We're on the verge of being a very good team... How to fix our issues.

[Bronn]

Yes, the Panthers lost yesterday, and they did it in an ugly fashion. Early mistakes by young players cost us, as well as recurring issues from previous weeks.

It is better to get these ugly losses out of the way now and gel later in the season when it really counts. We're one game back from the Saints in our division, and have a game on the other two teams.

On offense, we need to stop with the Shula-esque things we've been reverting to. Things like slow tempo/ball control will always be a part of what we do under Rivera, but it is time to open up the playbook a bit and pick up the pace at times. Cam is at his best when we're making quick decisions, and he isn't rushing the snap. Get the calls lined up and in in time. Get to the line, then make adjustments. Also, stop it with the stupid draw plays. This is more infuriating to me than anything on offense right now. We get a shred of momentum, and we call a draw for a minimal gain on first and second down. JUST STOP!

Remove 90% of the stupid delayed option BS we're still holding over. Most of the time when we're trying to decide whether to let it go to CMC or have Cam keep it, we're taking a loss or a minimal gain. Just cut that crap out. If you want Cam to run it, call the run for him. If you want CMC to run it, have Cam actually hand it off, not stick it in his gut for the longest second ever only to pull it out and take a loss or gain a yard. You're extending plays when they don't need extending, and getting little return. Once we cut that poo out, it'll work more the 10% of the time we leave it in.

Stop forcing the ball to vets. DJ, Samuel, and Wright have both shown the ability to run good routes and get open. Forcing throws to Smith and Funch in good coverage, making them have to make a play on a contested ball is leading to breakups and tipped balls waiting to be picked. There's no way Manhertz should be playing over Thomas right now. Especially now that Greg is back. Thomas has made some rookie mistakes, yes, but he's far and above better than Manhertz already.

Get the ball out faster. Stop calling plays trying to stretch the field at bad times. When you do need to take some time and stretch the field, have the receiving options move, not run to and stand in one spot and not help Cam out. We should be doing to other teams what they are doing to our zone D. Hit the posts and slants for 6-7 yards and let our playmakers make plays after the ball is in their hands. We rely on deep corner routes too much when it counts, and we need guys in the open field, not on the sidelines.


On defense, STOP PLAYING SO MUCH SOFT ZONE! "Bend don't break" is so old school and teams just carve it up now over the middle on quick reads and pick routes. We're asking our new safety to play center-field way too much. He's done a good job so far of what he's being asked to do, but damn, give him some help. Bradberry and Jackson are both doing okay in zone, but they'd do a lot better if they weren't playing 10-12 yards off the line every play. Teams are torching our LBs (actually not as bad now that TD was back yesterday) in the zone gaps. I've seen several plays where teams are just running two guys into a zone, and then forcing our CBs and LBs to make reads they wouldn't have to make if they disrupted the timing of the routes off the line. We're literally just asking teams to run routes straight at us, and gambling on who we should stick with. Man the fug up! Put your hands on guys at the line. Slow them down before they get rolling. Basically, grow a pair.

Because we're straight up allowing offenses to develop their plays in front of us before we react, we're generating no pass rush. We're also having a tough time containing the run, because our LBs are backpedaling too much into zone coverage or trying to pick gaps to close. We need to keep teams honest by commiting to blitzes as well as edge rush. Too often we're reacting. We need to be the stimulus that causes the reaction.

We have the talent. We have the skills. We just aren't putting it together or keeping our foot on the gas.

TLDR:
1. Cut out most of the option, and get your playmakers on the field, open quickly, and with room to run on offense.
2. Be physical with opposing offenses on the line. Don't sit in a spot and wait to react or drop into coverage hoping to keep the play in front of you.
3. Up the tempo in all phases.

TLDR2:
A lot of this is on Ron Rivera. He is the one that is holding us back, IMHO. If we continue down this path, it should be his head that rolls.

 

[Saca312]

The weirdest thing is how undisciplined this defense has been. It's like they never know how to get set on a lot of snaps. Have to say some of that is on Luke not being who he once was, but a lot falls on the DC and coaching in general.

 

[Asurfaholic]

If we don’t turn the ball over we would have blown the skins out. 

 

Not worried. Crap happens, I believe in this team.

[juliosantos]

I'm convinced it's rivera and he needs to go , if we don't win the sb this year I want him out 

[FugAllY'all]

We have a bunch of elite players on this defense who are not playing that way as a unit. KK, Poe, Peppers, Kuechly, Davis, Bradberry, Reid, we have playmakers at every level of this defense. They didn't all forget how to play or lose all their physical talent in one offseason. Hell, I saw Davis running with tight ends yesterday like he was 25 before all the knee injuries. We're on the cusp, this team can still be very good.

[Bronn]

Just now, juliosantos said:

I'm convinced it's rivera and he needs to go , if we don't win the sb this year I want him out 

100% of our biggest issues are.

1. soft zone coverage
2. short and long ball control offense, no middle or fast paced game
3. lack of discipline within coordination of all phases of the game

[Bronn]

3 minutes ago, FugAllY'all said:

We have a bunch of elite players on this defense who are not playing that way as a unit. KK, Poe, Peppers, Kuechly, Davis, Bradberry, Reid, we have playmakers at every level of this defense. They didn't all forget how to play or lose all their physical talent in one offseason. Hell, I saw Davis running with tight ends yesterday like he was 25 before all the knee injuries. We're on the cusp, this team can still be very good.

This too. I'm cautiously optimistic. But, for us to make the changes we need to make, to be quite honest, Tepper needs to give Rivera a stern talking to, at the very least.

[*FreeFua*]

14 minutes ago, Professor Chaos said:

Unfortunately for us, the Saints wrote a text book on how to destroy our defense, and apparently the coaching staff didn't make any changes in preparation for that. 

Pass first? Not exactly rocket science. Good teams with good quarterbacks will pick this defense apart more times than not.

Lucky for Rivera and co. there isn’t a ton of good QB’s in the league anymore which is why we typically finish with some nice team stats at seasons end.

We built our defense to stop the run and this league is getting away from that. Teams are becoming more pass friendly which makes life tough for us. 

You need to be able to score points in today’s game as well. Jacksonville built one hell of a defense but thought it would be a good idea to sign Bortles to an extension and they’re paying for it now. 

We scored 17 points yesterday, that isn’t going to get it done. It doesn’t help when you have a coach who is so eager to punt the ball every opportunity he gets either. You need to be aggressive and take advantage of your possessions and that’s not Ron. As OP stated, much of this is on Ron’s 1960 ways and he refuses to acknowledge the change in today’s game. Until we move on from Ron expect the same frustrating things on Sunday’s.

 

[4Corners]

Defense just needs to play better and they need to get to the QB. 

[Daddy_Uncle]

we are too old to be on the verge of being a very good team. Our window is closing

[uncfan888]

Thank God we have a new owner. Tepper won't suffer fools

[RumHam]

We had an ugly and an ugly loss. We are far from anything dominant. Did we actually dominate anyone last year? or do we just play down to our competition? We are so conservative it's ridiculous. The defense is complete poo. These were two subpar opponents. The Giants may be the worst team in football and we had to win on a 63 yard kick. We spot alex smith 17 points. If we aren't a playoff team, Tepper is hopefully going to want his idea of how he wants his team to look to start falling into place.

[TheRed]

I fear there may be no changing Ron at this stage in the game. It's either arrogance or willful ignorance at this point that he keeps trying to jam a square peg in a round hole 8 years later. Especially with new ownership and the possibilities from that looming. He is who he is.

[Jon Snow]

2 minutes ago, uncfan888 said:

Thank God we have a new owner. Tepper won't suffer fools

I hope you are right because this team needs an enima.