Quick Analysis: Hate To Admit It, But Father Time Caught Up With Thomas Davis In 2016

[uncfan888]

5 hours ago, DaveThePanther2008 said:

While I agree time catches up to everyone including TD.  I will wait to have a fully healthy defense before I pass judgment.  TD is an amazing athlete and hope he has another year or two left.

That said, we didn't draft Shaq to stay behind TD his whole career.  I think for both Shaq and TD that Wilks will find a way to utilize both of them.  Less snaps for TD means an extended career.  More snaps for Shaq means we work to eventually move past TD.

I don't know about most of you but that day that we lose TD will be a tearful day for us.  I don't think there is a Panther more beloved than TD.

Yeah, he's my favorite Panthers player. I'll hate to see him go

[Swaggasaurus]

TD isn't as fast as he was. But this is a bad example. This is a late read.

[GoobyPls]

Our secondary was fine? in what universe?? they were terrible 95% of the season

And yes Davis played mediocre in pass coverage last year, everyone knows that. At least everyone who watched a little tape.

 

And if you think Shaq is gonna take Davis's snaps you are in for a very rude awakening. Not only will Davis not come off the field, Rivera won't allow it. 

[EightyNine]

10 hours ago, Saca312 said:

Thomas Davis is the epitome of what a Carolina Panther should be. Coming back from 3 ACL tears, his high level play has inspired and shocked the world. A HoF caliber man whose been underrated for the vast majority of his career, TD's elite play has garnered him the respect and love of Panther fans everywhere.

However, last season showed that even age catches up to human cyborgs.

I decided to take a quick look at the second-to-last Panther game of 2016 to see what went wrong. Our secondary (minus Tre Boston) did fine for the majority of the game, but our linebackers were the ones having issues. Taking a closer look, Thomas Davis takes some of the blame.

On this play, the Panthers are in Cover 2. It's 3rd and a longshot. Thomas Davis stays close to the LoS. Rest of Panthers focused on keeping the play short and preventing a 20+ yard first down. Falcons take notice and elect to draw up a play to exploit Thomas Davis. 

Falcons use their WR to draw away Bradberry, keeping him out of the equation. The leftover match-up is a one on one of Tevin Coleman and Thomas Davis with a lot of space in between them. In the past, you would see a blinding Thomas Davis run over and cut Coleman for a shorter gain, but this is 2016 Davis we're talking about. 

The result? Coleman comes blasting in for a 31 yard gain with a lumbering Davis behind. First down on what should've been an easy 3 and out.

To be fair, Luke Kuechly wasn't on the field. Without Luke Kuechly, Thomas Davis had to shoulder most of the Panthers coverage responsibility. He had a much bigger job and task at hand. It's fair to say Luke not being there led to most of our def

Thomas Davis is one of my favorite Panthers of all time. However, he showed in 2016 he's not as fast as he used to be. It's obvious Davis is entering the twilight of his career. Shaq Thompson just became more important more than ever, and splitting time with Davis should only be beneficial for the defense.

Just something to chew on this offseason.

 

Using this one clip isn't enough to back up your point.  All it shows is that on one play, TD got caught out of position.  

[Captain Morgan]

I noticed a couple of missed tackles by TD last.....I fear he could be about to take a step down to very good instead of one of the best.

But nothing but love for the heart and soul of our team.

[pantherclaw]

Tough to really say he's lost a step.  

One play, where we're playing zone defense, without Luke, and who knows what else. Coleman can make peolple miss. 

Not a great example to use.

 

[SmokinwithWilly]

TD at 90% of his prime is still better than 90% of the linebackers in theirs right now. 

[Jon Snow]

I've noticed a slight drop off in his speed as well.  I love me some TD but father time is undefeated.

[L-TownCat]

I can't even deal with this right now.

[thefuzz]

44 minutes ago, Bogart said:

I've noticed a slight drop off in his speed as will.  I love me some TD but father time is undefeated.

Yea, it's there...but he's still much better than most.

I think this is probably his last season as a "starter".

[KSpan]

It's perhaps a questionable example of a play but to anyone watching objectively TD definitely slowed a bit last year. He started slow in 2015 as well but was able to pick it back up as the season went on.

Now, this is not to say that 'slowing' automatically equals bad; it doesn't. It means that TD was a physical freak in his prime and is starting to decline, which still leaves him in a tier of very good players. it's not black and white.

[caatfan]

Quickness doesn't help if you're using it to go in the wrong direction, or frozen while trying to make up your mind where the play is. Veteran smarts can be an equalizer to some extent. 

[Matt62881]

I think you will we shaq in on more 3rd and medium/long situations, and imo by the end our secondary outside of nickel was solid.

[Matt62881]

Can you not edit your posts anymore? I meant see shaq.

Sent using the amazing CarolinaHuddle mobile app