GB vs Panthers second opinion: Turn overs. Field position.

[PantherFanForLife]

Ok now that we have all settled down, I'd like to talk about what I believe is this football's team biggest issues this past Sunday, and the keys that cost us the loss which need to be addressed for the Jaguars. This isn't about a particular play or a particular player. We're a team and we win or lose as a team. We need to look at the big picture overall and usually you find out the simple answer tends to be the correct one.

1. Our offense is our own worst enemy: Turn overs.

Yeah, I'm not afraid to say it because it's the truth. The best best weapon we have, the offense, was also our biggest problem. I have said it before, and I will say it again. Any time an NFL team turns the ball over 4 times, be it the Panthers or the Patriots, you're going to likely put yourself out of a position to win the football game. Those 4 turn overs gave Green Bay 12 easy points. That's a lot of points and it hurts, considering we only lost the game by 7 and we really had to work for ours. (We even had to score 2 TD's to just count 1 on the board!)

While some feel the D is the weak link, I personally give them credit for limiting Green Bay and Aaron Rodgers to only 3 points off of each turn over. They can do even better and stop them completely, but they really shouldn't have to do this 4 times a game to begin with. It was our offense that put themselves and our defense in a bad position on Sunday, and I feel the D still came away victorious here.

So that was one issue. The other, which also falls on the offense, is failing to capitalize on 4 red zone trips, and coming away with only 12 points, instead of 4 very likely touchdowns.

I hope it doesn't turn into a trend, but we can't keep putting ourselves in 4th and goal situations > 5 yards. Whether that means we limit penalties, mis-reads, or botched plays, get some run plays in there, it doesn't matter. It's always going to be tough to get close to the 75% mark when your team is in a 4th and goal with 10 or more yards to go.

Just for fun, if our offense doesn't turn the ball over, the score could have been: 23-18 in favor of the Panthers. If our O also capitalizes and doesn't turn the ball over the score could have looked like 42-18. Even if we turned the ball over the same amount of times GB did, 1, we still win the game 23-21! On the other hand, if GB makes the same mistakes we did and gives us 3 additional turn overs while we limit ours,...we would have obliterated them. This is why I like this team, this year! They have that kind of potential, with sloppiness being the only thing standing in their way.

2. Field position.

Give credit to our special teams for improving over the Arizona game and getting us a turn over. That was a great job. I'd like to see some from our D, but it's always a huge plus when we can get one from the ST!

Having said that, just about every time our offense got on the field, we were around or 20 yard line or worse. No wonder our O puts up 500 yards of offense. Makes for great stats, but I'd rather get those same type of yards with our team starting their drives at least around the 35 yard mark. It takes its toll on our players when we have to travel the whole field for a TD, while at the same time give great position to our opponent so it's a drop in the bucket for them. It also hurts the OC, because he has to run more plays, and open up the playbook, earlier in the game, giving away too much of our playbook too quickly(and right now it's not very complex I hear). This gives our opponent's D time to adjust at half time or before the 4th quarter.

I don't know how much of a hit our defense is going to take due to Thomas Davis being injured but I think in order for us to have a good chance, instead of just a chance, to win some games is if we fix those two problems: Limit turn overs and increase field position. Isn't it funny, when looking at the big picture, how it always seems to come down to this most of the time?

Going forward.

If I had to rank the different sides of our team, as far as who needs to improve the most before this Sunday:

1. Offense

2. Special Teams

3. Coaching

4. Defense

Our biggest area of improvement is still the offense and our game plan should actually be quite simple for the Jacksonville Jaguars: Limit turn overs. Get better field position.

If we just do those 2 things, everything else remaining the same, and that includes allowing room for rookie mistakes on offense, botched run game, even failure to capitalize, as well as blown coverages on defense, I think we can easily win this game against the Jaguars just as we could have easily won against GB.

Our biggest problem to overcome this year is not ability, talent, or even experience. It really only comes down to two things: discipline and execution, which is why I put the coaching ahead of the defense. It's their job to get this team as a whole, as disciplined as possible, making as few mistakes as possible week in and week out. Is it a tough job? Sure. They're working with limited time, young players and a rookie QB. But this is why they get paid the big bucks. Here's wishing them best of luck before Sunday!

As for the rest of the issues, run game, DT's, Naanee, etc....the ones everyone talk about as if it will make a world of difference, those are things that can be worked on as the season progresses which makes me very excited about this team. This team's ceiling is freaking HIGH! And we can win along the way as we're trying to reach our potential. But we can win, now, despite all of the other issues, if we just concentrate on improving in those 2 areas this Sunday.

[CPcavedweller]

I agree with most everything. Sure I am a huge AE fan and this will probably come off as homerism to some people. I haven't seen very many punts the Panthers haven't sent the house on. They need to call for some returns and utilize Armanti's ability to juke people and find the tiny gaps to improve field position. This will create a shorter field and less chances for the offense to make mistakes and turn the ball over.

[PantherFanForLife]

Personally I'm not entirely sold on AE as an excellent punt returner just yet. Whatever they need to do, they just need to figure out a way to get us better field position. And if we can't, at least teach our guys to take the knee in the endzone instead of running it to the 10-15.

[Marguide]

tl/dr

[fjblair]

Eliminate turnovers and field position will be improved right away.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

your basing your view on a bunch of would'ves, could'ves, and should'ves.

the facts are, the offense is going to make mistakes and leave points off the board (new qb, new system, new everything)...and the defense, special teams, and run game (i know it's a part off the offense, but it doesn't exist right now) aren't capable of taking up the slack.

[PantherFanForLife]

your basing your view on a bunch of would'ves, could'ves, and should'ves.

the facts are, the offense is going to make mistakes and leave points off the board (new qb, new system, new everything)...and the defense, special teams, and run game (i know it's a part off the offense, but it doesn't exist right now) aren't capable of taking up the slack.

4 turnovers and poor field position is not could haves and would haves. That's what happened. And that's exactly what I said. They can make mistakes and still come out on top if they eliminated turn overs and get better field position.

The defense did pick up the slack. We talked about this in the other thread, but you seem to be under the impression that it's acceptable for our offense to make 4 turn overs, and it's up to the defense to step up and cover for them.

It's NEVER ok for an offense to make 4 turn overs to begin with. It's not acceptable. Your logic is twisted there because you are finding a way to blame defense for offensive turnovers.

[jtnc]

Goodson also needs to learn when and when not to take it out for a return.

[PantherFanForLife]

Eliminate turnovers and field position will be improved right away.

The field position I was talking about was on punt and kick off returns. The turnovers goes without saying and that's always going to be an issue, but that's not on the special teams.

Special teams is responsible for getting us good field position on punts and kick off returns. That's a whole different area where we struggled. Eliminating turnovers won't fix this.