Lack of Deep Threats

[NAS]

When are we going to see someone stretch the field and offer a legitimate deep threat for Cam Newton to throw to off of play-action?  Did anyone notice if DJ Moore was even running any vertical routes the past week?  

In 2016, Cam had the second longest Longest Completed Air Distance at LCAD , and first in Average Intended Air Yards at 11 IAY in the league. 

In 2017, those numbers fell to 24th in LCAD and  20th in IAY.

So far this year, they're 29th in LCAD and 24th in IAY.  

Needless to say, I'm supportive of Cam taking more shorter passes instead of gunning it downfield, but I'm a little concerned that we haven't seen more shots downfield.  The longest throw downfield has been 36.6 yards, compared to 52.4 in 2017 and 64 in 2016.  

 

Source:  https://nextgenstats.nfl.com/stats/passing/2018/all

[tiger7_88]

Ahhhhhh... the salad days of a few months ago when we all assured that Torrey Smith was going to be blowing by CBs and safeties 40 yards downfield.

Memorieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, like the corners of my mind!

[Bartin]

We throw one token deep pass per game to a hopeless Torrey Smith who’s blanketed in coverage because he has lost 4 steps then never bother again.

Same crap, different year. We used to do that with Kelvin and Funchess. Maybe we should try throwing it to an actual deep threat, but that might be too logical.

We really miss Ginn. Hope to hell Samuel, Byrd and Moore can change things.

[Mikey818]

3 minutes ago, NAS said:

When are we going to see someone stretch the field and offer a legitimate deep threat for Cam Newton to throw to off of play-action?  Did anyone notice if DJ Moore was even running any vertical routes the past week?  

In 2016, Cam had the second longest Longest Completed Air Distance at LCAD , and first in Average Intended Air Yards at 11 IAY in the league. 

In 2017, those numbers fell to 24th in LCAD and  20th in IAY.

So far this year, they're 29th in LCAD and 24th in IAY.  

Needless to say, I'm supportive of Cam taking more shorter passes instead of gunning it downfield, but I'm a little concerned that we haven't seen more shots downfield.  The longest throw downfield has been 36.6 yards, compared to 52.4 in 2017 and 64 in 2016.  

 

Source:  https://nextgenstats.nfl.com/stats/passing/2018/all

You need to send Byrd and Samuel deep when they return Smith isn’t doing it 

[panthers4ever88]

2 minutes ago, tiger7_88 said:

Ahhhhhh... the salad days of a few months ago when we all assured that Torrey Smith was going to be blowing by CBs and safeties 40 yards downfield.

Memorieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees, like the corners of my mind!

Smiths hands make Ginns look Calvin Johnsons in comparison.

[Car123]

Our deep threats are injured.

[RumHam]

Why we need Samuel back. Because for some reason they don't trust DJ Moore's route running. Granted, the first play of the game we went deep to Torrey but Torrey gonna Torrey and just fug it up.

[MechaZain]

Smith's got decent speed but he's not a burner. With Samuel and Byrd out defenses can just cancel him out by putting their fastest corner on him.

[Dunn]

I think as of right now we are the definition of a dink and dunk offense until we get Byrd and Samuel back.   

[JARROD]

Well Funchess and Wright are not burners, Torrey is by himself, not as fast or elusive as Ginn, and I believe his best route is actually a crossing route or post, but we don’t actually do that— he’s not an over the shoulder catcher, only 50/50 on those. Not sure why he’s not on crossing routes, seems or post type routes more.

I would really like to see Moore Byrd and Samuel our there together— I bet that would wake up a defense,...

[thefuzz]

I've been concerned with the deep ball for a while now.  A few things.

1:  Cam has had some shoulder issues.  You can still see the velocity on the short to medium routes, but it takes more than a big arm to be a good downfield passer.  We have not seen Cam make those consistent downfield throws in a bit now.

2:  We are still trying to gauge weather or not this O line is going to hold up, and not break Cam at just the wrong moment.  I think that we will push the ball a little more after the bye if Norv likes what he sees from the line, and Cam gets more comfortable.

3:  Our real deep threat is Samuel, and we all know he hasn't had the best injury history in his short time in the league.  We get him back, and sit Torrey more, and we should see a quick turnaround.

4:  We don't have Olsen to occupy the minds of the Safety's.  DJ hasn't learned how to get a clean release yet, and Funch isn't a true downfield guy.  Olsen comes back healthy, or we put more faith in Thomas, and the deep ball could come back quickly.

5:  What we are doing is working.  Yes, we lost the ATL game, but that was more on the defense, not the offense.  End of the day, we are 2-1 and at the (very unfortunate) bye.

 

I THINK the deep ball will get better as the season goes on.

[Icege]

23 minutes ago, Car123 said:

Our deep threats are injured.

/thread

[LinvilleGorge]

We need to get Moore more involved. Smith isn't a deep threat anymore. He's basically Cotchery with below average hands at this point.

[mc52beast]

When your deep threats aren’t able to play it’s probably not a good idea to throw deep