Panthers run game was first in yards before contact per attempt

[top dawg]

Well what do you make of this?  

http://pantherswire.usatoday.com/2018/02/09/panthers-led-nfl-in-yards-before-contact-per-attempt/

"According to Jeff Ratcliffe at Pro Football Focus, the Panthers led the league last season in yards before contact per attempt, averaging 1.91."

 

What are the takeaways? Tim Weaver at USA Today gives some credit to Stew and CMC,  but I'm thinking that something is amiss.  

Wouldn't it be nice to know more?  Well,  here you go via PFF. 

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/fantasy-football-2017-best-offensive-lines-in-yards-before-contact

 

"An easy way to quantify the amount of space an offensive line creates in the run game is with yards before contact. Likewise, yards after contact gives us an indication of a running back’s performance independent of his blocking."

 

And here is my issue with those thinking that CMC is magically going to be the solution as a bell-cow back. 

 

"The Panthers paced the league this year with 1.91 yards before contact per attempt. This likely comes as a surprise, considering the fact that Christian McCaffrey and Jonathan Stewartboth averaged under 4.0 yards per carry. Of course, neither player was effective after contact. Stewart averaged 2.23 yards after contact per attempt, which ranked 45th out of 53 qualifiers with at least 25 percent of team carries. McCaffrey was even worse, finishing 50th with 2.11 yards after contact per attempt."

 

So, I don't really know what to make of all this stuff,  except that (like Weaver said) Norwell is a beast.  I think that we really do need to look at a back seriously.  We just have so many holes that need filling that who knows what the hell we should do in the first?

Perhaps taking some of those eight-man fronts away by having another one or two legitimate receivers will help. 

[carpanfan96]

first half of the season it was dead last and negative actually in most games. OL kicked ass the last half though. 

[Pantha-kun]

That's yards before the first contact on a play I'm guessing .

It doesn't matter if you get 2 yards before being contacted if you are immediately met by 5 men after that 2 seconds is up 

Maybe other teams have shorter times before the first contact , but then they meet less people when contacted, or more people are being blocked effectively 

[lightsout]

Most runs, they were being tackled by 2+ defenders on first contact. That comes from running iso and not getting your OL second level quickly. This was largely due to Norwell having to hold on to his block a second longer because M. Kalil is terrible. And because we lost R. Kalil half the season. 

Bottom line: new system, better play calling, better production even with our current OL. I'm thinking we're improving it before camp though.

[ncfan]

1 minute ago, Pantha-kun said:

That's yards before the first contact on a play I'm guessing .

It doesn't matter if you get 2 yards before being contacted if you are immediately met by 5 men after that 2 seconds is up 

Maybe other teams have shorter times before the first contact , but then they meet less people when contacted, or more people are being blocked effectively 

This.

People bash Stew but ignore the facts he's led the league in rushing attempts into stacked boxes the last 2 seasons.

Again showing the important of addressing the need for WR, and explosive one at that.  As long as there is zero threat and defenses are over confident that their CBs can hold 1 on 1.  Teams will still continue to stack the box

[Manther]

I noticed on the left side the stat is much better.  Weren't Cam's two big runs (Miami and Minnesota) to the left side?

[2jakefansinva]

Did they watch the same games we watched ??

Somethings not right.......Really makes you rethink stats

Whats the old saying....."stats are for losers"

[LinvilleGorge]

23 minutes ago, stbugs said:

And Stewart’s best run of the season was 60 yards before contact.

I’m sorry but something is amiss with the Panthers being the best at the run last year. The early weeks were awful run wise. How many runs did we watch where the RBs were met behind the line?

We sure did see a lot of 2nd and 12s.

[KendrickPanther]

Couldn't this number move on Cams big runs? Stewie had like a 60 yard run off a bust and I don't remember if CMC was touched on his big run vs the jets. 

But I don't think that number is completely sound.

[panthers55]

The disconnect is the difference between averages which are generalizations and situational outcomes on any given play which are just the opposite.

[chbright]

Have a feeling, as others mentioned, this data is skewed by outliers. Rather see it presented more as a histogram. 

[KillerKat]

Cam Newton

[RetiredCollegeCoach]

13 hours ago, Pantha-kun said:

That's yards before the first contact on a play I'm guessing .

It doesn't matter if you get 2 yards before being contacted if you are immediately met by 5 men after that 2 seconds is up 

Maybe other teams have shorter times before the first contact , but then they meet less people when contacted, or more people are being blocked effectively 

This. It's truly a terrible stat. Any co-ordinator and any line can engineer plays where the point of contact is pushed. But when that push comes via a huge investment of bodyweight that simultaneously a.) makes clear the point of attack, and b.) fails to effectively handle the second level, all you're doing is turning your RB into a lineman who happens to have the ball. Stuff city. Every middle schooler knows this.

[GoobyPls]

Reason 18353 not to trust PFF

 

It’s true we don’t have good running backs, but our line was horrendous at run blocking.