WFNZ panthers interviews at superbowl Radio row (Rivera, Olsen, Adams, CMC)

[panthers55]

1 minute ago, Toomers said:

  That poor concept was directly against where the league was going. There are hardly any 4-3/3-4 teams. You HAVE to play nickel. Last thing we need is less “athleticism” no matter what we run. The same “80s mentality” that gives us Safeties that are just small LBs with no coverage skills. 

 Everyone played 11 personnel. Even more now. In what world did they believe there were NFL slot WRs that he was going to cover? 

The hope was that Shaq being a converted safety would have the speed and coverage skills to play the nickel. That is what I meant by disappointment. He clearly can't keep up with slot receivers. I don't know if the receivers got faster or he had poor technique but he looked lost at times the past few seasons.

[LinvilleGorge]

3 minutes ago, panthers55 said:

The hope was that Shaq being a converted safety would have the speed and coverage skills to play the nickel. That is what I meant by disappointment. He clearly can't keep up with slot receivers. I don't know if the receivers got faster or he had poor technique but he looked lost at times the past few seasons.

I think it's just that the typical small, quick twitch slot WR is a bad matchup for Shaq or virtually any LB or even S for that matter. The only time that Shaq has actually looked good in that big nickel role was when we went up against the Cardinals and they were playing Fitzgerald in the slot. While Fitz is absolutely a great WR, he's a big bodied slower receiver (especially in his later years) and that's a much more favorable stylistic matchup for Shaq.

[Toomers]

1 minute ago, panthers55 said:

The hope was that Shaq being a converted safety would have the speed and coverage skills to play the nickel. That is what I meant by disappointment. He clearly can't keep up with slot receivers. I don't know if the receivers got faster or he had poor technique but he looked lost at times the past few seasons.

  Because he was never that good at Safety. He’s 230, only 6’, and was never built to match up with WRs. Why anyone would look at him, or almost any LB, and force them into that role is baffling. Horrible judgement. Let Shaq and his 9M go. 

[Woodie]

34 minutes ago, LinvilleGorge said:

He definitely talked about running a 4-3/3-4 hybrid when he was hired. I also remember how excited I was about how he talked about using Shaq when he was drafted allowing us to stay in our base D more often and being more unpredictable, etc. I don't think our percentage of nickel vs. base fronts changed a bit. 

 

I remember paying attention to every interview he did, and never got the impression he was looking to run a true hybrid.  Maybe an occasional 3-4 look, which we have been doing, but not where the 3-4 was a prominent part of our defensive scheme.  

My point is that he has never talked like this about the 3-4.  He's not just mentioning it as being an occasional thing we do, he's talking about it like it's going to be a large part of our defense.  There is an excitement about it that I haven't seen from Ron in a while.  I get the impression he's really looking forward to playing with this defense and doing things to keep offenses on their heels.  I expect that we we'll see a true hybrid defense that can go 3-4 or 4-3 at any time.

[Pimpdaddy]

3 hours ago, Toomers said:

  Because he was never that good at Safety. He’s 230, only 6’, and was never built to match up with WRs. Why anyone would look at him, or almost any LB, and force them into that role is baffling. Horrible judgement. Let Shaq and his 9M go. 

please oh please oh please.... ronald will keep him just to ignore the problem.

[TheSpecialJuan]

Vaughn McClureESPN Staff Writer 

Top running backs Christian McCaffrey and Saquon Barkley in a serious battle of Connect Four at the Bose Frames event here in Atlanta during Super Bowl weekend. Competition never stops.

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2h