Improving the Panthers pass protection

[pantherking15]

Why are the coaches not giving Mike Remmers any reps at LT? He may not have the athleticism required in a top notch LT, but he has solid pass protection skills and is experienced. If Michael Oher continues to struggle and plays like Bell, our best O-line lineup could be Remmers/Norwell/Kalil/Turner/Williams.

I'm not going to worry about offensive struggles until the regular season starts because as seen in the past 4 years, the Panthers run an extremely vanilla offense in training camp and pre-season. I am worried about Oher getting beat in one on one matchups. But even with Oher struggling in camp, I'm very confident the O-line will be much better this year because of the huge improvement at LG and RG. If LT is our only weakness, we can scheme around it and use RB/FB help. There was no possible scheming that could have helped last year's O-line of Bell/Silatolu/Kalil/Velasco/Chandler.

Also, apparently our RBs are really good at breaking tackles on pass receptions.

                                                            

 

One simple thing Mike Shula can do to catalyze the offense is call more screen plays to RBs and WRs. We have numerous weapons for the sceen game and for checkdowns: Stew, Tolbert, Fozzy, Ginn, Brown, Funchess, Byrd. It would definitely fit in with Rivera/Shula's conservative ball control mindset.

Cam also seems to be more willing to check the ball down to our RBs instead of scrambling when the pass protection doesn't hold or when no one gets open. This would get Cam in a rhythm faster and elevate his completion percentage.

Rivera said Newton is reading defenses better and understanding more the importance of using safety valves when the primary receivers are covered.

And of course the biggest thing to help out struggling pass protection is to run the ball extremely well. It keeps the speed DE's at bay (or off the field), sucks in the CBs/LBs/safeties, and sets up big play action passes.

Reminder: New England and Seattle both reached the Super Bowl despite having the 31st and 18th ranked pass protection, as rated by PFF.

With this defense and an experienced Cam with our new offensive weapons, we just need Oher or Remmers to be a moderate improvement over Bell in order to compete with the elite teams of the NFL.

 

                                                                         

[Jeremy Igo]

Solid thread. 

In the presser today Rivera praised McD for how well the D is playing already but then went on to admit the offense hasn't been that great, didn't say why. 

 

Shula has much of the same personel as last year. 1 new starter on offense. Yet they are behind.  Why exactly is that? 

[davos]

Solid thread. 

In the presser today Rivera praised McD for how well the D is playing already but then went on to admit the offense hasn't been that great, didn't say why. 

 

Shula has much of the same personel as last year. 1 new starter on offense. Yet they are behind.  Why exactly is that? 

Outside of the easy Shula jab, I can see it being in big part because of the positional/assistant coaches. 

The work of Matsko, Brown, Dorsey, and Proehl is more important than many think in my opinion. 

[pantherfan49]

Solid thread. 

In the presser today Rivera praised McD for how well the D is playing already but then went on to admit the offense hasn't been that great, didn't say why. 

 

Shula has much of the same personel as last year. 1 new starter on offense. Yet they are behind.  Why exactly is that? 

that's how it always is the first week of training camp. 

[nctarheel0619]

Shula's got to find a way to figure out how to get the pass plays out quicker or we'll start out shitty again.  

[2jakefansinva]

the offense will have a quicker tempo this season.............book it.

[Udogg]

Our run game starts slow our team starts slow.    An offense predicated on the threat of the run option isn't effective if the running game is non existent. 

Blame last year on Chandler, Bell, Silatolu, and Velasco.   You can see the difference in our last few games in the time Cam had in the pocket.   Cam (like most QB's) does not handle pressure well up the middle.   Outside pressure he can deal with.  You know what improves our offensive play every year for the last 3 years?   Silatolu being injured.  Even with Byron Bell, our Oline play looked a whole lot better at the end of the year.  Our run game became a whole lot better once Norwell/Williams started playing.  And the overall line play started being better when Remmers started playing.

Keys to better start this year:

1. Keep Silatolu away from our Oline.   I can't stress this enough.  He is HORRIBLE.

2. Run ball effectively.

3. Stretch the field.  We have the speed to do so this year.  With Brown, Ginn and maybe Byrd.

[beastson]

the offense will have a quicker tempo this season.............book it.

There's no other choice. But watch it stay slow.

[MHS831]

Offense is about timing, Defense is about reaction.  To expect them to be at the same speed is a bit unfair.  As a (former) high school coach, the first few weeks of practice was about the offense trying to catch up to the defense.  I am guessing the pro game is the same.

[panther4life]

While we did grade out better overall due to our interior line play you can't ignore the difference between us and anyone else (including the 2 teams listed above) at tackle play. Had to be the worst bookends in the league by a mile. Again nothing can be worse than Bell but if Oher shows he can't cut it, I agree I'd like to give Remmers a shot and even expirement more with Silatolu out there. 

 

 

[GRWatcher]

Solid thread. 

In the presser today Rivera praised McD for how well the D is playing already but then went on to admit the offense hasn't been that great, didn't say why. 

 

Shula has much of the same personel as last year. 1 new starter on offense. Yet they are behind.  Why exactly is that? 

I would sincerely hope that, even with the same personnel, Shula is installing new schemes & plays. Plus what MHS831 said about timing vs reaction. Where is that darn party RV so the o-line can gel quicker? Remember that lol?

[X-Clown on 1]

From now one, please write all articles for ESPN.  The world will thank you.

[UpstatePanther]

Offense is about timing, Defense is about reaction.  To expect them to be at the same speed is a bit unfair.  As a (former) high school coach, the first few weeks of practice was about the offense trying to catch up to the defense.  I am guessing the pro game is the same.

this is the reason im not yet concerned by the offense's slow start to camp. its much easier to react (defense) than it is to get timing right (offense). i was at practice today (Thursday) and the offense showed signs of improvement as a whole, so i am encouraged. if nothing changed significantly by the end of the preseason, THEN i'll be concerned. 

[scpanther22]

Watching this team try to run a screen last year was painful at times...now that I think about it we haven't been good at screens in a long time. No matter the coach its like we're allergic to a good screen game.