Fastest defense in Panthers history???

[Mother Grabber]

The year the Colts won the SB, they were dead last in rush D during the regular season. They made up for it with an offense that could out score the other team. We don't have an offense like that, but we do have better LBs than they did. I think we'll do fine against the run. Nothing got passed Beason and Connor last night.

[eViL jEsTeR]

Thinking back I do not remember a faster defense on the field for the Panthers. All of the LBs and DE's can play sideline to sideline, the safeties are both young and able to cover large chunks of the field like never before.

But.... there is a downside here. I expect we will have trouble with power running games (think Brandon Jacobs). Many of our players are a bit smaller and faster, which won't be an issue against the shiftier backs like Chris Johnson last night. But wait until a huge OL lines up with a 250+ running back and just goes straight at us snap after snap. Like many great fast defenses in the past, I think we will be vulnerable.

how many 250+ running backs are there? heck, even in NY its likely bradshaw will be the starter instead of jacobs.

[Sword]

good thing bradshaw is their starting runningback now, and we don't play turner and the falcons til the end of the year..

[Snake]

With Brayton,Ed Johnson,and C.Johnson we have some big guys on the line. Dont forget about Hardy ether. He is a big youngin as well.

[pdandy1994]

Connor made some plays last night that made him look like a vet...our defensive backs are really underrated...Gamble is a hell of a tackler

[Ricky Spanish]

psh, don't worry, jacobs will be hurt before they even play us.

[CatMan72]

Yup, it says allot when Chris Johnson can't get an outside running lane.

[CatMan72]

Connor made some plays last night that made him look like a vet...our defensive backs are really underrated...Gamble is a hell of a tackler

Yup, the tackles Gamble makes at CB are incredible - just what we need for an effective tampa 2.

Marshall can lay the wood as well.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

good thing bradshaw is their starting runningback now, and we don't play turner and the falcons til the end of the year..

hopefully the defense will be even better than it is now and turner will be worn down...ever since he came to the nfcs, turner has made carolina's defense look silly.

[Razzy]

I have been very impressed with the way these guys have been getting to the ball. Everyone here seems to have good field awareness, good speed, and most importantly the desire to get in there and do something.

Something I noticed in the later part of last season was that our defense was giving up lots of yards, but not a whole lot of points. And we were creating a whole lot of turnovers. I hope that trend can continue, if this team can hold the ball for the majority of the game they have a good shot at winning.

I guess we'll see how the run D is against NY. I've actually got $200 riding on this game, but the line is carolina +7.5 and I just couldn't resist. I could easily see a win, but I think this game will be a very close one.

[Baschski]

Defense is looking scary good. Our DT's have some good size though and Connor and Anderson are both great against the run so I'm not too worried about power running teams beating us. Even if that was a weakness, most teams nowadays are pass-first, and our pass rush and secondary will eat that sh*t up.

[monstercat]

The Panthers are going to be just as pissed off as the Giants are, because this is about the 4th year in a row that they have had to travel to NY to play them. Can we get a home game against them sometime in this decade, please?

Edit...oops, I meant to post this in the Giants thread.

[Tarheels23]

I'm confused! Doesn't the Ravens and Jets have one of the best power running games in the league outside of the Panthers? END THREAD NOW PLEASE!

[rayzor]

Thinking back I do not remember a faster defense on the field for the Panthers. All of the LBs and DE's can play sideline to sideline, the safeties are both young and able to cover large chunks of the field like never before.

But.... there is a downside here. I expect we will have trouble with power running games (think Brandon Jacobs). Many of our players are a bit smaller and faster, which won't be an issue against the shiftier backs like Chris Johnson last night. But wait until a huge OL lines up with a 250+ running back and just goes straight at us snap after snap. Like many great fast defenses in the past, I think we will be vulnerable.

fortunately there aren't many of those guys around anymore. even brandon jacobs isn't someone i'm all that worried about if he gets into the secondary it might be all over but i would put most of our front 7 against him and not worry about it.

brayton, charles johnson, the DTs, beason, hardy, connor...all of these guys could do a good job of containing him. for the smaller guys, all they have to do is cut his legs out from under him. he's always run too high and made himself susceptible to that.

i agree, though. i am loving the speed on this defense. i feel really good about what these guys can do. it could always be a preseason aberration but i don't think it is. these guys are the real deal.