KB_fan

A bit unrelated, but don't know where else to post it. Greg Olsen is broadcasting our game vs. Dallas on Sunday, and he'll be on WFNZ tomorrow morning with Mac & Bone. 9 a.m. I think....

Tommy Tremble spoke to media after practice today. (I haven't listened yet)

We should start using Brad Panovich's favorite hashtag... #SnOMG

We have 6 2022 picks at the moment...:

Hmmmm. Your stats are different than the ones I saw on NFL GSIS. I'll have to check and see if there's been an update. Checked and we're still #1 in Yards allowed Rushing Yards allowed Passing Yards allowed #2 in Points allowed (behind Denver) https://www.nflgsis.com/GameStatsLive/Statistics (if anyone wants to access this... username & password are both NFL).

So here's a season-to-date look at Panthers' 3rd/4th down offense: Now here's the breakdown by half. Our offense was making clutch plays in 1st half vs. Saints & 2nd half vs. Texans, converting 70% or more of 3rd downs, but ALSO, doing a great job of staying out of 3rd down (look at the very very low percent of 3rd/4th down plays in both those halves: 18% First Half vs. Saints, 11% Second Half vs. Texans) Here's the breakdown of our offense' 3rd/4th down conversion by Distance: (note: the lines in BLUE are frequency percent. What % of 3rd downs in a game are short, medium or long? Look at the figures in bold black for the success rate in converting on 3rd/4th down). Finally, here is the breakdown by type of play (Pass / Rush). Again, blue is frequency (we pass on 75% of 3rd/4th downs currently). Black is the success % in converting.

Hopefully though, we'll have a LOT FEWER holes on our roster. I mean 11 picks this past year, of whom 4 or 5 are already playing and showing great potential, plus 4 or 5 or guys from 2020 class... Obviously Fitterer really values draft picks. I'm sure he'll do all he can to maximize our 6 picks next year and increase that number.

After 3 weeks (pending MNF, which shouldn't change anything at the top of the leaderboard...) Panthers continue to lead the league in 3rd down defense. These numbers really impress me... I wanted to put them in context, so I did a little research. I just did some digging at Team Rankings (which allows you to look at stats for any given week in a past season by changing the date.... I LOVE that feature!) Here are what the 3rd down conversion defense leaders' stats looked like after week 3 going back to 2015. 2015 Denver 18.7% 2016 Seattle 25% 2017 Baltimore 24.3% 2018 Kansas City 25.8% 2019 New England 12.8% 2020 Arizona 28.6% So the Panthers' current performance of allowing only 22% conversion on 3rd down puts us in some pretty great company in terms of dominating, winning defenses: In the past 6 seasons, only Denver 2015 (sigh) and New England 2019 were off to better starts in terms of shutting down teams on 3rd down. Defense wins championships baby! Here's Panthers' ranking & performance on 3rd down defense (entire season) for some past seasons: 2003 34.0% (#7) 2013 36.3% (#12) 2014 42.1% (#21) 2015 36.9% (#9) 2016 37.9% (#11) 2017 37.4% (#12) 2018 39.9% (#20) 2019 39.9% (#21) 2020 49.3% (#31)

I think one thing that is striking me is that we're getting the stops on 1st down, 3rd down. Not relying on forcing turnovers which can be a bit fluky (very hard to repeat from year to year in leading in turnovers). The run defense has been eye-opening after several years of being dreadful. I'll be updating my stats thread on defensive performance on 3rd downs later today... But Panthers still leading the league with a rather astonishing rate of 22% in 3rd down conversions allowed after 3 games. I just did some digging at Team Rankings (which allows you to look at stats for any given week in a past season by changing the date.... I LOVE that feature!) Here are what the 3rd down conversion % leaders' stats looked like after week 3 since 2015. 2015 Denver 18.7% 2016 Seattle 25% 2017 Baltimore 24.3% 2018 Kansas City 25.8% 2019 New England 12.8% 2020 Arizona 28.6% So the Panthers' current performace of allowing only 22% conversion on 3rd down puts us in some pretty great company in terms of dominating, winning defenses: In the past 6 seasons, only Denver 2015 (sigh) and New England 2019 were off to better starts in terms of shutting down teams on 3rd down. Defense wins championships baby! Here's Panthers' ranking & performance on 3rd down defense for some past seasons: 2003 34.0% (#7) 2013 36.3% (#12) 2014 42.1% (#21) 2015 36.9% (#9) 2016 37.9% (#11) 2017 37.4% (#12) 2018 39.9% (#20) 2019 39.9% (#21) 2020 49.3% (#31)

Absolutely! I love the flexibility on the IR and the ability to bring up players from the PS on game day without waiving someone.

Exactly. Contrast with bringing in Jared Allen in 2015. Jared Allen did help in 2015, as did Peanut Tillman, for sure. But one & done, getting the last juice out of Hall of Famers. This is a totally different scenario. Don't derail the rebuild or mess with what you've got cooking in terms of team identity and chemistry with these hungry to win, super-athletic young studs.

I think it was Baldy's enthusiasm about our rookies that most grabbed my attention. Sucks that Jaycee suffered a freak injury. But love to see how TMJ, Tremble and Hubbard all stepped up when CMC went out. Yes, there will be rookie mistakes. But playing these guys now in live game reps versus the opponents starters. Invaluable for their development and bodes so well for the future of the team. When you know much more precisely what you have in one rookie class, makes it so much easier to scout and draft the next one. You're not just guessing and hoping that so and so can become a good player based on practice reps. You already have evidence pro or con on the field. Makes it more important to my way of thinking that Brady C and Deonte Brown get some playing time. (But that's a lot harder to do with O line where you don't just sub in / sub out guys as you can do with skill players).

Pending MNF, Panthers still have #1 defense in yards allowed (2nd in points, behind Denver). Also lead in passing yards, rushing yards, sacks, 3rd down conversions allowed.

Kicker. Obviously!

I would have agreed with you if this had happened 3 weeks ago, but Donte looking like a new man in that Captain's jersey. His open field tackling has been elite. He's been a HUGE part of why we're leading the league in run blocking after being atrocious for the past several years. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out. There's still a long season ahead. I'd love to see us keep Donte, but obviously you can't keep everyone. I just hope he gets TONS of appreciation for how he's played so far this season.

A bit of bonus Baldy.... a breakdown he did on CJ Henderson from last season:

Paradis did have heads up plays on two fumbles though, recovering both. I've not been a fan of his, but at least on those plays he made a huge difference towards helping us win,

I think that's all of them.... Enjoy!