Are the Panthers coaching as a unit?

[Growl]

The off used cliché "play as team" is largely babble, but there is some merit to the idea of coordinators playing in a way that compliments each other. I'm not sure the team is being coached as a cohesive unit.

For the few remaining Shula apologists, the 2015 season is the sole fallback line for mounting some sort of defense. But what is often forgotten is how enormously successful the Panthers were at forcing turnovers.

Let's set aside how many TDs the Panthers D alone had, and look at the relevant statistic:

http://www.espn.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/givetake/year/2015

That is absolutely dominating.

The Panthers put up oodles of points in 2015 in large part courtesy of a defense that spotted them the ball with terrific field position.

I don't have to tell you that the Panthers inability to intercept the ball is perhaps the most frustrating part of watching the team this year, arguably even more so than watching Mike Shula run McCaffrey off center into a wall of defenders for no yards on critical late game downs.

The Panthers haven't intercepted a football since the Kooch picked Bryan Hoyer off in the 3rd quarter of Week 1. 

The thing is though, it isn't really the fault of the players on the field. Steve Wilks has been quite loud and proud about how often his defense is going to rush the QB, but the expected result has been fewer INTs.

One has to wonder if the Panthers even need to blitz as frequently as they do. Their interior line is strong and whole the dept at End is wanting, they have two formidable pass rushers in Addison and Peppers.

That's not all though-the DB has been fairly capable, if not formidable. Bradberry is having a strong year, Kurt Coleman has had a nose for the football, and Captain Munnerlyn is one of the league's better nickels if they'd actually let him do his job instead of trying to be cutesy and "modern" with Shaq Thompson lining up in their Buffalo Nickel.

Even Max Henson has noticed this possibility:

https://mobile.twitter.com/PanthersMax/status/923313997151178753

One has to wonder if its even necessary to blitz as much as we do, and it brings me back to my initial point:

Are the two units operating in a way that will compliment each other? Or are Shula and Wilks retreating to their respective room and simply asking themselves how dominant their designated unit can be, with mixed results.

I guess the inherent question here is: do the Panthers need to drop the bravado about how aggressive they are on defense and trust the players to make plays?

 

[Smithers]

I haven’t seen anything to indicate that anyone other than Wilks is doing any coaching at all.  

[Growl]

3 minutes ago, Smithers said:

I haven’t seen anything to indicate that anyone other than Wilks is doing any coaching at all.  

Just because a PG is scoring lots of points doesn't mean he's maximizing his effort to contribute to the team's W column.

[Smithers]

3 minutes ago, Growl said:

Just because a PG is scoring lots of points it doesn't mean he's maximizing his contribution to the team's W column.

This team has multiple issues.  I’m not about to cast blame on Wilks, who has fielded a top 3 defense without Coleman, who is a huge upgrade over Jones.  

Turnovers tend to come in spurts...we will get ours.  I’m more concerned about the offense.  If you build a lead on offense and force teams into  throwing the ball to come back, the defense can pin its ears back and force the QB into making mistakes.  Unfortunately our offense has not forced teams to play catch up.  

[Growl]

9 minutes ago, Smithers said:

This team has multiple issues.  I’m not about to cast blame on Wilks, who has fielded a top 3 defense without Coleman, who is a huge upgrade over Jones.  

Turnovers tend to come in spurts...we will get ours.  I’m more concerned about the offense.  If you build a lead on offense and force teams into  throwing the ball to come back, the defense can pin its ears back and force the QB into making mistakes.  Unfortunately our offense has not forced teams to play catch up.  

This is a generic response. Nobody is "blaming" the defense. On the contrary, I'm saying its time to start trusting the defense. Trust the players on the field.

At its basest form, that's what the blitz often is-an admission that the players on the field just aren't good enough.

I'm not even going to dignify the "spurts" cliche. Its a John Foxesque line that reeks of "it is what is it is." Instead of waiting for something to happen, do your part to make it happen.  More than one person mentioned how the Panthers sideline was full of people standing around, looking at each other, waiting for somebody to make a play last week. Were halfway through the season now, "it'll come in waves!" Isn't a valid response anymore.

The final point isn't even accurate. The Panthers forced NE, Det, and Phi to put the ball in the air a lot and held leads over the former two. They came away with a grand total of 0 INTs.

Its a team game and at the end of the day all the letters go into one of two columns. Adhering to cheap blame cliches instead of holding everyone accountable is what separate Wild Card teams from Super Bowl champions.

[Smithers]

18 minutes ago, Growl said:

This is a generic response. Nobody is "blaming" the defense. On the contrary, I'm saying its time to start trusting the defense. Trust the players on the field.

At its basest form, that's what the blitz often is-an admission that the players on the field just aren't good enough.

I'm not even going to dignify the "spurts" cliche. Its a John Foxesque line that reeks of "it is what is it is." Instead of waiting for something to happen, do your part to make it happen.  More than one person mentioned how the Panthers sideline was full of people standing around, looking at each other, waiting for somebody to make a play last week. Were halfway through the season now, "it'll come in waves!" Isn't a valid response anymore.

The final point isn't even accurate. The Panthers forced NE, Det, and Phi to put the ball in the air a lot and held leads over the former two. They came away with a grand total of 0 INTs.

Its a team game and at the end of the day all the letters go into one of two columns. Adhering to cheap blame cliches instead of holding everyone accountable is what separate Wild Card teams from Super Bowl champions.

You proved my point...it’s a coaching issue.  No damn reason anyone should be standing there going through the motions and lacking energy or drive.  That’s not been an issue with the defense that I have seen.  But the offense has looked so anemic it’s ridiculous.

and yes...players need to do their job and not count on others to do it for them.  But it can be hard to intercept a 4 yard pass from Brady, Brees, Stanford, etc. Teams aren’t taking big chances against us.  Because they haven’t had to.  

[*FreeFua*]

Shula couldn’t even name our defensive coordinator 

[Growl]

12 minutes ago, Smithers said:

You proved my point...it’s a coaching issue.  No damn reason anyone should be standing there going through the motions and lacking energy or drive.  That’s not been an issue with the defense that I have seen.  But the offense has looked so anemic it’s ridiculous.

and yes...players need to do their job and not count on others to do it for them.  But it can be hard to intercept a 4 yard pass from Brady, Brees, Stanford, etc. Teams aren’t taking big chances against us.  Because they haven’t had to.  

Are you unaware as to what prompts teams to routinely check the ball down

[Darvinsun]

1 hour ago, Growl said:

This is a generic response. Nobody is "blaming" the defense. On the contrary, I'm saying its time to start trusting the defense. Trust the players on the field.

At its basest form, that's what the blitz often is-an admission that the players on the field just aren't good enough.

I'm not even going to dignify the "spurts" cliche. Its a John Foxesque line that reeks of "it is what is it is." Instead of waiting for something to happen, do your part to make it happen.  More than one person mentioned how the Panthers sideline was full of people standing around, looking at each other, waiting for somebody to make a play last week. Were halfway through the season now, "it'll come in waves!" Isn't a valid response anymore.

The final point isn't even accurate. The Panthers forced NE, Det, and Phi to put the ball in the air a lot and held leads over the former two. They came away with a grand total of 0 INTs.

Its a team game and at the end of the day all the letters go into one of two columns. Adhering to cheap blame cliches instead of holding everyone accountable is what separate Wild Card teams from Super Bowl champions.

I feel that the defense is ok. Its a top 10 defense. Our offense isn’t even top 25. We need to somewhat have a balance. Our special teams needs to improve we hardly ever make it to the 25 when ball is kicked off not to mention punt returns. 2015 was more of Cam playing perfect and defense getting rurnovers and scoring...Thats over achieving. In order for us to be good the players have to over achieve in order to cover all the bad decision makings of the coaching staff, the bad play calling of shula running the ball 3 times up the middle giving the opponents enough time to surmount a come back, we go in prevent defense turning away from what has been stopping the opposition to score...They score take the lead. Cam has to again work magic. This yr and last yr teams have figured out how to contain Cam with the help from shula. They dont want him to run so the threat has weakened. No Olsen so no one really to oppose as a threat as receivers....just cover the run and its over. KB AND FUN dont scare anyone they are too inconsistent..until a wr imposes their will this offense will never get any respect... Shula and Ron will not deviate from their plan and teams know this 5 yrs of tape.

Point simple over achievement by both sides of the ball equals 2015.

Good defense and below average offense gets us what we have now....no improvemnent from coaches to combat injuries, lack of energy by players, blown blocks on line for offense. Defense good but no turnovers, injuries. If offense gets back to just average we make play offs if Offense gets good, defense stays good coaches just become average we could win SB.