Who is the most important player on the panthers defense?

[Marguide]

Generally speaking, a great DE carries more value than a great defensive tackle, who in turn carries more value than a LB.

 

Luke is an exception to the rule. He makes everyone on our defense work as a unit, and you add that to his exceptional talent and instincts and he becomes the most important cog in our D.

 

We've seen that neither CJ nor Hardy can single-handedly improve a D, at least to a significant degree. I don't believe Star could do it alone either. But there is no doubt that our D was instantly better once Luke became our starting MLB. He is just a really special player.

[panthers55]

I'm not confusing anything but congrats on being condescending like usual. I have a different way of looking at it. You don't agree. Ok. And again best player is not the same as most important

The point is that isn't just me but virtually everyone else who agrees that Luke is the most important person which is why he was the NFL DPOY.  Ask any Panther player who is the most important player on the defense and they would say Luke.  That includes Star himself, I suspect.

 

If I am condescending you are argumentative and pigheaded.  Don't know you have room to be casting many stones.  

[TheRumGone]

The point is that isn't just me but virtually everyone else who agrees that Luke is the most important person which is why he was the NFL DPOY. Ask any Panther player who is the most important player on the defense and they would say Luke. That includes Star himself, I suspect.

If I am condescending you are argumentative and pigheaded. Don't know you have room to be casting many stones.

Ok cool

[Gin and Juice]

I think we are at the point where a shut down corner would take our D from very good to great! But Luke is by far the most important

[panthers55]

I think we are at the point where a shut down corner would take our D from very good to great! But Luke is by far the most important

If we could pick up a shutdown corner at 28, it would be huge given the wide receivers we have to face in our division.  It would be a very important piece.

[dunnlx]

Wishing on a Star!

[dunnlx]

Star had a good year and will only get better. But honestly Luke had a great year with nobodies in 2012. So no Star didn't make Luke. Luke was also great without him and would be even if he were not here. That is the thing, we couldn't do without Luke but honestly we could be okay without Star. It is good we don't have to but he is not the glue like Luke is.

Okay, let's get rid of Star and bring Fua back and start him. Lmao!

[panthers55]

Okay, let's get rid of Star and bring Fua back and start him. Lmao!

Yeah because everyone has said Star isn't a very good player and no better than Fua.  The conversation was who was the most important player on the defense not that we don't value Star or think he was a huge upgrade of whoever we had before him.  

[Frizzy350]

Unquestionably Luke.  This unit went from 28th ranked to top 10 in 2012 when luke started at mike.

[Frizzy350]

Best player doesn't necessarily mean most important. Sorry but star is the connecting piece to everybody in that defense

 

Star is definitely a good player and is only going to get better but I think our defense would have been still pretty good with Colin Cole.  I don't think this defense would be all that impressive.

 

You have to value the difference in positional dominance.  Star is significantly better than your average DT, but Luke makes average MLBs look like they are in JUCO.  MLBs on this level are pretty rare, and while you can argue DT is a more important position, guys that are that far ahead of an average player will also improve the defense.

 

Sideline to sideline MLBs that can cover allow the Dlinemen to play a bit more aggressive and solely focus on working their gap.  They know theres solid cleanup work right behind them if something gets by them.

[TheRumGone]

Star is definitely a good player and is only going to get better but I think our defense would have been still pretty good with Colin Cole.  I don't think this defense would be all that impressive.

 

You have to value the difference in positional dominance.  Star is significantly better than your average DT, but Luke makes average MLBs look like they are in JUCO.  MLBs on this level are pretty rare, and while you can argue DT is a more important position, guys that are that far ahead of an average player will also improve the defense.

 

Sideline to sideline MLBs that can cover allow the Dlinemen to play a bit more aggressive and solely focus on working their gap.  They know theres solid cleanup work right behind them if something gets by them.

 

i totally get where people are coming from with this and positional value. Besides p55 dumb comments about me coming out of left field and apparently not "getting it" this was a good debate to have and was civil. Star is rare like kuechly, i believe that. that was just his rookie year and oftentimes he was playing beside another rookie in KK. they dominated the line pure and simple.

 

i just think star puts us over the top. people have argued if we had an average to a little above average dt that our defense would have been about the same. i disagree completely. star gives us that extra oomph that makes other players impacts greater to where we go from a very good defense to an elite one.

 

it's obviously a combination of talented pieces. but look greg hardy 15 sacks, luke kuechly dpoy, ect. stars ability to command double teams and not only just stop them in place but push the pocket in the qbs face, blocking up running lanes to free keek to make quicker more direct first step decisions (which he was already great at) just takes the cake for me. He makes everybody on the ENTIRE defense better.

 

we can debate this till we are blue in the face but damn we are lucky to have these two guys and i can't wait to see this coming years growth.

 

 

[Udogg]

Agonized and thought about this..... gonna say Star is the most valuable.  Overall our DT play has improved but Star is the only one you pretty much have double team. No one running up the middle with impunity.  Keeping blockers off of Luke and the LB's has made our LB play stand out even more. 

I mean think about it, when Jon Beason wasn't hurt he was playing at close to the same level as Luke.  We had a shutdown corner, Peppers yada yada and our defense wasn't nearly as good.  When was our defense good?  When Kris Jenkins actually cared.  So after long thought DT is the most important player on the defense and Star is our best DT. 

[Zithers]

luke... defense completely turned around when he shifted from WLB to MLB. ever since that happened we've been in pretty good shape on D.

[TheRumGone]

It's easy to pick luke because of his stats and game changing plays. Who allows him the opportunities?

We went from 28th to 10th but we lost games because of the defense, remember? We got exceptional dt play out of rooks and look what happened