The Carolina Panthers Should Learn from WVU's Offense

[jasonluckydog]

 

COMMENTARY| Air raid - (n) - a raid by aircraft, especially for bombing a particular area, an attack by a hostile aircraft.

If you were anywhere near a television last fall, there's no way you could've missed the statistics that the West Virginia Mountaineer's quarterback Geno Smith put up. Along with his wide receiversStedman Bailey and Tavon Austin, Smith and WVU made head coach Dana Holgorsen's life a little easier. Well, offensively anyways.

 On September 29, the Mountaineers scored 70 points for the second time in five games. Smith threw for 656 yards and 8 touchdowns, all while completing 88.2 percent of his passes and throwing no interceptions. Bailey had 13 receptions for 303 yards and 5 touchdowns. Austin caught 14 passes for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns. Needless to say, this offense was clicking at its finest. 

The Carolina Panthers should learn from this. They have all of the pieces to run the Air Raid offense. Let's break it down and compare the pieces of the Panthers to WVU's.

Quarterback - WVU had Smith. Smith was a third round draft pick. While he's accurate and mobile, he's so far had trouble transitioning into the NFL. Carolina has Cam Newton. Newton was a Heisman Trophy winner and a national champion who was the first overall pick. Both of these guys are mobile and have strong arms. The key to the Air Raid offense is to move fast, much like a blitzkrieg from World War II. Newton surely has the athleticism to run a fast paced offense; he just needs to take over as a leader.

Primary receiver - WVU's number one guy was Bailey. The Panthers have Steve Smith. If you remember any pre-draft talk, you'll remember that Bailey drew many comparisons to Smith. Both of them are smaller receivers who are feisty and have good hands. Smith is a quicker than Bailey and has a mean streak in him. This puts Smith in prime position to execute this offense along with Newton. 

X-Factor - This is where the offense gets tricky. WVU's playmaker was none other than Austin. Austin was rendered as the league's most exciting player and was drafted 8^th overall in this year's draft. Carolina seems to lack that x-factor guy, a guy who can do it all. This might be a stretch, but hear me out. Kenjon Barner could be that guy. Barner can make plays and has that breakaway speed. He could go out and line up in the slot, come in motion, or line up in the backfield. Smith could also become this guy if someone like Brandon LaFell can step up at receiver.

 

 

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/carolina-panthers-learn-wvus-offense-215400955.html

 

 

Yahooooooooo

[Razeyfingers]

Cmon man, comparing college players to pro's, translating a college offense to match an NFL defense under what grounds? wait wait, the best part was about Barner. Yeah a rookie is our most explosive player and our Xfactor. . or could be. . . even though he's never played a down.

 

 

That was on Yahoo? Yeah I read the Cam needs to take over as leader and I hear "I have no idea what the fug Im talking about". Every single person that writes anything to that similarity is just screaming "Hey I dont watch Carolina games buddy!"

[jasonluckydog]

Yahooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[nickzz]

no ty

[TNPanther]

While we're at it, why don't we just add the Wishbone and Maryland-I formations as optional packages?

[Razeyfingers]

I always thought they should work this play in somewhere.

 

 

[Gallagher]

I'm not saying we should run a college offense, but I could envision a package with Gettis/Hixon and Ginn on the outside, Smith and Joe Adams in the slot and Barner in the backfield. Not a lot of teams would be able to deal with that much speed on the field all at once.

[DaveThePanther2008]

That's a good idea.  Let's waste another season on a gimmick offense.

 

Then about half way through the season we can figure it isn't working and play for a top 10 draft pick.

 

Figure out WTF happened this year.

[thunderraiden]

I think were good on not using college offenses anymore after last year. Why go to gimmicks when we win 4-1 at the end of the season with traditional offense.

[teeray]

We ran a lot of read option and spread formations at the end of last season. Some of you act lime we just quit running those things. The read option was a big part of our offense at the end of the season. Not as much as the beginning, but a lot nonetheless.

[Zod]

Score a touchdown then fug your sister?

[DaveThePanther2008]

We ran a lot of read option and spread formations at the end of last season. Some of you act lime we just quit running those things. The read option was a big part of our offense at the end of the season. Not as much as the beginning, but a lot nonetheless.

 

Alot is quite extreme.  We used it, yes.  No one ever said to take the "Play" away but as the center of our offense.  That didn't work.

 

Using it as a play is too valuable to get rid of all together.  Cam's Run against Atlanta was a prime example but we used it at a good time.  They weren't prepared for it.

[teeray]

Alot is quite extreme. We used it, yes. No one ever sd to take the "Play" away but as the center of our offense. That didn't work.

Using it as a play is too valuable to get rid of all together. Cam's Run against Atlanta was a prime example but we used it at a good time. They weren't prepared for it.

Probably 50% or more of our total run plays the last three games were read options.

Our offense didn't change as drastically as some of you think from the beginning of the year to the end. Yes we tweaked it and ran more traditional running plays, but it really didn't change that much.

We just executed better. The read option was never the issue, we just weren't executing it very well at the beginning.

[DaveThePanther2008]

Probably 50% or more of our total run plays the last three games were read options.

Our offense didn't change as drastically as some of you think from the beginning of the year to the end. Yes we tweaked it and ran more traditional running plays, but it really didn't change that much.

We just executed better. The read option was never the issue, we just weren't executing it very well at the beginning.

 

No where near 50% but that is your story....

 

The read Option was clearly the issue.  Defenses had it gameplanned and figured out.    

 

You're right we didn't abandon it but Cam was under center much more often in the latter half of the season. 

 

Read Option is a gimmick offense.  Plain and Simple.  There is a reason why the NFL never used the triple option as an offense.  It doesn't work in the NFL.  Read Option is a Play ...not an offense.