Panthers Defensive Stats

[CPcavedweller]

I hope this will shed some light on how well the defense has played against position groups. The defense hasn't played poorly and seems to have been left out to dry by the offensive lack of effeciency. Football is a game of synergy between three phases: offense, defense, special teams. If Special Teams blocks a punt and gets a safety or otherwise, the offense should capitalize on the additional possession. If the defense gets a much needed turnover in a tight game, the offense should capitalize. If we have a healthy Cam, it's likely we do both when given the chance against the Rams; that is what Championship Teams do. However, with a hobbled Cam, which based on his lack of running against the Rams I'd assume his foot hurt before he admitted it to Rivera (and likely why he didn't get the ball on 4th down against Tampa and why Rivera seemed so irritated about the question, because he didn't know about it), there isn't much you can expect the offense to do.

The defense has played well. Lets see if Allen playing, and hopefully Bruce Irvin, allows the offense to kick it up and notch and the defense to improve on that sack rate. 2013 type rebound coming folks. 

• Passing
  • 8th in NFL allowing completion percentage of 60.94%
  • 6th in NFL allowing 6.1 YPA
    • Playing Tampa and LA Rams, I'd consider this a positive
  • 8th in NFL allowing 10.1 yards per completion
  • T-3rd in NFL with 2 TD's allowed
  • T-5th in NFL with 1 Interception
    • Not a lot of Interceptions thrown as of yet
  • 20th in NFL in Sack Rate with 6.25% (sacks per attempted pass)
• Rushing
  • 18th in NFL in Yards per Carry at 4.5
  • 29th in NFL in Touchdowns allowed with 3
  • 1st in NFL with only 20 yards receiving allowed to running backs
  • 28th in NFL in yards allowed with 241 yards
  • 4th most in rushing attempts against with 53
    • Yards per Carry is a better indicator here
• Receiving (Receivers)
  • 6th in the NFL in catch rate at 55.77%
  • 4th in the NFL in Yards Per Target at 6.5
    • Behind the Patriots (played Miami and Pittsburgh), Bills (Giants and Jets), Buccaneers (49ers, Panthers)
  • 9th in NFL in Yards per Reception at 11.6
  • Tied for 2nd in TD's given up with 1

[mc52beast]

Those rushing stats are abismal. Would like to know where the runs are going, outside or up the gut

[Snake]

How is 20th in the league in sacks and  28th in yards not bad when we spent most of our draft and FA on Dline. I would say that's down right horrible with our talent level. 

[CPcavedweller]

12 minutes ago, Snake said:

How is 20th in the league in sacks and  28th in yards not bad when we spent most of our draft and FA on Dline. I would say that's down right horrible with our talent level. 

The rushing yardage total is a misnomer. I'd imagine the ranking likely comes down to the teens after the game this weekend. We've played two teams who still like to run the ball so we've faced 52 rushing attempts while the league average is 42.2. YPC average in the NFL is 4.3 and 4.5 if you remove the Ravens and Patriots (both played the Dolphins). 

So it's not as abysmal as you would think. 

Also, the defensive line in a 3-4 isn't the group to rack up the sacks. Usually that would be the linebackers. We are missing Bruce Irvin which has likely had a huge impact on our play calling to this point. No one can tell me Mario Addison or Marquis Haynes can replicate the package that Bruce Irvin can provide. 

With a healthy Cam and Bruce, we are 2-0 right now. The fact we lost both games, while being relatively close, should actually be encouraging considering we get a healthy, mobile QB who finally gets to play with the ones again (last time was against the Saints), and hopefully Irvin gets back soon. Haven't seen an update on him. 

If you go back and watch the tape, you'll see that McCoy has been worth the money we paid him, as has Poe. We just haven't been able to get edge pressure with Haynes, Addison, and Burns. 

 

[4Corners]

thanks for nothing Gerald McCoy and Bruce Irvin. Money NOT well spent. 

[CPcavedweller]

5 minutes ago, 4Corners said:

thanks for nothing Gerald McCoy and Bruce Irvin. Money NOT well spent. 

Gerald McCoy has been our best defensive lineman....by far...

Irvin on the other hand has been injured which isn't helping run the defense Rivera wants to run. 

[joemac]

1 minute ago, CPcavedweller said:

Gerald McCoy has been our best defensive lineman....by far...

Irvin on the other hand has been injured which isn't helping run the defense Rivera wants to run. 

Yeah, McCoy has been playing pretty good so far from what I can tell.  He may not have any sacks yet, but he is a frequent visitor to the backfield.

[BrianS]

It's also not a coincidence that our defense in the first half is considerably better than our defense in the second half.  Our offense needs to sustain some drives and give those guys some rest.  Our TOP this year so far has not been wonderful.

[Snake]

3 hours ago, CPcavedweller said:

The rushing yardage total is a misnomer. I'd imagine the ranking likely comes down to the teens after the game this weekend. We've played two teams who still like to run the ball so we've faced 52 rushing attempts while the league average is 42.2. YPC average in the NFL is 4.3 and 4.5 if you remove the Ravens and Patriots (both played the Dolphins). 

So it's not as abysmal as you would think. 

Also, the defensive line in a 3-4 isn't the group to rack up the sacks. Usually that would be the linebackers. We are missing Bruce Irvin which has likely had a huge impact on our play calling to this point. No one can tell me Mario Addison or Marquis Haynes can replicate the package that Bruce Irvin can provide. 

With a healthy Cam and Bruce, we are 2-0 right now. The fact we lost both games, while being relatively close, should actually be encouraging considering we get a healthy, mobile QB who finally gets to play with the ones again (last time was against the Saints), and hopefully Irvin gets back soon. Haven't seen an update on him. 

If you go back and watch the tape, you'll see that McCoy has been worth the money we paid him, as has Poe. We just haven't been able to get edge pressure with Haynes, Addison, and Burns. 

 

That's a really rosesy glasses outlook. 

[CPcavedweller]

1 hour ago, Snake said:

That's a really rosesy glasses outlook. 

Perhaps. Perhaps not. With a healthy Cam Newton we get that first down against Tampa (or don't need it) 99% of the time. The Rams game is more tricky but Cam ran 3 times for negative yardage, he didn't move around the pocket, he didn't roll out of the pocket, and he couldn't be relied on to scramble 3 to 8 yards for a first down on 3rd down. 

Tells me his foot was bothering him the first week. Also tells me he likely lied to Rivera (directly or by omission) prior to Week 1, which explains why Rivera was so irritated and had a Freudian Slip in his presser. We actually have a shot to be better with Allen than with an injured Cam.