QB Sacks May Be An Issue For 2010 Panthers

[House]

I remember when DeAngelo Williams' best year was when he had 717 yards. That was 2007. How'd he do in 2008?

I know that's not a fair comparison, given that Foster was not the force that Peppers was at his position, but I don't think it's out of the question to think Johnson will have more sacks next year. In fact, I think he'll have around 10.

Brown is the question mark to me. Still, he has great potential.

I am worried about the defensive line, but it could be a lot better than we think. We'll just have to wait and see.

The DL is the overall key to the entire "How many sacks?" question. If they are able to get pressure up the middle so that the QB can not just step forward then I think our DE's have the ability to get there.

I am hoping that the 30 minutes we saw of Leonard last year was not a mirage. Hopefully he will be able to bring it like that all year. That in turn will help Tank because I don't think Tank has the ability to push through the double team. He is pretty good one on one but he doesn't have the ability to work through two defenders. Which is what happened to him a lot last year with Hollis. Hollis was not a sack/pressure threat so they were able to single him and chip Tank with either the G or C.

[panthers55]

I doubt we get more than 25 sacks this year. If you look at last year's numbers the vast majority came from the defensive line which is going to start off slow this year IMO. But the issue isn't really sacks so much as can the defensive line stop the run and still get pressure on the quarterback with our front four. And honestly that is still a big unknown. I am waiting to see what scheme we run this year. We have traditionally run a 4-3 under but might change to more of a true 4-3 or even a Miami 4-3 since we don't have a huge run stopper like Kemo or Thomas playing over the nose. The positive if we run more of a 1 gap 4-3 is that we could get more pressure up the middle but the negative could be that we are more susceptible to being gashed in run defense.

My preference would be the 6-1 variation where the Will and Sam line up on the line in a 2 point stance along with the 4 down linemen who line up in a 3 point stance. It allows you to blitz and confuse the line assignments and allows you to have an aggressive 4-3. There is little to no liklihood we run it here though. It isn't Meeks style.

Bottom line is not who plays on the line but how well they play together and whether you have the right scheme to maximize your player's ability.

[panthers55]

The DL is the overall key to the entire "How many sacks?" question. If they are able to get pressure up the middle so that the QB can not just step forward then I think our DE's have the ability to get there.

I am hoping that the 30 minutes we saw of Leonard last year was not a mirage. Hopefully he will be able to bring it like that all year. That in turn will help Tank because I don't think Tank has the ability to push through the double team. He is pretty good one on one but he doesn't have the ability to work through two defenders. Which is what happened to him a lot last year with Hollis. Hollis was not a sack/pressure threat so they were able to single him and chip Tank with either the G or C.

Actually that is not what I saw happening. We played a 4-3 under and sometimes a 4-3 over which lines up Thomas on either outside shoulder of the center ( under or over is a function of whether the shift is to the weak side or the strong side) But Thomas took on the double teams which actually put Tyler as a three technique tackle playing in the gap between the guard and tackle. With the defensive end playing 5 technique in the gap between the tackle and End or outside the tackle on the weakside, it actually freed up Tyler and the DE on that side to both have single assignments. On passing downs we used more of a true 4-3 which puts both tackles in the B gap and the ends in the C gap all playing 1 gap attacking style. If anything it was Thomas getting doubled as he got much better penetration than Tyler did. Louis didn't play enough to tell much at all.

[Sandy Claws]

[Jangler]

Savoir Faire beat me to it, all I could think reading this thread was, Is it too early to say the sky is falling?

[Cyberjag]

Here's even more insight into their ability to get pressure. From ProFootballfocus.com, which tracks stats like Sacks, Hits, Pressure, and Batted Passes:

. . . . .Snaps. QB Sk. QB Ht. QB Pr. BP. Tks. Ass . MT. Stops

Peppers . 806 . . 10. . 10. . . 33 . 1 . 23 . 3 . . 4 . . 26

Brayton . 718 . . 5 . . 7 . . . 24 . 0 . 34 . 5 . . 0 . . 30

Johnson . 450 . . 4 . . 2 . . . 22 . 2 . 14 . 1 . . 2 . . 13

Brown . . 401 . . 3 . . 7 . . . 13 . 2 . 14 . 3 . . 2 . . 14

Given that Peppers got almost 100 more opportunities to make a play than his nearest competitor, you would kind of expect him to get more sacks. And he did, and he also got them at a higher rate than anyone.

But as mentioned, it's all about the pressure, not just about sacks. And in that, you see a little different story. If you look at the rate at which the four linemen got pressure adjusted by play, it doesn't look as bad.

. . . . . QB Sk . QB Ht . QB Pr . BP . . Total

Peppers . 1.24% . 1.24% . 4.09% . 0.12% . 6.70%

Brayton . 0.70% . 0.97% . 3.34% . 0.00% . 5.01%

Johnson . 0.89% . 0.44% . 4.89% . 0.44% . 6.67%

Brown . . 0.75% . 1.75% . 3.24% . 0.50% . 6.23%

So Peppers was very good at getting sacks and hitting the QB, but the guy replacing him was better at getting pressure and batting passes. And it's arguable that in his fourth season Johnson will continue to improve, he's young and still getting better.

I guess the moral is that if you believe that Statistics tell the whole story, we're in as much trouble as losing pressure on 0.03% of plays would indicate.

[DaCityKats]

i dont think the de will be much of a problem, as mention before. with that being said what worries me is when we get that pressure off the end, all the qb will do is step up into the pocket and still complete the pass.this happened to many times over the past 2 years because we havent had a dt that can get a push from the middle. hopefully irvin can if not were in trouble.with our fast de's getting to the qb will not be that big of a problem, but him stepping up will kill this defense.

[monstercat]

I guarantee you one thing...Louis Leonard will get more pressure up the middle than kemo ever did. That should help those DE's out a lot. Don't sleep on Corvey Irvin either...if anybody here watched any of his college games, then you know he has the athleticism to get after the QB a little bit. I'm assuming that he got stronger in his "redshirt" year too, which was his problem as a rookie.

[Snake]

As long as we get pressure I could care less about sacks. Besides our DTs are the ones that need to step up. Inside pressure has not been good since 2004.