Officially Concerned about the Offense

[Zod]

 The offense isn't built to score a bunch of points and this has been a concern all year, but it still led to 12 wins.  Why is it a huge concern now?  It's worked all year.  Just hope the defense keeps doing what it's been doing all year and they'll have a chance against any team.

 

This is what I am telling you. The offense is neither scoring points or eating up clock these days. The offense is regressing. It is very much a concern going forward.

[Yaboychris28]

When it comes down to it, our offense is put together with sub par average players. We don't have any stud play makers on the outside or dominating Linemen in the inside.  When you compare our offensive personnel to other playoff teams, we look like a 5 win team.  Even though Cam is great, he is'n't the type of qb that elevates the play of his teammates around him, which is what our role players ( Lafell, Hixon, Ginn) need in order to have an impact on a consistent basis. 

[FootballMaestro]

I can't remember if it was the first play or second when Bell's guy blew by him, ran over DWill then hit Cam. But if Cam had another second Ginn had a step or two on his man down field.

DWill's inability to run through a arm tackle cost this offense many times, as far as I'm concerned Tolbert should be the full time back. Can't ever question Tolberts desire to fight for those extra yards.

The play calling is awful. The last drive they handed the ball off to Deangelo twice and ran Newton on a 3rd and 10. Before that there was a 3rd play that where Shula called for a short swing pass, play never had a chance.

The designed Cam runs are good for a 3rd and 4, 3rd and 5. Shula called one on 3rd and 8 I think. In order for Cam to get the first he's most likely going to be taking a shot.

I was wrong about LaFell and ill admit that. This was his time to step up with Smitty out an he didn't do a thing. Burkhead and Lynch gave credit to Hixon for his blocking yesterday, well if Hixon can block there's almost no reason to pay LaFell.

I seriously don't mean to come off as a negative person but these issues are alarming in the bigger picture. I'm happy as hell to be 12-4, but now I want more! With a QB like Cam there shouldn't be so many issues on offense. He can only bail out Shula so much.

Well said. 

 

All of it!!  :thumbsu:

[*FreeFua*]

Could you imagine this offense with Josh Gordon.

I'm not even sure Shula could screw that one up.

[ajax4132]

Could you imagine this offense with Josh Gordon.

I'm not even sure Shula could screw that one up.

 

Beason, 1st, 2nd, 3rd for Josh Gordon

[Chaos]

we've been running a vanilla offensive scheme over the last few weeks to fool our potential playoff opponents, even if by doing so we lost games and didn't even qualify for the playoffs.  Well worth that risk.

 

/saintsreport logic

[rayzor]

everywhere shula calls the offense, this is the result.

 

hard to believe it's a coincidence.....well, you think it would be hard to believe. homer vision does some funny things.

 

btw, i think execution is  a huge problem. that right side of the line is bad, esp. bell.

 

the receivers have a lot of ill timed drops and the QB takes a while to settle down (tho when he does he's elite).

 

it juat seems funny that he has yet to run an offense that ranks in the top 20.

[fieryprophet]

everywhere shula calls the offense, this is the result.

 

hard to believe it's a coincidence.....well, you think it would be hard to believe. homer vision does some funny things.

 

We're calling the kind of offense our personnel allows. If you can find explosive playmakers on this roster that are being misused please alert us.

[AviationMX]

I can only keep repeating the same thing:

 

If Can would have a balanced delivery, i.e. throw with a weight shift to the forward foot, he would have hit at least 5 passes in the first half yesterday. Every high pass is due to Cam not following through on his feet. Shula's fix is to through hard and low, but there are too many touch passes needed to drop the ball behind the LB to do that. Too many passes in the first half of games are high, causing defenses to crowd the line and then magically, he slows down in the second half and connects.

 

If Cam can hit targets, the offense takes off-runs are longer and passes opens up the defense...if not, it's a grinder game until the fourth quarter when he actually focuses on the play...

 

Fundamentals...he once had it, time to find it. 

[rodeo]

We were scoring 30+ points a game mid season this year.  So, either you think that the playcalling has miraculously changed since then...unlikely.

 

Or, that the players are just not executing right now.....more likely.

The playcalling has changed since then.

 

During our win streak, Shula hit the winning formula. Short, quick passes, up tempo offense, screens, the flats, etc. Those are the games we scored 30+ points per game. It's also the style he went with during our scoring drive yesterday to end the first half.

 

Over the past several weeks he has abandoned that and went back to the slow developing routes that were ineffective in the first few weeks when we got our asses kicked. The only reason we're not getting our asses kicked now is the defense.

[Jackofalltrades]

This offense owes the defense quite a bit for several of these wins. 

 

I hope they can work some things out on the bye week, otherwise it's going to be a short stay in the playoffs. We must improve the OL and Cam's targets.

[rayzor]

We're calling the kind of offense our personnel allows. If you can find explosive playmakers on this roster that are being misused please alert us.

i edited my post. and reposted it below, but we ran a much more dynamic and prolific offense with pretty close to this same group of guys only with a couple upgrades at WR.

 

everywhere shula calls the offense, this is the result.

 

hard to believe it's a coincidence.....well, you think it would be hard to believe. homer vision does some funny things.

 

btw, i think execution is  a huge problem. that right side of the line is bad, esp. bell.

 

the receivers have a lot of ill timed drops and the QB takes a while to settle down (tho when he does he's elite).

 

it juat seems funny that he has yet to run an offense that ranks in the top 20.

[FootballMaestro]

To me all of our offensive problems stem from the line and Cam. Don't scape goat Byron Bell, he's bad but so is Nate Chandler, Chris Scott, and Travelle Wharton. Jordan Gross is hanging in there but he isn't dominant. You can bitch about the wide receivers all you want but they didn't drop any easy ones vs. ATL. Cam has been struggling with his accuracy. It makes me wonder if he is feeling pressure from his success. You guys will sit here and say no one is open but that just isn't true. Windows are small and you have to anticipate them. Cam hasn't been doing that. Maybe he is afraid to turn the ball over but he doesn't throw the ball unless guys are wide ass open. Cam is our star, we need him to play like our star. Stop blaming the role players.

 

I would like to think our offense would be more aggressive if the situation called for it. But with a strong D we can play close to the vest.

I have to disagree. 

 

The receivers have dropped a lot of "catchable balls". High or not, they get their hands on and continually lose them. I see those type of catches (and much more difficult ones) made every game by various receivers, like it's nothing. 

 

Anyway, Cam does not only throw to "wide open receivers". It's the totally opposite to me. This is why he needs a perfect throw (by many of you that micro-analyze him repeatedly) for it to be caught; such as his TD pass to Olsen yesterday, and his throws down the stretch/4th Qtr march down the field against The Saints.

 

And could you blame Newton even if that were even true (he's afraid to throw into tight windows)?

 

When is the last time you saw a Panther receiver, come back to the ball; win a jump ball, catch a truly bad throw, or a box out, ward off a defender for a catch???.....It's very rare, or we haven't!! Cam would probably have 30 TD's and 6 INT's (going by this season alone), if he just had a better crop of receivers, doing the things I described above.

 

This is not to say Cam can't make better throws at times (though he makes it up other times, and in other ways). He can. However, the receivers need to make plays as well. It's embarrassing. Just watch some other NFL teams, and see what their receivers do every game that Panther receivers appear do rarely in a season (as that high, one handed TD catch in Cincy, yesterday NOT BY AJ Green or Marvin Harrison). They're just not play makers in Charlotte. 

 

 

[rayzor]

The playcalling has changed since then.

 

During our win streak, Shula hit the winning formula. Short, quick passes, up tempo offense, screens, the flats, etc. Those are the games we scored 30+ points per game. It's also the style he went with during our scoring drive yesterday to end the first half.

 

Over the past several weeks he has abandoned that and went back to the slow developing routes that were ineffective in the first few weeks when we got our asses kicked. The only reason we're not getting our asses kicked now is the defense.

this. we regressed. the playcalling changed.