After slow start, Panthers gets defensive

[Rod Butsecks]

(By David Scott and Ron Green Jr., [email protected] and [email protected]) p/ Captain Munnerlyn, the Carolina Panthers' loquacious rookie defensive back, can't remember who it was he was talking to last week. But Munnerlyn was eager to discuss the Panthers' newly formidable defense./p

More...

[Razzy]

And they will have to have another great game Sunday if we are to beat the saints.

[Coitus]

This defense looks like our 2002 defense, which was a great defense, and is possibly our best defense ever!

[[email protected]]

I think the saints offensive attack is no mystery, the Panthers are ranked 22 as a rush defense, Saints will try to run it all day.

Even the Falcons were only 18th, when we faced them, and look what we did to them rushing.

If we are successful you will have to pull up you secondary to cover the run, then its a done deal for brees to pic and choose a run to pass, to confuse the D like he did to the giants. And he will dance on the panthers all day.

You need to fix this problem NOW before you play us. IF you dont stop the saints run game, then you will deal with both run and pass and you will have to make 40 pts on your offense.

I know the saints can stop your run or your pass,not both but one, Im guessing we our going to try to kill the run and pressure, let Jake prove he can play a perfect game, and attack the line. See if Jake can throw perfect game with no ints for 40pts.

These guys are not a joke, this is the best team N.O. has fielded for 38 years.

They don't have an off day, or ever believe they wont win, and its not ego, they will keep coming, even in the 4th you have to respect that if you let your guard down they can put up 21pts.

[venom]

saints running game is garbage, and our secondary is going to make brees pay. as long as we don't turn the ball over, we should be pretty competitive in this game.

[CarolinaSock]

I think the saints offensive attack is no mystery, the Panthers are ranked 22 as a rush defense, Saints will try to run it all day.

Even the Falcons were only 18th, when we faced them, and look what we did to them rushing.

If we are successful you will have to pull up you secondary to cover the run, then its a done deal for brees to pic and choose a run to pass, to confuse the D like he did to the giants. And he will dance on the panthers all day.

You need to fix this problem NOW before you play us. IF you dont stop the saints run game, then you will deal with both run and pass and you will have to make 40 pts on your offense.

I know the saints can stop your run or your pass,not both but one, Im guessing we our going to try to kill the run and pressure, let Jake prove he can play a perfect game, and attack the line. See if Jake can throw perfect game with no ints for 40pts.

These guys are not a joke, this is the best team N.O. has fielded for 38 years.

They don't have an off day, or ever believe they wont win, and its not ego, they will keep coming, even in the 4th you have to respect that if you let your guard down they can put up 21pts.

Your rush defense is really no better than ours, we've simply been run on more. You guys get ahead early in games making teams one dimensional, leading to many of your interceptions. If we can keep you from getting up more than 10 at any point I like our chances. If we fall behind more than that, I don't feel good at all about pulling it out.

Our defense does not give up many big plays (12 20+ yard passes and only 1 40+), so you will have to earn your points and sustain drives (provided we don't cough it up for a short field). The fewer possessions total between the 2 teams, the better for us. Your defense doesn't scare me at all as long as we're not forced to be one dimensional. Our run defense has been making strides since some recent DT acquisitions, one you Saints should be familiar with.

I can't really make a prediction because the coaching and passing game have been so inconsistent from game to game. It's impossible to know if we'll show up with our A game (Arizona game) or fail game (most games for Jake, Buffalo and Dallas for coaching). I like our chances if the A game shows up and might not be able to watch the whole game if the other type shows up.

[[email protected]]

Your rush defense is really no better than ours, we've simply been run on more. You guys get ahead early in games making teams one dimensional, leading to many of your interceptions. If we can keep you from getting up more than 10 at any point I like our chances. If we fall behind more than that, I don't feel good at all about pulling it out.

Our defense does not give up many big plays (12 20+ yard passes and only 1 40+), so you will have to earn your points and sustain drives (provided we don't cough it up for a short field). The fewer possessions total between the 2 teams, the better for us. Your defense doesn't scare me at all as long as we're not forced to be one dimensional. Our run defense has been making strides since some recent DT acquisitions, one you Saints should be familiar with.

I can't really make a prediction because the coaching and passing game have been so inconsistent from game to game. It's impossible to know if we'll show up with our A game (Arizona game) or fail game (most games for Jake, Buffalo and Dallas for coaching). I like our chances if the A game shows up and might not be able to watch the whole game if the other type shows up.

smart post, you put allot of thought into this. Our run defense has been improving. thou Im am worried about the panthers trend since 2006, they have gotten worse.

D against the rush

Panthers

2006 11 Carolina

2007 18 Carolina

2008 20 Carolina

2009 22 Carolina

saints

2006 23 New Orleans

2007 13 New Orleans

2008 17 New Orleans

2009 10 New Orleans

My point is if you cant stop us running, and you know we have a 3 headed dragon, whats going to stop the pass later?

you need to be a top 5 defense in the rush tomorrow, which we faced vs the giants, philly, and miami, and that still did stop the run.

The falcons just blitz every play, because they knew there secondary was messed up, and that didnt do anything, so whats the plan?

[CarolinaSock]

smart post, you put allot of thought into this. Our run defense has been improving. thou Im am worried about the panthers trend since 2006, they have gotten worse.

D against the rush

Panthers

2006 11 Carolina

2007 18 Carolina

2008 20 Carolina

2009 22 Carolina

saints

2006 23 New Orleans

2007 13 New Orleans

2008 17 New Orleans

2009 10 New Orleans

My point is if you cant stop us running, and you know we have a 3 headed dragon, whats going to stop the pass later?

you need to be a top 5 defense in the rush tomorrow, which we faced vs the giants, philly, and miami, and that still did stop the run.

The falcons just blitz every play, because they knew there secondary was messed up, and that didnt do anything, so whats the plan?

The fact is if we play like we have up to this point we'll lose. Our defense has been making strides but they need to continue to improve (getting Thomas Davis back will be very helpful) for us to have a chance. Our teams are actually very similar in rush and pass defense so far, as well as our rush offenses. You have a vastly superior passing offense obviously (due almost exclusively to your QB over ours and playcalling). I'm not looking at total yards allowed because that doesn't tell you as much as average yards per attempt.

Our best bet at pulling out a win is ball control on offense with no turnovers and making you guys dink and dunk down the field. We won't shutdown your offense, but we can try to slow it to a crawl. Make some key 3rd down stops and force some punts, while grinding it out on the offensive side. I really believe our rush offense will prove superior to yours especially with you hurting at DT and our rush D starting to come together. I don't believe we have much if any room for error while your more balanced offense leaves some room for mistakes to be made and overcome.

Honestly if both teams play mistake free this could be a very entertaining and close game. The talent on the teams is very close (QB withstanding obviously), your execution and scheming however has blown ours away most of the year. I really think we will need some mistakes from you guys on the offensive side (they do happen, although not often) while not screwing up on our end to pull out the win.

[jasonluckydog]

No Health Care for You~~

[Sandy Claws]

I think the saints offensive attack is no mystery, the Panthers are ranked 22 as a rush defense, Saints will try to run it all day.

Even the Falcons were only 18th, when we faced them, and look what we did to them rushing. .

Hate to break it to you but the 4.2 ypc that you put on the Falcons is hardly impressive. Without that 1 PT run for 30, the Aints average was only 3.4 ypc.

If we are successful you will have to pull up you secondary to cover the run, then its a done deal for brees to pic and choose a run to pass, to confuse the D like he did to the giants. And he will dance on the panthers all day.

You need to fix this problem NOW before you play us. IF you dont stop the saints run game, then you will deal with both run and pass and you will have to make 40 pts on your offense.

Big IF. We had some growing pains with the new D combined with a big loss on the D line with nothing for a replacement. Looking at the weeks since our bye, there's a big change.

I know the saints can stop your run or your pass,not both but one, Im guessing we our going to try to kill the run and pressure, let Jake prove he can play a perfect game, and attack the line. See if Jake can throw perfect game with no ints for 40pts.

Funny. I'm thinking that the Cards "KNEW" the D they brought (which was #1 against the rush going in) would stop our running attack. They spent almost the whole game with 8 in the box to stop it. Maybe you'll be more successful than they were.

[unicar15]

If we can slow the Saints down then we will get attention as the #1 defense in the league. Thats a big IF tho...

[panthers55]

smart post, you put allot of thought into this. Our run defense has been improving. thou Im am worried about the panthers trend since 2006, they have gotten worse.

D against the rush

Panthers

2006 11 Carolina

2007 18 Carolina

2008 20 Carolina

2009 22 Carolina

saints

2006 23 New Orleans

2007 13 New Orleans

2008 17 New Orleans

2009 10 New Orleans

My point is if you cant stop us running, and you know we have a 3 headed dragon, whats going to stop the pass later?

you need to be a top 5 defense in the rush tomorrow, which we faced vs the giants, philly, and miami, and that still did stop the run.

The falcons just blitz every play, because they knew there secondary was messed up, and that didnt do anything, so whats the plan?

Our run defense is not the same as it was before the bye thanks to one of your guys, Hollis Thomas. And before you say he is washed up, he had a great season for the Saints in 2007 and was injured in 2008. He is back to his form of 2007. What difference had it made? Before the bye we gave up an average of 179 yards a game on the ground. Since Thomas and the bye we are giving up 89 yards a game. That is good for 4th in rushing defense. Add that to being 1st in passing defense and you are looking at the toughest defensive test this year for New Orleans.

If we win the turnover battle and can score 24-30 points we will win and shock the football world for the second week in a row. We are actually built to beat the Saints on defense with Meeks being a passing defensive specialist. Bell and Thomas will get yards but it won't be a run fest like Saints fans think. Brees will have to beat us with his arm. If we don't make the mistakes that Miami did and stick to the run, this could be a big upset.

What is the gameplan? The same as it was with Arizona. Shut down the run, pressure Brees with the front four, and keep everything short and underneath. Pursue the ball and attack the ball carrier. Wait for Brees to get impatient and when he takes shots down the field, double the receiver and intercept the ball.

On offense play ball position, run the ball with a sprinkling of passes when needed, and control the clock. Wear down the saints defense who will be vulnerable without their tackles to the run and when they load the box, break a few long runs when we get to the second level.

[Pimpdaddy]

We know what we need to do, it just depends on who shows up...

[Razzy]

I think the saints offensive attack is no mystery, the Panthers are ranked 22 as a rush defense, Saints will try to run it all day.

I'm sure one of the other fans here has already said this, but that was because of our lack of talent on d-line in our early games. Recently the rush D has improved greatly thanks to the addition of Hollis Thomas & Tank Tyler, and the play of Charles Johnson.