Carolina #1 in Peter King's rankings, accompanied by quality analysis

[KSpan]

Peter King has been converted.

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2015/12/01/carolina-panthers-undefeated-cam-newton-offense-nfl-week-12

Not sure how to quote on mobile, but a snippet from the write-up:

"

It’s such a great story, the Panthers as the only unbeaten team in the NFL entering December. Stunning, really. Cam Newton’s favorite receiver goes down with a torn ACL in training camp, and the top two draft picks are thought to have been drafted too early, and GM Dave Gettleman is questioned for not getting Newton enough weapons and a good enough offensive line. The Panthers are chuckling at all of it now. They’re 11-0. And there is absolutely nothing fluky about it.

Case in point: In the last nine games, Carolina has scored 27 points or more in every game. Look at the best offenses in football. New England has scored 27 points seven times in their last nine games. Cincinnati, seven times. Arizona, five times. Green Bay, four. Pittsburgh, three. This was supposed to be a struggling offense with few weapons, having lost top receiver Kelvin Benjamin (ACL) and the franchise’s all time leading rusher DeAngelo Williams (free agency). But the Panthers have won by 17, 28 and 19 in the last three weeks. With five games to play, they have a decent chance to be the second team in NFL history—along with the ’07 Patriots—to go through a regular season 16-0."

[KB_fan]

Finally!  Someone noticing our offense as well as our defense.  Funnily enough, our offense was in the top 5 (points per game, and rushing yards / game) before our defense hit the top 5. 

It's been surprising me how few analysts could get past their prejudices about the Panthers (low scoring, defensive dominance) and actually NOTICE our point totals...

[KB_fan]

Y'all know I'm a stat geek...

But this stat geek just LOVES what Peter King wrote about Cam's JOY in playing and the difference that's making to our offense.

Yup. I've been seeing it, and it's one of those things that can't be quantified.  Glad to see this reality is getting notice.

[TN05]

5 minutes ago, KB_fan said:

Finally!  Someone noticing our offense as well as our defense.  Funnily enough, our offense was in the top 5 (points per game, and rushing yards / game) before our defense hit the top 5. 

It's been surprising me how few analysts could get past their prejudices about the Panthers (low scoring, defensive dominance) and actually NOTICE our point totals...

People who haven't watched us all season seem to really just be judging us as if this is our 2013 offense. Problem is it's nothing like that. Cam's YPC is nearly as high as in 2011; our running game is far more varied and effective than it ever was in 2013.

[twylyght]

Not to be the stickler, but our defense has accounted for a fair amount of that offense 

[MHS831]

You all wanted respect.  Now buckle up because there is a lot that comes with it.

[KSpan]

11 minutes ago, twylyght said:

Not to be the stickler, but our defense has accounted for a fair amount of that offense 

The writeup gives the defense props as well. There have been 4 pick-6s, which is great production but accounts for slightly over 2 points a game.

If you're referring to turnovers, the defense is out to do that no matter what - it's the offense's job to turn that field position into points. Unlike 2013, they're getting that job done this year. Still room for improvement and times when TDs were left on the field for field goals, but much better than 2013.

[the_philosopher]

Yeah, all that praise and then he says, "3. New England (10-1). I would likely still have them No. 1, even with a loss, if Gronkowski wasn’t iffy."

[KB_fan]

40 minutes ago, twylyght said:

Not to be the stickler, but our defense has accounted for a fair amount of that offense 

Of course.  We've scored 103 points off of 28 turnovers.  That's huge.  No denying our defense's role in our wins.

But only 28 of those points have been directly scored by the defense (4 pick 6s).  Our offense still has to get the ball in the end zone or close enough for FGs.  Not all the turnovers have come within easy scoring range, though many have.

Look at the team takeaway - giveaway stats rankings

Not all teams that have high numbers of takeaways are scoring high numbers of points off those takeaways:

http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-takeaway-giveaway-statistics/2015/

I copied that data into Excel so I could calculate a figure for points per takeaway.  Here are the resutls.  The table is sorted by points scored per takeaway - best to worst.

(figures in blue lead the league)

 

Panthers are scoring 3.7 points per takeaway - 4th highest in the league.   So, we not only lead the league in takeaways, but we're among the best in scoring high numbers of points off of takeaways.

Giants are second in takeaways - they have 23 takeaways compared to Panthers 28.  But they have only 70 points scored (3 points per takeaway).  Look at Denver:  they have 20 takeaways, but only 54 points (2.7 points per takeaway).

SO, it's not enough just to have a good defense.  You also need an efficient & opportunistic offense.  And we've got that this year.

And we happen to lead the league (tied with Greenbay) for the fewest points allowed per turnover.   So we've got a GREAT defense, and a VERY VERY solid offense.

Excellent combination.

[FootballMaestro]

54 minutes ago, twylyght said:

Not to be the stickler, but our defense has accounted for a fair amount of that offense 

Please get the Dallas game out of your mind. Cause that was not indicative of the entire season, nationally televised game or not.

We've seen the Panthers win several shootouts when they defense was no where to be seen, especially in the 2nd half for all the marbles.

How soon to people forget (even Panther fans) to media Made Up narratives.

[PntherPryd]

4 minutes ago, FootballMaestro said:

Please get the Dallas game out of your mind. Cause that was not indicative of the entire season, nationally televised game or not.

We've seen the Panthers win several shootouts when they defense was no where to be seen, especially in the 2nd half for all the marbles.

How soon to people forget (even Panther fans) to media Made Up narratives.

 

Our defense is third in the league in scoring.  That didn't just happen in the cowboy game.  It was a fair point.

Here's why I get excited every week, all three of our phases (Off, Def, ST) are all playing well but could all play better.

The players all know we still have not put together a complete game yet they all have confidence in each other.

 

[DaveThePanther2008]

1 hour ago, twylyght said:

Not to be the stickler, but our defense has accounted for a fair amount of that offense 

Our defense shuts teams down and when our offense stalls we get our punter to bury them deep so our defense can shut them down again and we get the ball in good field position. 

If you're whining about our defense being stout and giving our offense the ball in great field position.  The other team on Sunday has a pretty good offense.  You could go cheer for them.

It's a team effort.   If I remember correctly Cam had 4 - 80 yd drives in one game.   Pretty impressive if you ask me.  If the D give our offense a short field doesn't mean they can't march 80 yds to score.   Just means the defense did their job.

[UpstatePanther]

1 hour ago, KB_fan said:

Excellent combination.

Championship combination

[twylyght]

A lot of sandy vaginas in here.  I'll take the wins however we get them.  I'm simply looking at the facts for what they are.  If a defense finds a way to stuff our running attack, then our offense is in serious trouble.

I am quite glad to have Norwell back in the mix.  Having him in the game over Amini makes a world of difference with respect to how our offense can control the LoS.  I am really hoping that our OLine can maintain this personnel throughout the end of the year.