Are the Panther's an Offensive team now?

[bleys]

Here are my thoughts on this discussion..

Forgetting scheme altogether...

Our F.O. went back to the philosophy of having big, road grating offensive lineman and have brought in 2 very effective RB's to carry the ball.. Throw in Moose to take some pressure off Smitty and we now have a solid #2, which we have been dying from in the past... (the WR's we are hoping come through this year are #3 and #4, and a TE threat would be great too)

We brought in a different DC and again, forgetting scheme, we do know one thing that is different from Trgo: a focus on fundamentals. With that alone, I expect to see an improvement over last year, even if it takes time for them to catch on, especially with the few changes they are having to learn in scheme.

I don't think the question has to do with what the FO believes in whether we are an offensive team or a defensive team. They seem to keep a good balance of high picks on both sides of the ball..

The media and fans are the ones who are going to try to label it as such, which will be based mostly on who shines the most, the offense or defense..

This is kind of one of those things that the team isn't really concerned about as much as the fans are..

But as of right now, IIRC, the defense takes more cap space.. So perhaps the answer is still defense?

[The Pieyed Piper]

We havent even played a preseason game yet and already our defense is great just because we hired Ron Meeks? (who never had a great defense in Indy either) WOW! :confused:

I bet you need to smoke some weed.

[Mr. Scot]

Are the Panther's an Offensive team now?

At the rate defensive guys are dropping, they soon will be :sosp:

[Gman was right]

I bet you need to smoke some weed.

Based on the posts that I keep reading I must not smoking enough.

[thefuzz]

I never agreed with that argument. How many teams have 2 top-tier Wideouts? Arizona? New England? It's few and far between that you can get the talent of an Anquan Boldin and a Larry Fitzgerald on one team. I bet Warner would take our running duo over Breaston and Boldin in a second. Besides, Moose damn near had a thousand yards receiving himself. That's a serviceable #2 when Smitty is your 1. At least for probably this year and next, maybe 3, then Smitty's explosiveness won't be his greatest attribute anymore, and we'll need to look at future WR options.

Our O is fine IMO, it's our piss-poor pressure that I worry about on D.

I understand what you are saying, and I agree with you that you don't need two superstars to be successful. All I am saying is that we have a very medicore D, and a very good O, just not explosive.

Explosive O's are

NE

SD

NO

Indy

etc...

Those teams can be tough to beat with a middle of the pack D, we however need a D to be closer to the top 10 in the league to win consistantly. IMO

[Fireball77]

As I have noted elsewhere, per Lombardi and the stats bear it out, the Cats have a big play offense with run AND pass which doesn't mean they are necessarily explosive in the way fuzz means it. Cats did not have a top 10 type D but won 12 games so it can work to that extent...but no doubt about it, the D is the area that has to get into the top 10. Not one of the teams fuzz mentioned have either won a SB mainly due to their pass offense or won a SB at all while having that high flying O.

[Jangler]

We havent even played a preseason game yet and already our defense is great just because we hired Ron Meeks? (who never had a great defense in Indy either) WOW! :confused:

Good Job, we have now identified your problem. Reading comprehension. Nobody in this thread has said the defense is great except you.

[PantherPhann89]

I think that our run game will just as good as last year, maybe a little better since we've got a few twist to throw in there: new FB and Goodson. I am overly concerned about lack of depth on the O and D line. We had a few key injuries throughout the season last year. We are so salary cap strapped we can't sign any names, instead we're tested to find a cheap gem. Our O isn't built to put up a lot of points, it's built to clock the game. We really need a third WR, I think Jarrett will bust, I'm looking at Carter. I'm hearing this year just as last that he doesn't drop many balls. I think that he may fit into the slot well.

[AKPantherFan]

I know we are one of VERY FEW teams with a Top 3 RB, WR, LB'r, and DE..

Not to mention a TOP 3 OL

And some very feared Corners.

Not to many teams can say that.....

[CRA]

I know we are one of VERY FEW teams with a Top 3 RB, WR, LB'r, and DE..

Not to mention a TOP 3 OL

And some very feared Corners.

Not to many teams can say that.....

I was with you....but then you lost me w/ the feared corners.

[thefuzz]

As I have noted elsewhere, per Lombardi and the stats bear it out, the Cats have a big play offense with run AND pass which doesn't mean they are necessarily explosive in the way fuzz means it. Cats did not have a top 10 type D but won 12 games so it can work to that extent...but no doubt about it, the D is the area that has to get into the top 10. Not one of the teams fuzz mentioned have either won a SB mainly due to their pass offense or won a SB at all while having that high flying O.

YUP.

We can have big plays, SS and Williams have shown that, but I don't call our O explosive.

NO nor SD have won a SB, the Pats, and Colts won when their D was playing very well, and the O didn't have to outscore the other side.

We need a D in the top third of the league to remain in the playoffs consistantly.

Indy, SD, and the Pats are almost a given going to the playoffs year in and year our because of their O, but they need the D terribly to make a push to the top.

[Fireball77]

I'm not going to say it is IMPOSSIBLE ever to win with offense but the fact is that the Pats had one of the best offenses of all time in 2007 and guess what? Their D was mediocre so they couldn't get it done because their O put the "O" in "owned" in that game. And when they had a great D they OWNED the high powered Colts O. The greatest QB in the world can't help win/get to championships as much as great defense can (and it was the Colts O NOT THEIR D that failed them the most in just about every single playoff run they ever made in the Manning era).

[thefuzz]

Certainly not impossible, not by any means. 99/00 Rams are proof of that.

Pitt has been so successful as of late because of that smothering D. Last year they couldn't run or pass the rock and still were able to get it done.

[Fireball77]

99 Rams D (the SB winning D)was 4th in the NFL in PA.

Yes Pitt has had a great D for many many years (LeBeau should be first ballot HOF assistants allowed or not). All they needed was a COMPETENT QB. Not ELITE...competent.