Adjustments

[raleigh-panther]

My observation, the defense wore down due to injury and lack of depth.

Think about it, most teams carry what, 8 D-linemen and they are rotated frequently to keep them fresh.

The Panthers could not do this, they hardly had enough people at some positions to just field a decent team as the season wore on.

Add to that, many of these players also did double-duty on special teams and I think that is more the answer than adjustments.

Now, if this continues to next year, no doubt it's coaches.

[OneBadassCat]

http://scottfowlerobs.blogspot.com/2012/01/on-cam-polian-and-nfl.html

So....generally the Panthers were toast after halftime. Seems other teams made adjustments and the Panthers did not?

Is this about having young players? New coaching staff?

Do you think this will be a worry in the future? It has haunted our past.

I think it has more to do with the injuries than the adjustments. There are some things you just can pull off with the group of guys you have no matter what adjustments you make.

[savage]

I dont know what rivera says to our guys at halftime but we have come out flat in the third almost every game. The offensive playcalling in the third was weaker.

[doghead28]

The D stunk, if the players can't execute it doesn't matter what plays or adjustments are being called

[CaptaINCrunchKing]

The worrying trend appeared to be that the offense seemed to always stall in the 3rd. The playcalls appeared to be different.

We'd come out in the begining of the game aggressively, mixing up the playcalls...Cam is on fire..then after halftime, a litany of things seemed to go wrong.

Is part of it fatigue with Cam? he does run a lot more than other QBs so maybe it was harder for him to maintain concentration throughout the game, especially as it was his first year in the league.

The D also did little to help the offense out, be it via creating turnovers, or stopping the other team on 3rd down. The Detroit Lion game comes to mind

[Davis83]

direct reflection of the offense going a bit flat - trying to shorten the game. Too many 3 and outs make thes the D spend too much time on the field. Do that and they wear down quickly = thus giving up big plays and points.

If anything, the O comes out conservative and then does not adjust to the opposing D shutting them down. You can clearly see the frustration on Cams face when he's not happy with the play calling at the beginning of the 3rd. Once he gets frustrated, then he tries too hard to "force" the O to succeed. This team clearly feeds on momentum - you have to get it going and then stay on the gas - if at anytime you start to coast, its hard to get it going again.

[rayzor]

i remember some of the players talking about how strange it was that in the lockerroom at halftime they were making adjustments this year.

they were being made. we just weren't executing. defense fell apart and cam got pressured to keep up then he got frustrated and then the offense would fall apart.

[carolinarolls]

I think it was just wind. Not enough rotational guys to keep a decent rush together all game. Our roster limited our ability to adjust and to dictate for that matter. I think we did OK considering what we suited up.

[Keith Moons Liver]

no defensive depth coupled with mediocre coaching = late game collapses

[Brandon]

Just an FYI, the "halftime adjustments" thing is a myth. It's not like they have an hour to sit in the locker room and draw up battle plans. Adapting to the other team is done in the moment.

I think it's pretty clear that as the game wore on, the bad matchups on defense were exposed and teams were more capable of taking advantage of them.

[JawnyBlaze]

I agree with the theory that it was the lack of guys to rotate in. There were games we only suited 3 DTs, and two of them were rookies. That, combined with only have 2 NFL 4-3 DE sized DEs on the team for the majority of the year leads to the line getting pushed around late in games. That's bound to have a trickle effect on the whole defense as the game wears on.

This is part of the reason I'm beginning to be more open to the idea of drafting Coples. Still not my ideal pick, but I can see how he would help the defense more than I originally was thinking (if the ethic and motor concerns aren't legitimate, and I haven't seen much that suggests they are).

[jarhead]

Coaches make adjustments throughout the game and not just halftime.It was pretty clear that in the 3rd qtr our offense was not able to substain drives which left our lowly defense having to take the field more often.Our defense cannot stop a bad high school team.Our ability to stop the run improved about the time Fua and McClain went down.We could not contain a TE all season and our pressure on the qb was pathathic.I did not like the way our players played or the way our coaches coached.Just my opinion but I felt the players that were on the field last year with the exception of Gamble, did not play at the same level this year.

[MadHatter]

Just an FYI, the "halftime adjustments" thing is a myth. It's not like they have an hour to sit in the locker room and draw up battle plans. Adapting to the other team is done in the moment.

I think it's pretty clear that as the game wore on, the bad matchups on defense were exposed and teams were more capable of taking advantage of them.

True....but does not explain why the offense REALLY struggled to score points in the 2nd half as well.

There is more to the issue than just "Poor Defense".

[bleys]

True....but does not explain why the offense REALLY struggled to score points in the 2nd half as well.

There is more to the issue than just "Poor Defense".

Cam was a big part of that.. he often came out missing passes in the 3rd that he was accurate on in the 1st half.. commentators even made references a couple times this year.

I chalk it up to him being a rookie.. obviously that may be 1 of a few things, but it's a big chunk...