The TOP Question

[tarheelpride]

I'd add, as a side note, that I think John Fox is evolving in his ideas about offense.

Despite his being an old school defensive-minded coach at heart, I think he's begun to like this whole big play thing, and doesn't really mind at all that the offense is getting as much of the spotlight as the defense.

I'll point to the playoff game vs. Arizona. no idea why he suddenly threw away the running game, but if you're right, this would explain, in part, the decision to throw for 3/4ths of the game after we was dominating with the run. It's as if he decided to put up an airiel (sp) display. Delhomme is not suited for a shootout, but either Fox or Davidson wanted to turn him into one for the game. i hope this isn't a sign of things to come. If we get him back to early 2007 before he got hurt, then I would love to see him air it out, along with our running attack.

However, I think fox goes 50/50 in terms of run and pass this year, with some quick strikes and some long drives...I want to see quick strikes early and long drives to put the game out of reach late. Force the opposing offense to play catch-up and stop them late with long offensive drives and aggressive defense.

[Fireball77]

Yeah that's pretty much how Indy's D worked, the O would get up on guys then they would be turned loose to wreak havoc on the QB who now had to pass. What heartens me a bit is that last year the O was struggling badly and their D actually flat out won them games. It wasn't elite or anything but it showed it could do that. Since Polian's MO is to spend the dough on the O and his choice of D was due (IMO) to having a scheme that was easy to find players for coming out of college and the most of the players were fairly cheap and fungible I thought that was pretty impressive. In Carolina, Meeks won't have to worry about having mostly a "pieces parts" level committment on D money wise.

[QuasiYoda]

I'll point to the playoff game vs. Arizona. no idea why he suddenly threw away the running game, but if you're right, this would explain, in part, the decision to throw for 3/4ths of the game after we was dominating with the run. It's as if he decided to put up an aerial display. Delhomme is not suited for a shootout, but either Fox or Davidson wanted to turn him into one for the game. i hope this isn't a sign of things to come. If we get him back to early 2007 before he got hurt, then I would love to see him air it out, along with our running attack.

"Delhomme is not suited for a shootout" I take exception to this comment. In that game it proved to be true. In the Super Bowl 2nd half back when you were 13 he was in a shoot out. And last year the first game of the season Delhomme drove the team down the field without Steve Smith with some unfamiliar receivers out there as well. Dehomme has engineered numerous 4th quarter comebacks is noted for that fact.

Here is the last 4 minutes of that San Diego game last year.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_id=29539&season=2008&displayPage=tab_gamecenter

If they start using the Tight ends and running backs more to keep drives alive then shootout will be seen should the defense not be up to the task. Delhomme has had a strong defense much of his tenure a Panthers QB so shoot outs less common.

[tarheelpride]

"Delhomme is not suited for a shootout" I take exception to this comment. In that game it proved to be true. In the Super Bowl 2nd half back when you were 13 he was in a shoot out. And last year the first game of the season Delhomme drove the team down the field without Steve Smith with some unfamiliar receivers out there as well. Dehomme has engineered numerous 4th quarter comebacks is noted for that fact.

Here is the last 4 minutes of that San Diego game last year.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter?game_id=29539&season=2008&displayPage=tab_gamecenter

If they start using the Tight ends and running backs more to keep drives alive then shootout will be seen should the defense not be up to the task. Delhomme has had a strong defense much of his tenure a Panthers QB so shoot outs less common.

I'm aware of all that and i remember the Super Bowl like it was yesterday. I don't see him as being consistent when it comes to a shootout. Every once in awhile, maybe. He's just as likely to win us the game as he is to lose us the game. But because of our defense, he didn't need to play in that many shootouts.

I can't do the research right now, but i wold like to see his record in shootout games before i continue to make that argument that he's not suited for a shootout. Something along the lines of (in terms of criteria): 25+ attempts by Delhomme, other team scores 28+ points, at least 250 yards by delhomme. Can someone look that up right quick?

[Delhommey]

Foxball has always been about the big play.

[monstercat]

Yeah that's pretty much how Indy's D worked, the O would get up on guys then they would be turned loose to wreak havoc on the QB who now had to pass. What heartens me a bit is that last year the O was struggling badly and their D actually flat out won them games. It wasn't elite or anything but it showed it could do that. Since Polian's MO is to spend the dough on the O and his choice of D was due (IMO) to having a scheme that was easy to find players for coming out of college and the most of the players were fairly cheap and fungible I thought that was pretty impressive. In Carolina, Meeks won't have to worry about having mostly a "pieces parts" level committment on D money wise.

Excellent point about the players that Meeks had in Indy. I defy anybody on this board to name their starting DT's, LBers, and corners from last year without looking it up. Everybody knows about their DE's and Bob Sanders, but that's about it.

[Mr. Scot]

You could arguably call our offensive approach "The Hamburger Offense" because it's main elements are "Ground" and Chuck" :sosp:

[Fireball77]

Excellent point about the players that Meeks had in Indy. I defy anybody on this board to name their starting DT's, LBers, and corners from last year without looking it up. Everybody knows about their DE's and Bob Sanders, but that's about it.

I know a few more (Keiaho, Brackett-LBs, Hayden, Jackson, Bethea DBs, etc) but I shouldn't count, for obvious reasons.

Too bad the old board died because I know I posted about this re: Indy & O vs D and why I think they are constructed how they are long before Meeks came to Carolina.

How many games did Carolina's D pretty much win for them last year?? Oakland? That's all I can think of right now.

[CatMan72]

Interesting point of view, I hadn't really thought about it until now but you're right... it's probably no accident that our defense got worse as the year wore on (they got worn down).

[Mr. Scot]

Interesting point of view, I hadn't really thought about it until now but you're right... it's probably no accident that our defense got worse as the year wore on (they got worn down).

Honestly, that wasn't just this year. You could go back as far as 2006 and see it there too.

[panthers55]

I think injuries do take their toll as the year goes on. And they hit some units hard last year like DT. The injuries increased as the strength of our schedule did as well.

Still I think that we struggled as the year wore on because Trgovac had unimaginative schemes and was too predictable. For example the comment that we never changed our corners or assignments around regardless of who we played allowed teams to exploit us by changing our personnel to find favorable matchups.

We also never disguised our blitzes and relied on our personnel to win their individual matchups every game meaning that when other teams had good or great lines we struggled to get pressure.

Finally we had several blown coverages, blitzing guys who blow a sack by overrunning the play, and confusion where we didn't know what to do or how to react when we played a hurry up team like Atlanta the second time.

As the year wore on and our schedule got tougher we were exposed by better teams who seemed easily able to exploit our weaknesses.

I honestly think with our rotations we weren't worn down so much as outplayed and outcoached.