[Brett Kollman] 4 Teams That Are Better Than You Think

[Icege]

 

Brett getting his content on the official NFL YouTube channel now, good for him! The first team he covers is Carolina.

Summary

• The defense was the biggest problem by far last season.
  • 31st in EPA against the pass and the run
  • 32nd in DL pass-rush win rate and 32nd in DL pressure rate so they never won early nor late in the rep
• Major theme for being so bad was that they missed a lot of tackle
  • Most missed tackles in the league at 40
  • Lot of missed tackles from guys rotating and taking bad angles
  • Had a lot of missed TFLs that Evero drew up only for players to whiff
• Blitzed a lot because they did not have the talent to get their with four due to the loss of Derrick Brown
  • Evero blitzed more than he likes to, blitzing at 47.2% on third down (2nd highest in the NFL)
• Entire goal of the offseason was to give Derrick Brown some help and make it so that somebody else on the DL can make plays for this team.
• Played more light boxes than all but three other teams in the league because they'd start in two-high shells and rotate into single-high post snap
  • Most snaps in the league running cover 3 from a two-high shell
  • Also aided in disguising 3-3 fire zone blitzes
• Team didn't have the talent to do much about the run. Would have to commit pre-snap, but Evero opted to try and keep opponent's guessing... just didn't have the dudes.
• Thinks people don't realize how good Bryce Young was last season
  • One of the calmest QBs under pressure last season, huge turn around from his rookie season
    • 11th-highest rated QB under pressure at 84.1 ahead of Allen and Daniels
    • 4th in BTT under pressure, only behind Darnold, Allen, and Burrow
  • Pocket positioning and movement was night and day, back to "Bama Bryce"
  • All of the things he did well seemed to come back
  • Attacked the middle of the field
• The team punched above their weight last year with Bryce looking so much better, almost ripping off wins vs. top tier teams.
• Thinks TMac is a misunderstood receiver that is commonly classified in the Mike Evans mold ("Go outside and win jump balls!") but his super power is reading coverages post-snap, finding space against those zone coverages, and YAC
• Was deadly over the middle his last year in college because he was so good at finding spots to settle in
  • Feels that Bryce finds and attacks space over the middle than a lot of QBs despite his size
• Talked to a buddy of his that's a coach who was in Carolina watching the defense practice and said that they were night and day and that they're going to be way better this year. Offense should be better. QB should be better. Everything should be better.
• Will they make the playoffs? idk, but they should be fun and at this point Panthers' fans would at least like some fun

[ForJimmy]

I'd like us to make a move at LB with Jewell being out to help lower the amount of missed tackles.  Outside of that the defense is looking much better on paper.  Should be an interesting year to see how everything actually works out.  

[Captain Morgan]

more and more people are noticing.   We're going to be better this year.

[Lame Duck]

13 minutes ago, Captain Morgan said:

more and more people are noticing.   We're going to be better this year.

[Panthera onca]

I just don't know about Evero. He has a lot to prove as well.

[TD alt]

4 minutes ago, Panthera onca said:

I just don't know about Evero. He has a lot to prove as well.

Now that he has some dudes, he has less and less excuses. Other than Bryce, I'd say that he has the most to prove. I'm not expecting a top 10 defense or anything, but I am expecting marked improvement from the past couple of seasons. Hopefully the new acquisitions will play up to at least second string level. Last season we had some starters, particularly on the D-line, whom I expect won't even make it onto the roster this season. Evero was basically put in a bad position last season, and that's the only reason I'm giving him more latitude than I'm giving Bryce. In my estimation, it's time for Bryce to succeed and Evero's defense to improve. 

On an off note, I would put Xavier Legette third on that list, as he has to stop leaving balls on the field.

 

[The Lobo]

Evero got too much hate last year, hat defense was putrid without brown and there was nothing he could do about it. Get some LB help and they will be greatly improved. 

[Riverboat Ron]

Brett Kollman = Kiss of death

[LinvilleGorge]

The defense was the biggest issue only because they were literally historically bad. It's not like the offense was lighting it up. We were 29th on yardage and 23rd in scoring. We sucked on that side of the ball too.

[Tbe]

We might be better up front (and that’s a big maybe), but the rest of the defense is basically the same.

[Waldo]

18 hours ago, LinvilleGorge said:

The defense was the biggest issue only because they were literally historically bad. It's not like the offense was lighting it up. We were 29th on yardage and 23rd in scoring. We sucked on that side of the ball too.

And being better isn't close to being good either...

[LinvilleGorge]

3 minutes ago, Waldo said:

And being better isn't close to being good either...

Yeah, basically if we don't end up with yet another top 10 draft pick then we were better than expected.

[mrcompletely11]

Just now, LinvilleGorge said:

Yeah, basically if we don't end up with yet another top 10 draft pick then we were better than expected.

getting another top 10 pick in 26 would ratchet the heat up for Morgan, DC and Bryce (assuming they keep him) to Chernobyl levels

[jb2288]

5 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

getting another top 10 pick in 26 would ratchet the heat up for Morgan, DC and Bryce (assuming they keep him) to Chernobyl levels

Yeah that would probably be 5-12 territory. I think we need to win 7 minimum to feel good about next year. If we do that and Bryce looks good all year, we can focus on defense and be a serious threat in 26