Panthers Smaller this year

[Floppin]

Tyson Jackson

Tackles 38

Sacks 0.0

Forced fumbles 0

Interceptions 0

Aaron Maybin

Tackles 18

Sacks 0.0

Interceptions 0

Forced Fumbles 0

Brian Orakpo

Tackles 50

Sacks 11.0

Interceptions 0

Forced Fumbles 1

Larry English

Tackles 28

Sacks 2.0

INTs 0

Forced Fumbles 0

Robert Ayers

Tackles 11

Sacks 0

Interceptions 0

Forced Fumbles 0

Everette Brown

Tackles 19

Sacks 2.5

Interceptions 0

Forced Fumbles 2

All of the DE taken in the 09 Draft and the order they were taken in with their career stats. With the exception of Orakpo, EB has comparable career stats with in most cases significantly less playing time.

[marcopolo]

This has always been my concern, since we brought Meeks in.

His D worked great in Indy, because of the fast strike abilities of their O. Ours is not the same, at least has not been in the past.

"Fox Ball" has always been run the rock, and stop the run. We seem to be leaning to Run the rock, and stop the pass. And while that makes sense in todays NFL, I am still a little nervous about our run D.

Meeks also led Indy to the leagues worst run defense...

[thefuzz]

Tyson Jackson

Tackles 38

Sacks 0.0

Forced fumbles 0

Interceptions 0

Aaron Maybin

Tackles 18

Sacks 0.0

Interceptions 0

Forced Fumbles 0

Brian Orakpo

Tackles 50

Sacks 11.0

Interceptions 0

Forced Fumbles 1

Larry English

Tackles 28

Sacks 2.0

INTs 0

Forced Fumbles 0

Robert Ayers

Tackles 11

Sacks 0

Interceptions 0

Forced Fumbles 0

Everette Brown

Tackles 19

Sacks 2.5

Interceptions 0

Forced Fumbles 2

All of the DE taken in the 09 Draft and the order they were taken in with their career stats. With the exception of Orakpo, EB has comparable career stats with in most cases significantly less playing time.

Jackson should not be on this list.

[Floppin]

Why not?

[nosuchthingasapanther]

Meeks also led Indy to the leagues worst run defense...

the same bob sanderless defense that when he returned from his injury became the top defense in the playoffs and won the superbowl?

sanders's health determined indy's ability to stop the run.

an argument can be made that a single player can't completely affect a defense...if that isn't the case, then why are people worried about the panthers' pass rush?

[Fan4life]

I don't understand. John Fox is about run the rock and stop the rock from being ran. Then he brings in Meeks which is last in run Defense.

[SnowPanther]

the same bob sanderless defense that when he returned from his injury became the top defense in the playoffs and won the superbowl?

sanders's health determined indy's ability to stop the run.

an argument can be made that a single player can't completely affect a defense...if that isn't the case, then why are people worried about the panthers' pass rush?

Congratulations, the top defense for 4 games means so much. Especially looking at the teams they played, the only offense worth a damn was the Pats and they dropped 34 on them. The Chiefs were a one man offense, the Ravens had an aging McNair and Lewis and the only players worth a damn were an aging Mason and Todd Heap and the Bears had Rex Grossman as their QB.

A lot to be proud of there.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

Congratulations, the top defense for 4 games means so much. Especially looking at the teams they played, the only offense worth a damn was the Pats and they dropped 34 on them. The Chiefs were a one man offense, the Ravens had an aging McNair and Lewis and the only players worth a damn were an aging Mason and Todd Heap and the Bears had Rex Grossman as their QB.

A lot to be proud of there.

the point being, indy's inability to stop the run isn't a result of meeks's system.

indy's run defense sucked long before meeks got there. the colts haven't had a decent run defense since 1995.

it wasn't good before he got there, and it hasn't improved since he left.

...and something else to point out. fox might emphasis stopping the run, but since he's been head coach, carolina has had a top 10 run defense only twice.

they've had 5 top 10 pass defenses, 3 of those being top 5.

[mick eye]

All the concerns about our DLine are unfounded. The league is increasingly becoming a pass first league. We are equipped to provide pass rush and play coverage. BUT we also have run stuffers like Tank and LL. I predict a top 10 defense like always and considering the decline in strength of schedule we could have a top 5 defense in both run and pass. I mean its easy in august to say "We aint gonna be able to stop the run." But lets look at the schedule. The only teams whose gameplan and players would worry me are....

Ravens- Ray Rice and they use him.

49er's- Gore and two first round picks used on oline.

Browns- Hardesty and Harrison are dangerous and they have a good oline.

Falcons- Turner is primed for a bounce back year.

Bengals- I think they are pass alot more this year but Benson can run the ball.

The rest are either pass-first offenses or don't have legit olines to run the ball like they would like. SO those that are worrying are worrying enough for the lot of us. I personally have faith this defense will be tough enough against the run to win.

[OneBadassCat]

I think Leonard and Tyler will stop the run just fine. It's the guys behind them I'm worried about.

[frash.exe]

indy never really had a good defense because they never made that side of the ball as much a priority when making personnel transactions as they did offensive skill players. Their defensive line's been severely undersized for the last few years putting in guys who are barely over 260 lbs in the interior line.

[eViL jEsTeR]

eh... you're underestimating a Ron Meeks defense for sure. robert mathis and dwight freeney were just names before Ron Meeks molded them into the players that they are now. what he did with our secondary late last season should prove something in his favor. i honestly think our defense will be O.K. teams may run on us early in the season, but i say game 5 or 6 our d-line will start to really click. but this is assuming everyone stays healthy up front.

same as last year. it was ron's first season with our players, took half a season to gel. now its new players, or players in new positions in ron's system, will take half a year to gel.

that said, we do need bigger tackles and our DL will allow RB's to get to the second level. we'll give up good stats to opposing RB's this year.

we finished 22nd last year giving up 4.4 per carry. we'll match that or maybe little higher and again finish well within the bottom half of the league.

[monstercat]

It won't take them a half a year to gel this time. Every single defensive starter has been in this system for a year. The only exception would be if one of the rookies beats one of the starters for a job, and it's much easier to integrate one new starter than it is to get the entire roster up to speed on a new system.

Also, the tackles are big enough. The only question is, are they good enough?

[theedaddy]

It looks like all the D-line are under 300 lbs. And the ones that are over 300 are on the PUP list. Our Biggest guy is a Guard. E. Brown is 6-1 256 lbs. How in the hell is he going to be pushing around 330 plus LT's ??? I thnk we will run the ball well this year and other teams will do the same to us.