One DE sack in five games per B&B review

[CPF4LIFE]

Like i have said before, Riveras love for playing vets is gonna continue to hold this team back when it counts.

[Kakarot]

Can't expect the offense to be on point every game. Last week, according to some, it was the offenses fault that the Giants came back from a 35-7 defecit, and now it's their fault we lost today. Damn, the offense is having to carry the whole team here lately.

This team is supposed to be a defensive, physical, smash mouth team. The d line, mainly the DE's, have to step up. Come playoff time, our offense isn't going to be able to drop 30+ every game. Big Money has been a huge disappointment. Riverboat needs to seriously consider giving Ealy more of CJ's snaps, because without the passrush our defense is Swiss cheese. In fact, both CJ and Allen's snaps probably need to be reduced

[KB_fan]

What do you all think should be done about Horton?  A decision on his status needs to be made this week.  If we add him to the roster, who gets the boot?

[unicar15]

It does seem that since CJ was added the rotation the pass rush has struggled. Maybe time to go back to a little more Addison, Horton, Ealy rotation. Ealy especially was playing lights out before CJ came back. 

[TheRed]

We've invested far too much in this defense to have Kawaan Short being the only guy able to consistently get to the quarterback.

Ron needs to figure something out.

[Carolina Cajun]

7 hours ago, Kakarot said:

Can't expect the offense to be on point every game. Last week, according to some, it was the offenses fault that the Giants came back from a 35-7 defecit, and now it's their fault we lost today. Damn, the offense is having to carry the whole team here lately.

This team is supposed to be a defensive, physical, smash mouth team. The d line, mainly the DE's, have to step up. Come playoff time, our offense isn't going to be able to drop 30+ every game. Big Money has been a huge disappointment. Riverboat needs to seriously consider giving Ealy more of CJ's snaps, because without the passrush our defense is Swiss cheese. In fact, both CJ and Allen's snaps probably need to be reduced

I'm glad you mentioned it.  The DE's have gotten all the blame, but the entire defense was awful today, and the final score wasn't truly indicative.  Atlanta controlled the tempo and pace of the game, just look at the TOP, they had 35 minutes of possession and it was NOT just because our offense got no traction, it was because we were letting Atlanta just chew clock all game long.  On top of that, we forced just 1 punt all game long.  On average, a NFL team gets 12 possessions per game, well the panthers had 8, the falcons had 9.  What happened was that the Falcons beat us at our own game, and that is not a good thing.  IMO, if we had lost to the Giants, Saints, or even Falcons in a shootout, it's not as disconcerting as when we lose a game when the opponent just beat us at our own game.

[Zaximus]

Every time you really build faith in Rivera, he does things like this DE rotation.   That's about the last bad thing he keeps doing often, which is keeping vets in there too often and long.   I know Harper brings "that leadership" but the guy is a liability for instance.  Allen and CJ, are done, also liabilities.   Remmers has steadily got worse over the last 5 games.  Penalties, getting blown up, etc.  Williams needs to start, now.  

But I think Ginn is hurt and him not blowing up the top of the defense crushed our offense.

[Matthias]

8 hours ago, Kakarot said:

Can't expect the offense to be on point every game. Last week, according to some, it was the offenses fault that the Giants came back from a 35-7 defecit, and now it's their fault we lost today. Damn, the offense is having to carry the whole team here lately.

This team is supposed to be a defensive, physical, smash mouth team. The d line, mainly the DE's, have to step up. Come playoff time, our offense isn't going to be able to drop 30+ every game. Big Money has been a huge disappointment. Riverboat needs to seriously consider giving Ealy more of CJ's snaps, because without the passrush our defense is Swiss cheese. In fact, both CJ and Allen's snaps probably need to be reduced

You make an excellent point.  I was of the belief the offense cost us this game, but you've convinced me to change my position.  In reality, our offensive line was brought back to earth yesterday.  They have overachieved this season.  This particular game represented what we thought our pass protection would look like going into the season. 

[Carolina Cajun]

5 minutes ago, Matthias said:

You make an excellent point.  I was of the belief the offense cost us this game, but you've convinced me to change my position.  In reality, our offensive line was brought back to earth yesterday.  They have overachieved this season.  This particular game represented what we thought our pass protection would look like going into the season. 

IMO, the original plan was for Daryl Williams to move into RT, but with us winning and him getting injured early in the season, I think we scrapped the idea and kept Remmers there for consistency.  Remmers isn't the long term answer at RT, nor should he be, but he is also not a slouch or someone we should dismiss.  He has a very vital role on the team down the line when Williams takes over RT and that is for him to become a flex O-lineman, someone who can play all 5 positions at a serviceable level so we aren't in a complete bind should any of our lineman go down for any real length of time.  I would like to see Williams get some more time at RT next week so we know what we have going into the playoffs.

[thefuzz]

3 hours ago, TheRed said:

We've invested far too much in this defense to have Kawaan Short being the only guy able to consistently get to the quarterback.

Ron needs to figure something out.

Invested....yes, but not as much as it feels like.

Right now the only player from the Hurney regime that is playing at a high level is Luke, and to a certain extent Norman.  TD is slowing down, not his fault, just overuse and age.  CJ is a shell, and is happy just to cash a check.  No motor at all.  Allen is a stop gap, who is also old and slow now.  Same with Tillman, Harper, Cortland, etc.....

KK, Star, and until CJ came back Ealy, were all playing well, as well as Bene.

 

 

[TheRed]

12 minutes ago, thefuzz said:

Invested....yes, but not as much as it feels like.

Right now the only player from the Hurney regime that is playing at a high level is Luke, and to a certain extent Norman.  TD is slowing down, not his fault, just overuse and age.  CJ is a shell, and is happy just to cash a check.  No motor at all.  Allen is a stop gap, who is also old and slow now.  Same with Tillman, Harper, Cortland, etc.....

KK, Star, and until CJ came back Ealy, were all playing well, as well as Bene.

 

 

The Panthers are a defensive team. That is our identity.

We have managed to get to 14 wins on the season with Ted Ginn Jr as our #1 WR. Our offense has been playing really well most of the season, but the huge central reason for that is Cam Newton's dynamic abilities that elevates the offense around him as a whole.

The simple fact is, our defense is supposed to be the backbone of this team, we cannot back into the playoffs giving quarterbacks all day in the pocket to pick us apart. Our offense has shown that they can obviously score points, but if our OL has an off day like they did yesterday while our defense struggles to pressure the QB, we won't be going far.

I don't know if the Giants game just took a toll on a lot out of guys, or if maybe the situation surrounding Beckham was a distraction, but the team did not look like the same Panthers we've been watching all season long. Instead of our defense peaking heading into the postseason, they are looking worse. It's up to the coaches to get it all together.

[thefuzz]

32 minutes ago, TheRed said:

The Panthers are a defensive team. That is our identity.

We have managed to get to 14 wins on the season with Ted Ginn Jr as our #1 WR. Our offense has been playing really well most of the season, but the huge central reason for that is Cam Newton's dynamic abilities that elevates the offense around him as a whole.

The simple fact is, our defense is supposed to be the backbone of this team, we cannot back into the playoffs giving quarterbacks all day in the pocket to pick us apart. Our offense has shown that they can obviously score points, but if our OL has an off day like they did yesterday while our defense struggles to pressure the QB, we won't be going far.

I don't know if the Giants game just took a toll on a lot out of guys, or if maybe the situation surrounding Beckham was a distraction, but the team did not look like the same Panthers we've been watching all season long. Instead of our defense peaking heading into the postseason, they are looking worse. It's up to the coaches to get it all together.

I just don't think that you are going to see that dominate defense again this season.  We are pretty long in the tooth in some very important areas on defense.  It's just the wear and tear of a full NFL season, with many miles on their tires.

Again, we, as fans, better get accustomed to watching the other team score more points than we are comfortable with, been saying it now for a couple weeks.  If the offense has an off day, we will lose....can't count on the defense any longer this season.

[johnnydefence]

A lot of talk about the panthers only forcing one punt. Yes, they could have played better but judging them by only forcing one punt might be a little deceiving. In the first half they stopped them all but once and if it were not for the flag on Tillman they would have been stop every time. In the second half with exception of the Julio hail Mary it was not a bad performance.  

ATL's Drives

1st Half they had 3 drives

1. TD -- Bad Call on Tillman 
2. Punt
3. Half

2nd Half they 5 Drives

1. Missed FG
2. TD (70 yard hail Mary to JJ)
3. Turnover
4. FG
5. FG 50+ on one yard drive when our offense turned it over on downs