Let's talk about our Defense

[Raleigh PF]

The Panthers D had serious issues trying to stop the run. To date, they haven't made any changes that would lead me to believe that has improved.

I still think Chinn is out of place at safety, so they aren't getting what they could from him and the linebacking corps is...meh.

[poundaway]

At the end of the season our D was:
2nd best in yards allowed
3rd best in yards allowed  per play
4th best in first downs allowed
4th best in passes allowed
4th best in passing yards allowed
2nd best in passing first downs allowed
This one surprised me:   8th best in RUSHING yards allowed per attempt

We lost Reddick.   YGM's stats extrapolated looks similar to Burns, so I don't know how big a drop off we're going to see here. 

As for the big left side runs  that hurt us, Burns needs to up his run D, and Page is gone.  Damien Wilson, who started 16 games when the Chiefs won the superbowl appears to be slotted there.  He is a step up, definitely, from Page.  Wilson has some legal issues at the moment.  Brandon Smith is a raw rookie with elite speed may see the field more than originally planned. 


Meanwhile our offense was:
32nd in yards per play
31st in turnovers
29th in points
29th in 3rd down conversions
Helping our O should help the D.  We have a new experienced and previously successful OC, 3 new linemen, a new bruising RB,  and new rookie QB with the quickest release in the class and rated #1 in the class by our OC and some other draftniks.

 

[poundaway]

I forgot about Cory Littleton who went to the probowl in 2018.  He'd be better than Page as well.

[Michael G]

13 hours ago, pantherj said:

Another complaint is that Chinn fills the wrong gaps and takes false steps. That has to stop this season.

I never saw this. Chinn at FS saw a lot of tackles because our Ends did not always contain and JC missed a lot of tackles or was out of position. The D itself is kind of flawed if he's playing Gaps. Maybe my understanding of his role is incomplete (I wasn't in any of the Safety meetings).

IMO Our variety of fronts and LB and Safety responsibilities seemed to be a little detrimental at times (helpful at others). On even front plays JC just wasn't consistent and when we were in Nickel (with an even front) Reddick was often a Blitzing LB while Shaq and the Nickel (Hartsfield, Burris, Bouye) was responsible for a lot of coverage or gap control duties that varied from play to play. A lot of teams shifted formation to put their slot WR (or more often a TE) on the Left (Burns side) which meant the LB was the Nickel. 

I'd run that way every time...and teams did. Out D needs to be able to adjust to fix these kind of issues and having the players to fill specific roles well will help us do that.

anyway I'm rambling. Rhodes at SS will hopefully help the secondary responsibilities when it comes to gaps and so might Wilson (if he plays). We will see.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Michael G

[Icege]

While I'm excited about the offense this upcoming season, the better word for how I feel about the defense is interested.

I'm very interested to see if YGM has developed into a starting DE for the defense as well as just how much of a drop-off we're going to have from the SLB position with Reddick being replaced by Luvu + Smith. Horn coming back makes the loss of Gilmore insignificant, and Ioannidis is also an upgrade over Jones. Wilson/Littleton are definite upgrades over Carter as well. Plus we'll have Woods + Chinn at the safety positions (and Jeremy in his natural SS position).

Edited May 7, 2022 by Icege

[Shotgun]

1 hour ago, poundaway said:

At the end of the season our D was:
2nd best in yards allowed
3rd best in yards allowed  per play
4th best in first downs allowed
4th best in passes allowed
4th best in passing yards allowed
2nd best in passing first downs allowed
This one surprised me:   8th best in RUSHING yards allowed per attempt

We lost Reddick.   YGM's stats extrapolated looks similar to Burns, so I don't know how big a drop off we're going to see here. 

As for the big left side runs  that hurt us, Burns needs to up his run D, and Page is gone.  Damien Wilson, who started 16 games when the Chiefs won the superbowl appears to be slotted there.  He is a step up, definitely, from Page.  Wilson has some legal issues at the moment.  Brandon Smith is a raw rookie with elite speed may see the field more than originally planned. 


Meanwhile our offense was:
32nd in yards per play
31st in turnovers
29th in points
29th in 3rd down conversions
Helping our O should help the D.  We have a new experienced and previously successful OC, 3 new linemen, a new bruising RB,  and new rookie QB with the quickest release in the class and rated #1 in the class by our OC and some other draftniks.

 

Where did our D rank in points allowed(the only stat that really matters)?

[Michael G]

12 minutes ago, Icege said:

(and Jeremy in his natural SS position).

I'm not sure about Chinn at FS. Snow said in an earlier Press Conference that Wilks sees him as a FS. It may be Chinn at FS and Xavier at SS.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Michael G

[pantherj]

13 minutes ago, Michael G said:

I never saw this. Chinn at FS saw a lot of tackles because our Ends did not always contain and JC missed a lot of tackles or was out of position. The D itself is kind of flawed if he's playing Gaps. Maybe my understanding of his role is incomplete (I wasn't in any of the Safety meetings).

IMO Our variety of fronts and LB and Safety responsibilities seemed to be a little detrimental at times (helpful at others). On even front plays JC just wasn't consistent and when we were in Nickel (with an even front) Reddick was often a Blitzing LB while Shaq and the Nickel (Hartsfield, Burris, Bouye) was responsible for a lot of coverage or gap control duties that varied from play to play. A lot of teams shifted formation to put their slot WR (or more often a TE) on the Left (Burns side) which meant the LB was the Nickel. 

I'd run that way every time...and teams did. Out D needs to be able to adjust to fix these kind of issues and having the players to fill specific roles well will help us do that.

anyway I'm rambling. Rhodes at SS will hopefully help the secondary responsibilities when it comes to gaps and so might Wilson (if he plays). We will see.

https://www.panthers.com/video/jeremy-chinn-says-panthers-will-work-hard-to-fix-mistakes

In this video Chinn talks about being out of gaps and communication being an issue as well. Shaq looked really pissed at Chinn a few times when he did not fill his gap and floated backwards, or hardly moved when he needed to be coming downhill into his gap.

[poundaway]

8 hours ago, Shotgun said:

Where did our D rank in points allowed(the only stat that really matters)?

The only stat that matter is games won.

[FuFuLamePoo]

If Burns goes down we may have the worst pass rush in the league, questions at LB, questions at S, questions at CB2. They look fine but nowhere near the league's best imho

[Shotgun]

1 hour ago, poundaway said:

The only stat that matter is games won.

That's how you rank a D? Got it.

[poundaway]

15 minutes ago, Shotgun said:

That's how you rank a D? Got it.

Dude a D can give up some points, but a lot of things can happen to compensate for that.  if they generate turnovers at the right time and place, or stop drives at the right time and place, and still allow the team to win, it doesn't matter.

The Bengals were ranked 17th in points?  Did their D suck?  Their D is what carried them in the playoffs.

You said:

Quote

the only stat that really matters

 

Which is false, on its face.

W's are the only stat that MATTERS.

Edited May 8, 2022 by poundaway

[Shotgun]

4 minutes ago, poundaway said:

 

W's are the only stat that MATTERS.

Our D sucked in that stat too. lol

[poundaway]

3 minutes ago, Shotgun said:

Our D sucked in that stat too. lol

Did you have to go look that up?