Will Fox Try To Win With Offense This Season?

[PantherPride74]

Since our defense is going to suffer this season because Kemo went down do you think Fox will let Jeff Davidson open up this offense? I think we have a lot of weapons on offense that could make us a top 5 offense this season if Fox will allow it to happen. I want to see Dwayne Jarrett get more involved so we can have a real threat other than Smitty at WR and move Moose to the slot so he can be closer to the O-line to help with blocking in the run game. I really want to see this Mike Goodson kid be our version of Reggie Bush by catching passes out of the backfield and using his speed to break into the secondary. Heck I want to see more of DeAngelo running the "wildcat" formation and actually throw the ball out of it. Don't get me wrong I love our running game but that's what people expect to get a lot of when they play us so we need to switch it up some this season and not be so predictable. What do you guys think, will Fox let Davidson open up this offense or will we stay predictable and boring?

[Fireball77]

They won with offense most of the year in 2008. Offense does not win championships. The D HAS to step up. It hasn't really given fans much to be excited about since 2005 and IMO has never been what I would call an elite unit under Fox's watch. I haven't lost hope that the D will be improved despite Kemo's being lost for the year though.

[PantherPride74]

They won with offense most of the year in 2008. Offense does not win championships. The D HAS to step up. It hasn't really given fans much to be excited about since 2005 and IMO has never been what I would call an elite unit under Fox's watch. I haven't lost hope that the D will be improved despite Kemo's being lost for the year though.

I know offense doesn't win championship's but it does win games, just look at the Colts. I think we were a super bowl contender going into training camp but Kemo going down is really going to hurt our defense this season. Unless we go out and make a trade and get a DT to replace Kemo I don't think we are super bowl contender anymore. There are no free agent DT's on the market that will come in here and actually make a difference. I would rather win 10 games with offense than win 7 games trying to win like we did last season. We have the weapons to outscore a lot of teams we play this year but when it comes to the playoffs you have to have a really good defense and I don't think our defense is really good without Kemo.

[Jrock88]

Running the wildcat more isn't going to get us to the Bowl... the Defense has to be better than it was last year down the stretch and it will be.

[PantherPride74]

Running the wildcat more isn't going to get us to the Bowl... the Defense has to be better than it was last year down the stretch and it will be.

If you read my 2nd post you will see that I no longer think we are a super bowl contender without Kemo. I don't see how you think our defense will be better this season without Kemo. Him being gone is not only going to hurt our defense at stopping the run but it's going to hurt our LB's and it will put even more pressure on our secondary.

[panthers55]

We were a top 7 offense last year in points and definitely top 5 the second half. But we had to score so many points because our defense was so porous. I would much rather have a rugged defense and work to score points than score often but give up a ton of yards and points. You have to look no further than New Orleans to see that offense alone won't win games.

As for our defense, this is a new scheme and new emphasis. Last year losing Kemo hurt us a lot, but in this new scheme he isn't as important as we will be a penetrating defense not a read and react defense as we have been in the past. I was wondering how we would use him anyhow and now we know, we won't. In the end it is all about the run defense since we have a number of good running teams on our schedule and our pass defense will be improved. I suspect that we will find someone who can fill in whether they are on the team or not. Really if an injury has to occur, it is best to have it happen now rather than right before the regular season starts and there are much fewer options.

If we opt to pick up someone cut from a team, we will likely wait until final cuts to pick up someone given that the most talented guys are let go last.

[PantherPride74]

We were a top 7 offense last year in points and definitely top 5 the second half. But we had to score so many points because our defense was so porous. I would much rather have a rugged defense and work to score points than score often but give up a ton of yards and points. You have to look no further than New Orleans to see that offense alone won't win games.

As for our defense, this is a new scheme and new emphasis. Last year losing Kemo hurt us a lot, but in this new scheme he isn't as important as we will be a penetrating defense not a read and react defense as we have been in the past. I was wondering how we would use him anyhow and now we know, we won't. In the end it is all about the run defense since we have a number of good running teams on our schedule and our pass defense will be improved. I suspect that we will find someone who can fill in whether they are on the team or not. Really if an injury has to occur, it is best to have it happen now rather than right before the regular season starts and there are much fewer options.

If we opt to pick up someone cut from a team, we will likely wait until final cuts to pick up someone given that the most talented guys are let go last.

I'm not saying we should become the Saints and score like crazy and play no defense because I know Fox will never play like that. What I am saying is we should open up the playbook and find more ways to get the ball in Smitty's hands and our other playmakers like DeAngelo and Stewart need to catch the ball out of the backfield more. I have no doubt that Beason will not let our defense give up which is why we all love the guy, he's such a great leader. All I am saying is we need to try to be less predictable on offense, is that so bad?

[Jrock88]

agree with panthers55 ... Kemo was definately a valuable piece to our defense... but im not sure you can write off our season because of him going down.

[Fireball77]

The Colts are sort of "predictable" on offense as far as variety. They don't have a whole lot of plays or formations. They beat you simply because they have a ton of skill players on O and their execution is amazing.

[panthers55]

If you read my 2nd post you will see that I no longer think we are a super bowl contender without Kemo. I don't see how you think our defense will be better this season without Kemo. Him being gone is not only going to hurt our defense at stopping the run but it's going to hurt our LB's and it will put even more pressure on our secondary.

That is chicken little mentality. One guy doesn't kill your chances nor will he be the only guy we lose. Kemo was very valuable last year but how effective he would be in our new scheme remained to be seen. You can't decide how we will be based on last year's results since we are running different line schemes and have a different line philosophy. Teams like the Eagles were 4th in run defense last year with no DT over 305 lbs. It is some about how big you are but also about speed, leverage and other factors.

[Jrock88]

and I'm not quite sure how you consider our offense predictable and boring... we had one of the most explosive offenses in the league last year and I had a hell of a time watching it.... if it ain't broke...

[panthers55]

I'm not saying we should become the Saints and score like crazy and play no defense because I know Fox will never play like that. What I am saying is we should open up the playbook and find more ways to get the ball in Smitty's hands and our other playmakers like DeAngelo and Stewart need to catch the ball out of the backfield more. I have no doubt that Beason will not let our defense give up which is why we all love the guy, he's such a great leader. All I am saying is we need to try to be less predictable on offense, is that so bad?

And what I am saying is that our offense was plenty good last year and will be plenty good this year just as it is. And we won't win more than 8 games unless the defense steps up a bunch. We won a lot of games last year on last quarter drives that we can't count on this year. The teams we play have better defenses as will some teams in our division. The defense will be the key to our success this year. And the defense while thin at DT may not be much worse off with Kemo out if we can find his replacement. In some ways he limited what we could do. The biggest issue is that we lost him and still get no cap relief which is huge. I am just waiting to see what Meeks will do. I suspect Favorite is not going to win the job but we need to see what he can do. I also figure that we might not have the starter on the squad yet, I just don't know. But I am not ready to concede anything yet.

[Fireball77]

And we won't win more than 8 games unless the defense steps up a bunch.

Q to the F to the T.

[CRA]

Carolina won with offense last year. Our D was like a wet paper bag the entire 2nd half of the season. If our D is any worse than it was the 2nd half of the season we won't make the playoffs......it would be hard for the offense to be THAT much better than they were last year.