step up and be that guy, beautiful. 

[rayzor]

what's kind of interesting to me is the number of RBs that are on that top 20 list. i mean it makes sense, but that's really become a big part of an RB's role.

in regards to why we're doing so much better, i have to think that the shorter and quicker passing game has played a role. we always wanted big plays, but the perception was big plays depended on long passes downfield that took forever to develop. that's just not the case.

[KB_fan]

4 minutes ago, CarolinaNCSU said:

More on my Dickson comment, but I kind of don't buy the YAC yet.  Improvement, obviously...but...

 

A lot of the YAC (and could be said for anyone), has been on busted plays by the defense (New England leaving KB WIDE open) or Dickson's one big day.  KB and Funch have ran through some people and are hard to take down, but we still haven't seen a pure WR or RB making people miss IMO.  If CMC or Samuel can step up and be that guy, beautiful. 

On a team level, I agree with you.  I don't think we normally can expect the kind of YAC from Ed Dickson or KB that we saw in week 5 or week 4.

But CMC is number 8 in the NFL in YAC.  That's been less a result of broken plays and more his great hands (high completion rate) and ability to get some tough yards after the catch..

[ecu88]

28 minutes ago, KB_fan said:

On a team level, I agree with you.  I don't think we normally can expect the kind of YAC from Ed Dickson or KB that we saw in week 5 or week 4.

But CMC is number 8 in the NFL in YAC.  That's been less a result of broken plays and more his great hands (high completion rate) and ability to get some tough yards after the catch..

Ppl using that are using Ed Dickson to counter argue fail to realize that is the goal right? Our offense evolved at the Pats game with a healthier Cam than the 1st 3 games that were about getting Cam comfortable, simple game plans to get the rust off and get multiple parts understand each other more (tendencies, etc.) since Cam did not practice in regular season nor played much at all during preseason.