up next: Tampa Bay

[Cat'sGrowl]

Think of the way we used to play New Orleans, CRA. We owned them for years because they would come out with their quick strike offense, put an easy TD up-and then we would just hold onto the ball forever until we scored. They didnt score because we refused to give them the ball. Have to take the same mentality here, rather than taking the mentality the Aints used to have when they played us-it never worked for them.

[La Pantera]

Force Tampa to abandon the run...we win. As far as should we run more or pass more is not important. What is important is taking advantage of what the D is giving us (play calls) and down and distance.

[jtnc]

Cam>Kolb and Ponder.....

We lost!

Running game wasn't strong..

[Udogg]

Donald Brown averaged 5.7 an attempt.

[La Pantera]

Running game wasn't strong..

KG was suggesting that the best QB wins ( which is the case in most games)

The point I was trying to make that it takes a team as a whole to win. Your right though the running game wasnt running on much. Also doesnt help if the D cant stop my Grandma on her rascal...

[PantherPhann89]

I would love to see us win....but our defense is weak. 1st) We can't stop the run. 2nd) We don't get enough pressure on the QB. He's more mobile than Painter and will have time to wait till a receiver gets open. 3rd) Blount will punch us in the face. Our defense is not aggressive enough. We play soft and timid.

[CRA]

Think of the way we used to play New Orleans, CRA. We owned them for years because they would come out with their quick strike offense, put an easy TD up-and then we would just hold onto the ball forever until we scored. They didnt score because we refused to give them the ball. Have to take the same mentality here, rather than taking the mentality the Aints used to have when they played us-it never worked for them.

Not the same thing.....

Tampa wants to run on us and can. Not exactly the same thing as playing keep away from a pass heavy attack.

Need quick points and some early stops to force them out of the Blount ground and pound.

[Cat'sGrowl]

Except they aren't going to quit attacking us on the ground. If you think they are, then you might have missed the game at Detroit two weeks ago.

Detroit came out and tried to attack vertically, when it didn't work and they went down by double digits, they went to the ground and short passes, and won the game.

Tampa isn't going to come out attacking vertically, we DO have to play keep away, because we have to assume that Tampa's ground game will be effective moving the ball down the field the way NO's passing attack used to.

[dpm0409]

Both teams terrible run defenses aside, we need this to win:

1. A couple takeaways (which I think we can manage)

2. Keep our D off the field as much as possible with long sustained drives

3. No Cam INT's (We're 3-1 when he doesn't throw any pics)

I know it's usually not that simple, but we will win if those 3 things happen. Almost guaranteed.

[CRA]

Except they aren't going to quit attacking us on the ground. If you think they are, then you might have missed the game at Detroit two weeks ago.

Detroit came out and tried to attack vertically, when it didn't work and they went down by double digits, they went to the ground and short passes, and won the game.

Tampa isn't going to come out attacking vertically, we DO have to play keep away, because we have to assume that Tampa's ground game will be effective moving the ball down the field the way NO's passing attack used to.

Not true....they have gone away from Blount MANY times this year. Often foolishly. He limits what they can run on offense when on the field. Blount can't be on the field for what Det was running in their comeback.....he sucks as a reciever and in pass protection.

[Cat'sGrowl]

Then we will have to see what happens, but I personally feel that a two score lead isn't going to be enough to get them to completely abandon thei running attack.

With our poor rush defense, we are better off keeping the ball out of their hands as much as possible no matter which way you spin it.

Quick scores mean nothing against long, sustained scoring drives, and as I'm sure you are aware, you can obviously only score once per possession.

[CarolinaAllDay]

fug tampa gay. Blount is nice tho

[PhillyB]

I like our chances, but we better figure out how to stop the run...

that's putting it blountly

[the butch]

all i look at is points. how many points can a team score. sure, blount might rush for 60 yards on any given drive, but if all they come away with is 3 points, then we can turn around and simply outscore them.

this won't be a defensive battle by any means.

tb's avg. pts scored = 18

car's avg. pts scored = 23 [remember the tsunami bowl, though]

both defenses allow an avg. ~ 27 points/game

i know, i know, every game affects the average. but the statistics tell us to pick the panthers, especially with tb trending down.