Week 8 WIN against Indianapolis - Stats & Analysis

[KB_fan]

Hmmm... any chance we get another Defensive Player of the week award?!

 

Max Henson ‏@PanthersMax 5m5 minutes ago

Quite a performance from the Carolina safeties.

Max Henson Retweeted Pro Football Focus

Pro Football Focus @PFF

Highest graded Safeties in Week 8:   CAR R. Harper +4.2   CAR K. Coleman +3.7    NE P. Chung +3.1…

 

 

 

 

 

[Datawire]

My favorite stat of the game. Well, maybe not a stat but I found it hilarious.

The Colts were AFC finalists last year, and they have a banner to prove it.

-Mike Tirico

[UKPanther94]

Imagine how good our defense would be if we had our 2013 pass rush with the secondary from now, it would be Denver levels of scary

[KB_fan]

The JNO effect:

 

[KB_fan]

MUST READ ARTICLE AT PFF:  "Physicality key to Panthers ground attack"

https://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2015/11/03/physicality-key-to-panthers-ground-attack/

Here's an excerpt:
 

Quote

 

The Panthers remain undefeated after their overtime win over the Colts on Monday Night Football. One of the biggest strengths of this team is its physicality. The Panthers’ are capable of imposing themselves on opponents with their power in the interior ground game. With a combination of potentially the best run-blocking interior trio and three beastly backs (Newton included in that count), Carolina wears down defenses on the ground. Let’s take a closer look at the key personnel in play.

Backfield beasts

A backfield comprised of Cam Newton, Jonathan Stewart, and Mike Tolbert is a scary proposition, with their combined 720 lbs an absolute nightmare for a would-be tackler. The advantage of having three physical downhill runners is that Carolina can keep each of them fresh, while tiring out the opposition. Rather than trying to use complimentary pieces, the Panthers have focused on building a specific identity, with similar players, and it’s a big reason they remain undefeated.

Jonathan Stewart is the workhorse. Over the past two years, he has just five negatively graded games. He’s currently our 10th overall running back this season, with 127 carries, 504 yards, and three touchdowns. Stewart also has 304 yards after contact, with 29 broken tackles. Those 29 broken tackles are the third most at the position, behind only Carlos Hyde and Doug Martin. It would be wrong to suggest Stewart is the most dominant back in the league—in fact, he graded negatively last night due to his fumble—but he is amongst the most physical.

The Panthers are a particularly difficult proposition when they run the zone read with Stewart and Newton in the backfield. Newton is our top-ranked QB in the ground game, having carried 51 times for 286 yards and four touchdowns (not including kneels and sneaks). He’s picked up 160 of those yards after contact, often asked to lower his shoulder on third down to keep drives alive. Only seven RBs average more than three yards after contact per attempt, illustrating the difficulty defenders have when trying to bring Newton down.

 

 

[KB_fan]

SHOCKED!!!  PFF has us at #2 in their power rankings heading into week 9. 

Here's the short blurb they include with a notable team factoid about the Panthers:

2. Carolina Panthers

The tight end with the most yards per route run in Weeks 5 through 8 is Greg Olsen, with 2.86. He has 275 yards on 96 routes.

[KB_fan]

BBR has posted Monday night's snap counts:  http://blackandbluereview.com/week-8-snap-counts-panthers-vs-colts/
 

Quote

 

–For the second time this season, a plan to get Daryl Williams playing time on offense was ruined by an injury. In Week 1, the rookie was in for just one snap on special teams before he left with a knee sprain. Then on Monday, Andrew Norwell’s early hamstring tweak kept Williams waiting while Chris Scott and Amini Silatolu filled in at left guard and Fernando Velasco played center for Ryan Kalil.

“You don’t want to throw two new guys in a spot, so we struggled with that,” coach Ron Rivera said Tuesday. “But, it also worked to the benefit that Daryl got another week off.’’

—Jonathan Stewart has played at least 50 snaps in half of the Panthers’ eight games.

—Cameron Artis-Payne was active but did not play for the second time in three weeks. His only snap in-between was a third-down carry against the Eagles.

—Devin Funchess’ weekly snap counts continue to trend downward: 26, 38, 31, 26, 21, 18, 10.

—Brenton Bersin has played six snaps with no targets since Jerricho Cotchery returned from a high-ankle sprain.

 

 

 

Quote

 

—Kurt Coleman has played 533 of a possible 534 snaps this season.

—Bené Benwikere’s 85 plays were a career high.

–Since his five-tackle, two-sack debut at Tampa Bay, Ryan Delaire has made one tackle in 104 snaps.

—A.J. Klein has seen just 17 snaps the past two weeks as the No. 3 linebacker.

 

 

In spite of talk re: increasing rotation, Tre Boston still got few snaps...

[KB_fan]

Also, here's the week 8 rookie watch:

http://blackandbluereview.com/carolina-panthers-rookie-watch-after-week-8/

With Shaq out due to injury, and Daryl not getting to play due to the shake up on the Oline caused by Norwell's injury, not much happening with the rookies this week.

Two most active:  Delaire got snaps on the Dline, and Mayo got ST snaps, but neither had a lot of obvious stats in the game.

[KB_fan]

Not exactly "stats" or "analysis" but here are the great GIFs from the game posted by @MurkN

It's kind of nice to have the link in this thread for context to the stats & analysis...

http://www.carolinahuddle.com/boards/topic/120453-gifs-from-the-colts-game/

[KB_fan]

Why stats don't tell the whole story - A good article re: Ron Rivera's comments yesterday regading TD's stats against the Colts.  Looked like TD had a down day.  Only 2 tackles.  He had 14 against Eagles.  But there's more to the story...

From today's Observer:  Here's an excerpt:

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article42756888.html

 

Quote

 

Panthers coach Ron Rivera regularly says that “figures lie and liars figure” when discussing statistics.

Statistics can tell some of the story, but one can also use statistics to distort the story.

So when Panthers linebacker Thomas Davis appears in the stat sheet from Monday night’s game with just two tackles and nothing else, that may be a case of figures lying.

Davis, who the week before had 13 tackles and has played this season like one of the best 4-3 outside linebackers in the league, still roamed the field, but Rivera saw the Colts shied away from him.

“He was everywhere,” Rivera said. “The only problem was they were paying attention to him and KK (Kawann Short). Watch how many times Thomas is up on the line and they redirected opposite him.”

 

 

[KB_fan]

So excited that Charles Tillman can own this record AS A PANTHER.  3 more interceptions needed in 9 games to break the record this season.  Let's go Panthers!  Let's go Peanut!

 

Panthers PR Dept. ‏@PanthersPR 34m34 minutes ago

CB Charles Tillman snared 1st INT w/ #Panthers Monday. Has 37 in career & 42 forced fumbles. Seeking to become 1st player w/ 40 INT & 40 FF

[KB_fan]

Nice graphic showing the locations of all of LUUUUKE's tackles against the Colts, and for the season to date:

http://www.charlottefive.com/tracking-carolina-panthers-linebacker-luke-kuechlys-tackles-week-8/

[KB_fan]

My own time to do any gamebook analysis this week is severely limited.  Here are a few stats & comments re: gamebook data from an article at C-S-R.

http://www.catscratchreader.com/2015/11/3/9666986/panthers-29-colts-26-inside-the-gamebook

 

Quote

 

I dove into this fully expecting to see some ugly numbers. My expectations were well founded.

3rd Down Efficiency: Colts 6/18 (33%) Panthers 4 of 16 (25%)

The Panthers were boosted by a 2 for 2 4th down percentage. I give Riverboat Ron some props for going with the flow on that drive to go for the TD instead of settling for a FG.

Avg Gain Per Pass Play: Colts 4.6 Panthers 6.5

This stat and the fact both teams averaged 3.9 yards per rushing attempt shows how out of character this game was. Basically the Colts sold out on the run and dared Newton to pas the ball... and he did when. In fact that drive in overtime to tie the game with a FG was very much like the last drive in Seattle. Whereas in the past the Panthers would find a way to falter on their last drive they instead found a way to drive the field. Receivers were making catches, lineman were holding their blocks and Newton was making the throws he needed to make.

Red Zone Efficiency: Colts 2-4 (50%) Panthers 2-3 (67%)

The defense came up so big down the stretch. I thought for sure we were going to give up the TD their at the end. The pass rush was gassed and Luck was dissecting the zone coverage. We somehow dug down and made a play.

Time of Possession: Colts 35:58 Panthers 33:40

This is the first game in a while the Panthers lost the time of possession edge. The OT kind of messes up the relevance though.

 

 

[KB_fan]

Also at C-S-R, a nice film analysis post looking at Cam's evolution as a QB, breaking down his TD throw to Greg Olsen against the Colts:

http://www.catscratchreader.com/2015/11/4/9666356/film-analysis-cam-newton-development-as-a-pocket-passer