Panthers played more zone defense than any NFL team last year

[Moo Daeng]

People still think man = good and zone = bad. Sigh. 

[pantherclaw]

The ideal defense is capable of playing both, but the NFL doesn't make it easy to have all the pieces for the ideal team. 

[mc52beast]

There’s one thing that can hide your obvious holes in a secondary...

Have a muther fugging top 10 d-line

[Jon Snow]

Should say most unsuccessful blitzing as well.  If you blitz you better at least disrupt the timing or a QB worth his oxygen will pick apart a zone scheme.

We sucked at blitzing.

[Snake]

I don't get people's obsession with playing man D. League wide most teams bases is cover 3 zone. Last year Kurt Colman was blowing his assignments left and right allowing our CBS who weren't the best to get torched. Hopefully we upgraded this year and we want suffer the same fate. 

[Manther]

3 hours ago, Moo Daeng said:

People still think man = good and zone = bad. Sigh. 

Unpredictability =good  

Zone 73% of time=bad

I believe in zone...I think we over relied on it out of necessity be cause Worely was so bad.

[panthers55]

4 hours ago, RumHam said:

"And anyone who has been here for years and pays attention also would admit that when I predict things I am right much more than wrong."

I'm guessing that's the point of the huddle. those four corners are menacing, aren't they. Captain won't see the field and may not make the team. Saying i'm uninformed it's fuging stupid when we have differing opinions. We both know what we have on the lineup, you're just wearing rose colored glasses to make yourself feel better. I'm excited about our offense and our front 7. No one will run on us. When teams realize they don't have to run on us, that's going to be the problem. We should stomp Dallas in the first week, but taking on our rivals this year is what I fear the most. There's also the part that some of us have been here so long that we've fallen for these lies and stuck up for players being brought in. Many people here loved Godfrey and he ended up being poo. IF you just want to be told youre right, then so be it. And watching ESPN doesn't make you an expert. Let me know when you watch film on these guys.

You have every right to your opinion and just stating a negative one doesn't make it uninformed. But in your long response you mentioned no facts or reasons why our secondary will be so bad other than we were bad  last year and you think the team's lies about our potential.

I, on the other hand, pointed out where we have not only starters but backups with starting experience and our scheme will change under Washington versus Wills. I have watched film on all our new guys plus listened to those experts {not talking heads or ESPN) who unlike you and I actually know how to watch film and know what they watching. Lastly playing defense and the secondary specifically requires communication and teamwork which was lacking last year. That part is up in the air but with our secondary having more experience and better leadership, I expect much better results. So tell me again with facts not just random opinions why this new scheme is worse or why our corners and safeties aren't an upgrade so that we will suck again.

[rmoneyg35]

I believe blitzing so much last year hurt our secondary.Bradberry struggled and I think the change in coaching had a lot to do with that, after all he is only in his second year. Cockrell is supposed to be great at playing zone which is why I think he will start and honestly end up being our best corner. Seymour is looking good and may end up pushing for a starting gig or atleast sharing reps as a starter. He does afterall have a 4.39 40.

 

Jackson supposed to play on the outside but I feel he won’t get many reps with the more experienced Cockrell, Bradberry and Seymour. 

 

I honestly believe our cornerback  unit is going to be better than what a lot of other people predict. It comes down to Adams. can he play as good as he did last year ? its possible because  safeties have been able to play well into their late 30s. 

Searchy might not be a pro bowler but if he can play atleast average than our secondary overall will be good. Our scheme doesn’t ask much for safeties afterall.

[RumHam]

35 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

You have every right to your opinion and just stating a negative one doesn't make it uninformed. But in your long response you mentioned no facts or reasons why our secondary will be so bad other than we were bad  last year and you think the team's lies about our potential.

I, on the other hand, pointed out where we have not only starters but backups with starting experience and our scheme will change under Washington versus Wills. I have watched film on all our new guys plus listened to those experts {not talking heads or ESPN) who unlike you and I actually know how to watch film and know what they watching. Lastly playing defense and the secondary specifically requires communication and teamwork which was lacking last year. That part is up in the air but with our secondary having more experience and better leadership, I expect much better results. So tell me again with facts not just random opinions why this new scheme is worse or why our corners and safeties aren't an upgrade so that we will suck again.

The Giants were next to last in yards given up last year and dead last in TD's given up in the air. Is that all on Cockrell? No. According to PFF, which this site likes to sway whenever its in their favor, is an upgrade to Worley. 

Mike Adams had a solid season for a safety. He's also the strong safety which normally plays more run support. If that carries over, that is THE bright spot in the secondary. He had just as many picks as Bradberry did, who was lit up by Julio last year. 

We draft Dante Jackson early, earlier than we did Worley and Bradberry. He's 5'11" 174 pounds. Any receiver that's physical is going to have a field day. He's too short to start on the outside and too small to play nickel. He had one pick last year at LSU. One. LSU had a good defensive unit as a whole last year, and having that here where he's not someone that's going to be depended on will help. But tell me with the likes of Michael Thomas, Julio Jones and Mike Evans in our division, these offenses will figure out to throw it to that area. I'm not worried about Dak Prescott or Alex Smith. We see these teams twice a year. "Well we have Bradberry as a better matchup." This isn't Madden. The teams will devise a way for their big guys to get one on one with Jackson, even if he ends up being able to cover well. You all know Captain can't cover poo, but he's shown plenty over the years. 

Now we get to Free Safety where we have Da'Norris Searcy and Rashaun Gaulden. Searcy, who is seen more as a strong safety as he's a better tackler, was actually benched in favor of two guys in Tennessee. For PFF aficionados, Searcy was ranked 61st while Coleman 76th. While an improvement, not a great improvement, plus Searcy didn't see the field near as much as Coleman did. This isn't an answer. Searcy has been on a downward trend since 2014. Now we get to the completely unproven Gaulden. He's certainly the right size to play FS. He had the sixth slowest 40 time for safeties at the combine and the 2nd slowest shuttle time. Really seems like he could easily get out of position and not recover. He has a lot of raw skills that might pan out down the road, but for an immediate impact, it's not happening. Searcy will certainly start but this is a Hurney project, this year's Armanti Edwards. 

Otherwise we have the likes of Kevon Seymour, Corn Elder, Colin Jones, and a whole lot of other players that wouldn't make most of the teams. Granted, we got hosed on Breeland, but I think Hurney's ego came into play and he should have just let the injury play out. We still could have gotten Cockrell. Some of you bring up Lorenzo Doss, the journeyman who sits at the almighty 5'10" 182 mark. Honestly it seems like our secondary just has a bunch of tacklers. Everyone here went into 2015 not liking that secondary, either. Norman got some praise but people were still unsure, Tillman was over the hill along with Harper (which everyone hated). Coleman had some upside. That turned out well and this secondary is MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH worse than that one. The next year, we start two rookies, get torched and finish 6-10. Gettleman forever fuged us with the Norman situation. We could have still drafted Bradberry that year and instead of Worley, found a safety. But what's done is done, but take the damn rose colored glasses off. You can quote this, if our secondary is lights out this year, I WILL STAPLE MY NUTSACK TO A WALL AND POST IT HERE FOR YOU TO SEE. I don't want to see us fail, i want to win the damn super bowl. But when you think your DLine is stacked b/c you drafted Fua and the other loser back to back and then Nick Hayden has to fill in, you're sick of the lies. We're supposed to be in win now mode, and this secondary will be the achilles heel. Mark my word.

I hope that's enough evidence to back my opinion. This is the longest post i've ever had in the ten years i've been on this board.

[LinvilleGorge]

56 minutes ago, RumHam said:

I WILL STAPLE MY NUTSACK TO A WALL AND POST IT HERE FOR YOU TO SEE.

[pantherclaw]

Any team that relies on the blitz, will die by the blitz 

I don't care how good you disguise your blitzes, a team that relies on the blitz becomes predictable. 

That's one reason I wasn't terribly excited this time last year, hearing we were going to blitz more. Yes, we disrupted offenses, but we also fell on our sword because we played it to much. 

The best blitz, is a well timed blitz. 

We should continue to blitz, but not to the point where we are predictable with it.

[Manther]

1 hour ago, RumHam said:

Everyone here went into 2015 not liking that secondary, either. Norman got some praise but people were still unsure, Tillman was over the hill along with Harper (which everyone hated). Coleman had some upside. That turned out well and this secondary is MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH worse than that one.

I think that's the point.  2015 secondary on paper looked bad...heck we used Coleman, McClain, Finnegan, Boston and Benwikere.  They caused  turnovers, which shook up offenses.  Thieves avenue.  Seems so long ago.  Paper to paper, we look about the same, maybe a little worse than 2015.  It is very unlikely that we will perform any where near 2015, but I bet we can do better than 2017. 

 On paper, we definitely look better than the last two years, not worse. 

Worely was ass.

 

2 hours ago, RumHam said:

We're supposed to be in win now mode, and this secondary will be the achilles heel. Mark my word.

This may be true.   In this division, with two of the best passing offenses in football, the defense will live and die by the secondary.  We've invested draft and fa capital here.  I expect improvement.  We can argue about how much. 

Worely was ass.

 

2 hours ago, RumHam said:

You can quote this, if our secondary is lights out this year, I WILL STAPLE MY NUTSACK TO A WALL AND POST IT HERE FOR YOU TO SEE. 

That won't be necessary.   

[ChibCU]

9 hours ago, RumHam said:

you've seen the future? on paper, we have two rookies who are considered potential secondary starters. We have one "veteran" starting corner with Bradberry. Adams is 37 and if you think Kurt fell off, very good chance Adams will too. We already have a practice squad player potentially beating out the free agent corner we signed. I'm sorry, but hopefully i'm wrong, but i would not go into a season with this secondary. We started two rookie corners two years ago and we finished badly. The article even says we had to blitz to hide our bad secondary last year. If they ball out, great, but this will be our achilles heel, if anything this season.

Are you actually THE Josh Norman? The collective fan base did/does like you and wish you were on the team these past years. You don't need to come on here to lobby for yourself. Hope all is well, Josh!

[pantherj]

Last season we blitzed with players who are washed up (Captain) and players who are bad at it (Luke), this season I think we'll have better options. Who knows about the secondary going into this season. If we don't win up front with KK and Poe against the Saints then I doubt this secondary is going to hold up.