Too Dependent Upon Smith?

[Davidson Deac II]

i like what davidson is doing. the only thing i would like to see more is passes to the RBs, more WR screens to smitty and a few more trick plays. i have a feeling that we are going to start seeing this stuff beginning sunday.

We do have 36 passes to the running backs this year. Doesn't sound like much until you realize that we throw the ball less than just about any team in the NFL (tied for last in passing attempts).

[SteveSmitty]

We do have 36 passes to the running backs this year. Doesn't sound like much until you realize that we throw the ball less than just about any team in the NFL (tied for last in passing attempts).

Hopefully that'll change. We need to open the passing game up to keep teams from locking in on the run. And not to mention we have one of the most talented WR in the league too.

[Davidson Deac II]

Hopefully that'll change. We need to open the passing game up to keep teams from locking in on the run. And not to mention we have one of the most talented WR in the league too.

Over the last few games, we have passed and passed effectively when needed. We just haven't needed to pass much.

Jake had a great game against Atlanta. Distributed the ball well (6 different players had 2 or more catches), unfortunately it came as we experienced bad play from the d and special teams.

[faultlessjoint]

Speaking of Steve Smith, I was just reading his wikipedia article and found something funny. Check out the last line. I wonder how long that's been up / how long it will stay there?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Smith_(Carolina_Panthers)

[Skew]

Speaking of Steve Smith, I was just reading his wikipedia article and found something funny. Check out the last line. I wonder how long that's been up / how long it will stay there?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Smith_(Carolina_Panthers)

"Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name."

Why don't you just tell us what the last line was?

[pstall]

I would like to see SS get it MORE in the way of reverses etc. Get that dude in space.

HOWEVER, as long as teams are dumb enough to single cover then you have to destroy them.

I would feel just a wee bit better if the TE's were catching, not just being thrown too, at least 3-4 a game.

Jarrett or DJ are going to be left alone down the stretch. Those two are going to have to make some big plays in the playoffs.

But right now the way the running game is going, Jake can lock in on SS because the D is having to think so much about the run.

[beastson]

With Smith in the slot, you can use him over and over

[tarheelpride]

i'm just not basing this question off of Denver's game. for some reasons i keep envisioning Delhomme staring down smith again like he has earlier in the year. i mean if smith is open, give him the ball. the problem with me comes in at when he tries to throw it in coverage like he did against oakland.

but i guess this probably deals with the fact i like passing more than running, despite our two headed monster. i kinda wanted us to start throwing a lil bit more - using the pass to set up the run - to free up those lines i forsee coming. jake has slung the ball around and abused teams before and we can still run for 150-175 yards while slightly increasing delhomme's attempts. let those increase in attempts go to someone like rosario or jarrett or muhammad to free up smitty some more. that's what i'm trying to say in a nutshell, not decrease smith's effectiveness by giving him the ball less.

[Squirrel]

Not this year like in years past. Moose demands the ball and Jake knows to spread it around now.

[Squirrel]

I have seen Jake not see Smitty wide open a couple times this year because he was checking down. Not a bad thing just that Smitty got open after Jake looked at him.

[ed bell]

I dont know why we dont get him the ball more. It seems like until the past 2 weeks we've almost completely ditched the quick screen pass to Smitty. We lived and died off that play in 2005 and it got us to the NFC championship game. Now that we have a balanced rushing attack (a very good one at that), we should be slipping this in there more than we do. Luckily we've done this the past couple of weeks and it's gotten a first down almost everytime.

Steve Smith is our best player. He should be at atleast 100 receptions before the seasons done with, or that in my opinion is a disappointment. He is a game changer.

Seems like that play showed up once against Denver for a TD but it has been utilized far less often. I seem to remember one thing about our offense in the playoffs, unpredictable. Many seldom used plays, formations and tendencies seem to come out in the playoffs. A lot of what has been happening in some of these blowout games offensively makes it tougher for teams to prepare for us when these games count. I got the feeling that we were avoiding some of our bread and butter tendencies and plays. I am betting that our coaching staff treats this weekend's game exactly like a playoff game. I can't wait to see what happens.

[dksmith17]

I think our TOTAL offense is not dependent on Smitty at all anymore. With our running game Smitty makes our offense especially dangerous but I think our pass game would function fine without him if our run game is hitting like it has been recently.

The Denver game was perfect for Carolina.... It showed that Foxy and company was not scared to come out throwing if they drop 8 guys in the box. And Jake and company have the ability to absolutely torch people. Imagine if you are Coughlin looking at this game film and see the difference in the past 2 weeks. If anything our offense is now unpredictable.

Our defense was similar in the Denver game. Aside of the 1st drive... we got little pressure on the qb but our coverage was mixed enough and solid enough that we gave Cutler problems. This was something that was missing in previous games. This combination of mixing up coverages on defense combined with NYG recent ineptness at pass protection makes our matchup vs NYG especially enticing.

[tarheelpride]

Speaking of Steve Smith, I was just reading his wikipedia article and found something funny. Check out the last line. I wonder how long that's been up / how long it will stay there?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Smith_(Carolina_Panthers)

it mite help if you closed the parenthesis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Smith_(Carolina_Panthers)

[tarheelpride]

In May 2008, Smith announced that he is working at Morgan Stanley's Charlotte, NC office as a financial planning intern. Speed defined as incendiary[citation needed]

says it all