My camp thoughts after today. Expect a conservative, run offense.

[ZeroZeroSeven]

I'm okay with a conservative, run first offense. I'm not okay with Foxball where we go up 7-0, 14-3, or whatever then try to sit on a lead with run left, run right, run middle then punt philosophy. Drove me nuts.

Keep putting points on the board.

[neverlosethefeeling]

So I did a little digging on time of possession. In 2012, the top half of the league (teams that were at or above 30:00 in average TOP) looked like this:

 

On this list you'll find 9 of last years' 12 playoff teams. The only teams that didn't win the average TOP battle were the Minnesota Vikings (28:24 which actually placed them as 28th in the league), Cincinnati Bengals (29:23, placing them just outside the top half at 17) and coincidentally the defending SuperBowl Champion Baltimore Ravens came in at a lowly 27:49, good for 30th in the NFL last year.

 

So while there's no guarantee that winning the TOP battle will get you into the playoffs--the Pittsburgh Steelers were second in the league, for example--you're more likely to get into January if your team is holding onto the ball.

 

How this directly relates to the topic of this thread and the Panthers' possibly more conservative offense, I'll let you all continue to debate but there's just a keyhole's worth of context when it comes to time of possession.

 

Edit: source for the above table is http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/average-time-of-possession-net-of-ot

 

[bleys]

would rather score by 3 than 7...  brilliant.

[Seltzer]

There is nothing to take away from what you witnessed in the preseason so far other than the Panthers are focused on practicing a more traditional run game during these sessions.

 

I know the Panthers want to make power running more of a staple & base of the offense instead of the read-option (per Shula himself), but that doesn't necessarily equate to conservative.

 

The Panthers have been one of the least conservative teams on offense the last couple of years.  While I think Shula (given his background & statements) wants to be more conservative than Chud, I hope and think he will still retain some of the higher-risk plays given the weapons we have in Smitty, Ginn, Jr. & Cam himself. 

 

The Panthers have been near the very top of the league the last 2 years in explosive (20 yards+) plays.  There is no reason to completely abandon that.  At the same time, the Panthers have come out, especially in the 2nd Halves, throwing caution to the wind & having a lot of 3-and-outs where a more conservative approach would have been better IMO.

 

I have been to training camp many times, and everything open to the public is open to the rest of the NFL.  It does give you a good idea of the overall talent level of individuals and groups (and who has the potential to contribute, etc., but very little can be gathered about the scheme.  That is by design.

[Tarheels23]

Can't win with a whole bunch of fieldgoals in this league anymore.

If the foxball u speak of consist of getting a lead and then totally taking the air out the ball, then count me out.

[frash.exe]

So I did a little digging on time of possession. In 2012, the top half of the league (teams that were at or above 30:00 in average TOP) looked like this:

On this list you'll find 9 of last years' 12 playoff teams. The only teams that didn't win the average TOP battle were the Minnesota Vikings (28:24 which actually placed them as 28th in the league), Cincinnati Bengals (29:23, placing them just outside the top half at 17) and coincidentally the defending SuperBowl Champion Baltimore Ravens came in at a lowly 27:49, good for 30th in the NFL last year.

So while there's no guarantee that winning the TOP battle will get you into the playoffs--the Pittsburgh Steelers were second in the league, for example--you're more likely to get into January if your team is holding onto the ball.

How this directly relates to the topic of this thread and the Panthers' possibly more conservative offense, I'll let you all continue to debate but there's just a keyhole's worth of context when it comes to time of possession.

Edit: source for the above table is http://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/average-time-of-possession-net-of-ot

Looking like there are a lot of passing teams on there

[CarolinaPanthers8789]

Mother of God...

Wait until our first game to freak out.

I know that with the team I work for, we have specific things we work on every day. Today could have been a day that they focused on the I-formation. Just a few days ago, Zod said we were working on the zone read. I wouldn't expect a drastic change in the offense, just an overall smarter decision making by players and coaches.

Get a grip people.

[Catalyst]

I think it's a good thing if we're going to run a more conventional offense and run it more with the RB's. Cam will run plenty on scrambles and will get plenty of pass plays in as well, but we need to run an actual NFL offense and not look like the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets out there as Chud had us doing for the first half of last year.

 

I also think a more conservative passing game will benefit Cam a lot. How often have we seen Cam take the checkdown or a WR run a slant? Not often. We all know Cam can get the ball deep, but having a solid short/intermediate passing game could work wonders for our offense as well.

[carolina-chuck]

I love a balanced offense

[scratchy1]

I'm okay with a conservative, run first offense. I'm not okay with Foxball where we go up 7-0, 14-3, or whatever then try to sit on a lead with run left, run right, run middle then punt philosophy. Drove me nuts.

Keep putting points on the board.

 

 

The thing that worries me is that Shula has never been an above-average coordinator.  When he's won games, it's been because of his defense more often than not--he doesn't really have any experience putting up 32 points when he has to.  And the Alabama and Tampa people will tell you that in the 4th quarter when they needed points, he rarely put together a drive to get it done.  Very predictable, particularly in the red zone.  He's a ball-control, risk-avoidance coordinator that head coaches love because he's not going to call a game in a way that shoots us out of it by halftime.  He can create a game plan and break down film as good as anyone around, and he's a great quarterback teacher in terms of technique.  But when he puts on the headset and makes decisions, something gets lost in transition.  I hope that with Cam, he recognizes that the quarterback gives the offense some unique abilities that should be exploited.  I'm just not optimistic that an NFL coach with his level of experience is going to change his stripes, and we don't have the defense to win like Tampa did in the late 90's.

[Pejorative Miscreant]

This is pretty much like saying I went to camp this past Saturday.  Expect the Panthers to play the season in shorts. No pads

[Ace_Aladdin]

If they are going back to more of a power running game we will dominate time of possession with the help from our defense and we will score lot of points. We got  to many threats in the end zone for us not to score.

 

Cam, Tolbert, Stewart, William, & Barner for rushing

 

Olsen, Smitty, LaFell, Ginn & Willams

[Mother Grabber]

Foxball has never won anyone poo. Look at how pissed off manning was when they kneeled down with a minute to go before half time. How did that game end? Foxball...please.

[chknwing]

Get a grip people.