Final Defensive Rankings for the 2021 Carolina Panthers

[trueblade]

Points allowed: 21st

Rushing yards allowed: 18th

Passing yards allowed: 4th

Total yards allowed: 2nd

Football Outsiders DVOA : 15th

 

My take: The Panthers were an average NFL defense (DVOA). After a promising early start feasting on rookie QBs, opposing teams got big leads (21st in points allowed) and didn't need to throw the ball (4th against pass). They ran the ball to burn clock (18th against the run). The lack of explosive passing plays and short fields from the struggles of the Panther's offense led to the 2nd overall ranking in total yards allowed.

[Jackie Lee]

Yup. How many yards did the D save by having Sam turn the ball over? And our special teams often getting ran over for an extra 10-15 yards? Lots of drives started closer to midfield than the opposing teams endzone

[KSpan]

The offensive ineptitude and turnovers definitely skewed the yards allowed stats. The defense faded hard once Dallas exposed the weakness in the running game and Carolina couldn't stop anyone as the season went along, allowing 27 or more points 7 times in the last 8 games (only the Taysom Hill-led Saints scored fewer...), more than 30 points in 6 of those 7 and more than 40 in the final game.

Edited January 18, 2022 by KSpan

[kass]

2nd in yards, is that because the opponents started so close to the end zone?

[BrianS]

There are so many things to say here.  Did we give up fewer yards because we kept turning the ball over?  Absolutely.  Likewise, we gave up more points because our opponents started closer to our goal line.  It's not all that hard to score when you get the ball and only need a couple first downs to be in FG range.

Our defense was dead last in opponent starting field position.  No other team's defense started, on average, in worse position.

Our defense has flaws, I will readily grant this.  However, we are not NEARLY as far away from being a true top 10 defense as some metrics (and fans, and pundits) would like us to believe.  Give the Panthers an offense that isn't historically bad - even just an average NFL offense - and you'll probably see quickly that we have a defense which can be pretty darn good.

[PNW_PantherMan]

Intentional or not, the defense is constructed to play with a lead.  We have a good pass rush and cover corners.  Unfortunately, we do not have an offense capable of producing a lead.

The defense's weakness is stopping the run.  That's a bad weakness to have when you have a bad offense, but it's also not great for a championship defense.  Stopping the run is usually important in the playoffs.

[WOW!!]

I would love to see the avg. After half time numbers...

[Shotgun]

Our opponents knew they only needed 14-17 points to beat us so they were pretty conservative. Whenever teams really needed  to score against us they did.   

Edited January 18, 2022 by Shotgun

[Waldo]

So anyone can run on us and they don't need much yardage on offense to still win. Cool.

Anyone calling this the #2 D has severely lost context or just didn't put any effort into that analysis. 

[PandaMan]

44 minutes ago, kass said:

2nd in yards, is that because the opponents started so close to the end zone?

Yep.  I believe we were first in terms of bad field position for the defense due to our offensive ineptitude.  We were so good in defensive yardage because there simply weren’t many yards left to get into the end zone.  I think we were first in defensive yardage before Tampa tore us up 

Edited January 18, 2022 by PandaMan

[Basbear]

During the mid-season, I had it out with 5+ huddlers when I said this defensive was NOT top 5 or 2. Where are you stooges at now?? You you still willing to say this is a top 5 group. "Your eyes/gut is wrong Bas". I always callout my rare mistakes, never see it the other way...

Edited January 18, 2022 by Basbear

[Jackie Lee]

20 minutes ago, Waldo said:

So anyone can run on us and they don't need much yardage on offense to still win. Cool.

Anyone calling this the #2 D has severely lost context or just didn't put any effort into that analysis. 

That would be Matt Rhule, who mentioned having the #2 defense in his last presser as a bright spot of the season. I'm surprised no one brought up the turnovers/field position. We were super average in sacks and only had 9 interceptions, 2 of which were Gilmore who didn't require any coaching

[TheSpecialJuan]

I love this 

[Waldo]

13 minutes ago, Jackie Lee said:

That would be Matt Rhule, who mentioned having the #2 defense in his last presser as a bright spot of the season. I'm surprised no one brought up the turnovers/field position. We were super average in sacks and only had 9 interceptions, 2 of which were Gilmore who didn't require any coaching

The longer you look, the worse it gets.