A Very Good Read From NFL1000: Panthers' Additions of McCaffrey, Samuel Will Give Defenses Nightmares

[Saca312]

A very good analytical piece I saw recently that touches on how exactly Curtis Samuel and Christian McCaffrey make this offense deadly. It builds upon a nice analysis on certain pieces of film from both players and how they fit on the Panthers. A style very much like mine, but far more detailed and in-depth that'll be worth the read.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2707014-nfl1000-panthers-additions-of-mccaffrey-samuel-will-give-defenses-nightmares

An introductory excerpt:

Quote

Through the first six years of Cam Newton's career, the Carolina Panthers set their offense with a few consistent building blocks. They were going to use bigger backs to run between the tackles, use that power running game to establish play action and the deep pass, and use Newton's mobility and escapability to add another level of dynamism, especially in the red zone.

It's worked for the most part, but serious questions popped up last season regarding that approach.

Those power backs weren't as effective—Jonathan Stewart led the team with 824 yards on 215 carries—and the deep ball wasn't working as well. Per Pro Football Focus, he completed just 20 of 71 passes in which the ball went over 20 yards in the air for a 28.2 completion percentage that's far down from his 37 percent completion rate on such passes in 2015.

Moreover, Newton wasn't nearly as productive in the play-action game as he'd been the year before, throwing just five touchdowns on play-action passes in 2016. Compare that to his 13 play-action touchdowns in 2015, and you start to see the extent of the problem, especially when you combine that with an offensive line that has degraded in quality. The Panthers no longer have the personnel to run the old ideal of their offensive philosophy.

When this happens, a team has two choices: It can either restock with the same kinds of players it's had before and hope for the best, or it can throw out the old playbook and try something new. And with the additions of Stanford running back

And with the additions of Stanford running back Christian McCaffrey in the first round of the 2017 draft and the follow-up selection of Ohio State receiver Curtis Samuel, the Panthers are absolutely going with a new paradigm.

In McCaffrey, the Panthers give Newton a weapon he's never had before—a running back with great outside speed and some inside power as well as the versatility of a true receiver to line up everywhere from the slot to the outside. But the real magic with McCaffrey, and the problems for defenses, comes when he starts in the backfield and then motions out as a receiver.

Comment and discuss.

[GoobyPls]

They're rookies....

 

I don't expect two rookies with zero NFL experience to catapult our offense. Cam, the O-line and WR have to play better first.

[TheMostInterestingMan]

7 minutes ago, GoobyPls said:

They're rookies....

 

I don't expect two rookies with zero NFL experience to catapult our offense. Cam, the O-line and WR have to play better first.

That's a pretty negative look and isn't actually as realistic as you intend it to sound. Tell Ezekiel Elliot and Dak that rookies don't make an impact. Tell Odell that rookies don't make much of an impact. Hell, tell Cam Newton and Kelvin Benjamin that rookies don't make a big impact.  Just a couple examples (of many) of rookies revolutionizing offenses in recent years.

I'm not saying their impact will be that massive. But to simply write them off is not only foolish but unrealistic. They were drafted high for a reason. They will play key roles in our offense this year and no doubt make an impact.

[Saca312]

3 minutes ago, GoobyPls said:

They're rookies....

 

I don't expect two rookies with zero NFL experience to catapult our offense. Cam, the O-line and WR have to play better first.

Cam Newton had 0 NFL experience as a rookie.

I think he catapulted our offense in 2011.

[Moorgan]

The buzz I'm feeling over this 2017 season is akin to the buzz I felt in 2015. Everything is trending in a positive direction.

Minus the KB weight overhype. Word is he might be 260 which is 8 pounds over his playing weight. Granted it's not good and can be corrected but I don't see it worthy of a Charlotte Observer headline of KB eating his way out of Carolina.

The only other negative is this whole Beane fiasco which I view as both fake news (sad) and irrelevant. It's irrelevant because, if true (big if), the effect is zero on us. The league will punish the Bills. Whatever. Beane is likely gone either way. Soooooo....moving on.

The evolution of this offense is something that I believe will have us cheering like mad on Sundays at 1 for 90% of the season. Oh and the defense got better. And maybe the kicking game got better too. The rest of the special teams got better too.

Yes Atlanta went to the Super Bowl but we added 5 UDFAs...Atlanta signed 21. They've been evolving to counter what took us to 3 straight Division Championships. They haven't been evolving to what we're about to do. We are going to own the South again. I look forward to putting the league on notice this year and cheering our final win of the year in Minnesota...in February.

[GoobyPls]

46 minutes ago, TheMostInterestingMan said:

That's a pretty negative look and isn't actually as realistic as you intend it to sound. Tell Ezekiel Elliot and Dak that rookies don't make an impact. Tell Odell that rookies don't make much of an impact. Hell, tell Cam Newton and Kelvin Benjamin that rookies don't make a big impact.  Just a couple examples (of many) of rookies revolutionizing offenses in recent years.

I'm not saying their impact will be that massive. But to simply write them off is not only foolish but unrealistic. They were drafted high for a reason. They will play key roles in our offense this year and no doubt make an impact.

What did Butler and Thompson do their rookies years? Funchess didn't even have 500 yards receiving, Kelvin was a beast his rookie season but our offense got worse

For every Elliot I name some one like Melvin Gordon who had little impact his rookie year. For every Dak I can a say Jared Goff.

 

They will make an impact but completely revolutionize our offense, to give other teams "nightmares"? I doubt that

[Hoenheim]

1 hour ago, Saca312 said:

Cam Newton had 0 NFL experience as a rookie.

I think he catapulted our offense in 2011.

Catapult to 6-10? We were also 6-10 this past season. 

And before you say anything i watched every single game that season. Yeah it was great and we were in a lot of the games we lost, but don't act like he took us on a deep playoff run his first year

And for all the hullabalo and fuss made over Ezekiel Elliot and Dak Prescott, they STILL couldn't win a damn playoff game. No one will care of Zeke gets 5000 rush yards next season if they can't win a playoff game they are essentially the Bengals. 

[Hoenheim]

For me I think it was a good draft but there's a lot of stuff still up in the air. Yeah McCaffrey and Samuel seemed like world beaters at times in college , but its anyone's guess how well they will perform in the pros and you are a fool if you simply assume they will catapult us into a 13+ win season and deep playoff run. There's been lots of high round draft picks over the years that have busted terribly , so you have to at least have some sort of realism in your outlook on how rookies affect the team in their first year. The best you can really do is be hopeful they turn out well which is basically how I feel.

I think alot is hinging on still the Oline and also Cam's accuracy as usual, if these two things are again a problem then there's only so much McCaffrey and Samuel can do .  Also you're going to have to hope like hell McCaffrey's elusiveness is going to translate well in the NFL or he'll be dead in the water as a RB since he doesn't have much of a power game. 

I've noticed theres alot of huddlers are very quick to jump on and degrade people for anything resembling a negative or more realistic comment on the Panthers which is pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Thats the whole point of this forum besides delivering news, is to offer your opinion hwether it be "good" or "bad". 

[Malt Liquor]

I personally would  like to see CMC, Samuel, and D Byrd on the field at the same time.

[TheMostInterestingMan]

1 hour ago, GoobyPls said:

What did Butler and Thompson do their rookies years? Funchess didn't even have 500 yards receiving, Kelvin was a beast his rookie season but our offense got worse

For every Elliot I name some one like Melvin Gordon who had little impact his rookie year. For every Dak I can a say Jared Goff.

 

They will make an impact but completely revolutionize our offense, to give other teams "nightmares"? I doubt that

No, I don't think it's to that extreme either. It's probably somewhere in the middle. But I do expect them to play a lot of snaps this season and therefore will most certainly have an impact on how our offense is run.

[Moorgan]

42 minutes ago, Hoenheim said:

 

I've noticed theres alot of huddlers are very quick to jump on and degrade people for anything resembling a negative or more realistic comment on the Panthers which is pretty ridiculous if you ask me. Thats the whole point of this forum besides delivering news, is to offer your opinion hwether it be "good" or "bad". 

Another aspect of this forum is to to ferment team hype. And pooing over Huddlers that want to bask in the optimism of a new season seems a down right useless thing to do. Ok you want to be seen as the voice of pragmatism or realism? Ok great. But since you don't know any more than the rest of us, how about leaving a modicum of hope and excitement instead of a never ending trail of pessimism. I don't actually mean you because you're a good poster. I'm actually referencing a whole lot of people on here that aren't you. So this is more a statement to everyone else, being excited about this team is not your opportunity to show how negative you can be and root to fail so Shula is gone or what. This is a team fan zone. If you're rooting against fug off.

Again, this isn't directed at you @Hoenheim personally. I'm using your post to speak my mind. You are good and aren't the problem. It's the constant negativity that is useless. We go through this every year. DG sucks, Shula sucks, Rivera sucks, ...get over it. It's a simple life decision...are you a fan of the team or not? Yes criticize the team moves as you see fit but join @RoaringRiot and help us all cheer for the team we love.

[bandu]

i usually call it like i see it and this offense is beginning to look more and more like a tornado on it's way to a trailor park...

booooo DCs!

[Verge]

3 hours ago, GoobyPls said:

They're rookies....

 

I don't expect two rookies with zero NFL experience to catapult our offense. Cam, the O-line and WR have to play better first.

[GoobyPls]

1 hour ago, TheMostInterestingMan said:

No, I don't think it's to that extreme either. It's probably somewhere in the middle. But I do expect them to play a lot of snaps this season and therefore will most certainly have an impact on how our offense is run.

We will see, I think they need to have impact in order for the offense to get better, but on tthey are not high on the scale of who needs to play better in order for us to improve.

 

Also how many times have we heard "oh he's only a rookie". I just went into a thread about Funchess in which they were saying "he's only in his third season".