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

[PantherGuy]

I finally went to camp today.  Some thoughts.  Cam's passes have a lot more touch and are a lot more accurate. I left a little early but aside from one pick 6, Cam completed all his passes. Check downs,  passes down the middle, a bomb to Ginn on the right sideline. He made em all. 

 

Day and night difference this year from last year at camp as far as our offense. Last year, Cam ran the ball A TON at camp. I didnt see a single zone read formation play today nor not once did Cam run.  What I saw today was a lot of power i formation, short 7-10 yd passes down the middle and check downs to the RBs. This offense will look quite a bit like Fox ball. Expect a lot of ground and pound this season. BTW, this is a very good thing.  There is nothing more I love than when teams absloutely dominate time of possession.  Some people love sacks, some love safeties, some love forced fumbles.. Me?  I love seeing the opposing QB on the bench, looking half asleep from boredom for nearly an entire quarter. WOO! Im getting chills just thinking about it. Show me a team that dominates time of possession and I will show you a playoff team everytime.

 

AJ Klien impressed me. Shame he hasnt got that much attention but he looked explosive and powerful in LB drills today.  A lot of people are in straight up panic mode about our O line. But we all forget we might just have one of the best if not THE best front 7 in the league.  I will reserve my judgement on the o line until I see them play average-below average Ds.

 

Cam is A LOT more vocal and relaxed. He was very vocal today and showing signs of a true leader. Ginn in my book is a lock for number 3 WR. Gettis is as good as gone.  Overall, solid practice.

 

I've been rewatching a lot of our games from last season in the past week or two. My Game Rewind subscription expires after tomorrow, and I don't plan on spending $70 to have it for another year. But one thing I noticed is in line with what I bolded from your OP. For the most part, our offense operated the best when we used traditional running formations, and used that to key the pass.

 

I for one wouldn't mind seeing an offense more similar to Foxball. I just don't want us to go back to running draw plays on 3rd-and-10 every time. It's possible to have a run-centric offense without becoming predictable.

 

[PhillyB]

aggressive, dynamic/explosive, prolific, and balanced.

 

i don't want conservative and balanced. i want full on aggression on both sides of the ball.

 

balance is crucial to success... a dominant running game opens up a dominant passing game. we have the ability to be a dominant passing team, so focusing training camp on improving the running game will beget success for both tiers.

 

as long as our most effective options are not reined in to favor contrary offensive philosophies in playcalling i can only see good things coming from emphasizing this in camp.

[PantherPhann89]

I see a lot of comparison to Fox ball because we may be running the ball, with our RB's, more this year. But I doubt that we will have an offense anywhere close to Fox ball offense. I think that we will cater certain offensive plays to certain players. This will allow us to capatilize on individual player strengths instead of playing one style of offense and forcing everyone to comply. We have to find our identity and I think that our identity will be a balanced offense with a constant threat of Cam running down the field.

[Matthias]

I definitely want to see a dynamic offense, but more than anything I want to see Cam dissecting defenses with his arm.  I always considered Cam's ability to run as a luxury.  I don't want that to be his main weapon.  History shows your athletic QB never amounts to championships.  Of course for those who know of my posts in the past, I'm not a fan of the college read option.  I want to see Cam develop into a Steve Young type mold.  An accurate passer who could run.  Cam is a way better rusher than Steve Young.  So I want to see Cam be a way better version of Steve Young.  When all that happens, whether we pass or run the ball, no one will be able to stop our offense.

[pantherclaw]

Our offense will pout up points.

Lol at anybody that thinks otherwuse.

[panthers55]

Why do people think ball control means running the ball?  Ask Tom Brady if his offense is a ball control offense and he will tell you of course.  The whole point of the game is to keep the ball as long as possible which keeps it out of the opponent's hands and score more points then they do.  You control the ball by any means possible on offense and when on defense try and get it back as soon as possible.  Ball control is both offensive and defensive. You balance your offense so you can run and pass depending on what the defense is giving you and what you do best. The whole "this is a passing league" is really not as prevalent as some would have you think. Even teams like New England who everyone says passes the ball all the time actually ran the ball over 500 times in 2012 for over 2000 yards. They averaged 136 yards per game which was good for 7th on the list.  By comparison we were 9th at 130 yards per game.

 

We will be a dynamic offense this year and will have more chances to score due to the defense creating turnovers. We will run the ball more.  Hopefully a lot in the fourth quarter as we milk the clock with a big lead.

[SuperJTheGreat]

Well fug, lets bring in Fox.

[firstdayfan]

The one thing I can say about the offensive line is that if anything they should improve from last years line.  Consider that all the same starters are back except that Amini and Bell should have improved somewhat (some saying Amini has vastly improved).  Even with Hangman at center and Byers at guard last season we still were a few plays away from a 9 or 10 win season.  Its not great but I doubt that it could be worse...right?  

 

The one big change is that the defensive line has improved TREMENDOUSLY with Star, Dwan, Short...not to mention Luke coming into his own and more depth at linebacker.

 

In fact besides the offensive line I feel like we have improved at every position from last year...maybe just depth but improved is the key word.  Ginn and Hixon are much better that Pilares and Murphy.  Barnburner makes the running backs better.  Brandon Williams could be an improvement over Barnidge.  Linebackers are deeper, Safety depth is better, and the corners are deep, albeit no one really is a number 1 corner.

 

Gettlemen has us in pretty good shape and I would imagine that he adds a veteran offensive linemen before the season starts.

[ncrecordkeeper]

Muy

Sent from my HTC6435LVW using CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[pantherclaw]

I look at last year; and can't help but see it was injuries along the line that was the problem. I couldn't even tell you how many different starting 5 we had across the oline.

They perfirmed their best at the end of the season. Without our probowl center. With a backup to our backups at right guard, AND right tackle.

We got a good bunch of guys.

Staying healthy, and allowing a group of guys to gel together us going to make most fans eat their words.

[Frizzy350]

If this offense looks like Foxball....Gettlemen, Rivera and Shula should all be fired.

We have Cam. You don't play Foxball with that type weapon.

We have a spotty OL, an old RB , an injury plagued RB, a rookie RB, and a FB. Even if your QB sucks you would need a great D front to back to attempt to be a legit contender playing Foxball with that. Our best player this year in the secondary could easily be the Raider reject....bc he walked into such a weak cast.

 

We may be focusing on these plays because they weren't things we could do well last year (quick developing routes, running up the middle).  Maybe we figure we are already good at deep passes and read options.

[Swaggasaurus]

Well fug, lets bring in Fox.

I am in no way a hard core Rivera hater, but last year Fox+Cam would've had us in the playoffs.

[csx]

Why do people think ball control means running the ball?  Ask Tom Brady if his offense is a ball control offense and he will tell you of course.  The whole point of the game is to keep the ball as long as possible which keeps it out of the opponent's hands and score more points then they do.  You control the ball by any means possible on offense and when on defense try and get it back as soon as possible.  Ball control is both offensive and defensive. You balance your offense so you can run and pass depending on what the defense is giving you and what you do best. The whole "this is a passing league" is really not as prevalent as some would have you think. Even teams like New England who everyone says passes the ball all the time actually ran the ball over 500 times in 2012 for over 2000 yards. They averaged 136 yards per game which was good for 7th on the list.  By comparison we were 9th at 130 yards per game.

 

We will be a dynamic offense this year and will have more chances to score due to the defense creating turnovers. We will run the ball more.  Hopefully a lot in the fourth quarter as we milk the clock with a big lead.

Of course Brady would say yes. The Patriots were 2nd in the league in rushing attempts per game last season. Pretty much all the best teams were in the top half of the league in rushing attempts last year.

[MHS831]

I have not read the rest of the posts, but I got to page 2 and nobody said this:  Cam Newton is a weapon.  Defenses are more afraid of him when he drops back to pass than when he hands off.

 

The first week of practice should be about the basics.  I think it is premature to suggest that we are reverting back to Foxball because we ran power, dive, and trap at practice.

 

I appreciate your thoughts--seriously.  I love knowing what others, especially those who go to Spartanburg, think.  I think we will run more effectively, but not more.  I think being more effective causes the defense to respect the run and makes play action better. 

 

Barner, Tolbert, and DWill (not including Stewart yet) have different sklll sets.  This should be a focus early on.   Right now they are adjusting their off season focus because their #1 back, Stew , is indefinitie.  In addition, they did not know what they had in Barner.  Finally, they have said they plan on using Tolbert more effectively.  This is the core of the offense, the foundation.  It only makes sense to work on it first.