New Article: Meeks will bring change for the better

[BlindSite]

After spending years in a pressure orientated, mainly man-coverage centric, forty-three scheme the Panthers’ bringing in a Tampa Two orientated defensive coordinator may confuse some in the fan base.

Consider for a moment the recent comments from Eugene Robinson to Darin Gantt where he detailed that Meeks will tailor to a defenses strengths, rather than force round pegs into square holes.

Right now, the young secondary of the Panthers has had some issues, before Tim Lewis the zone schemes were sloppy and the back of the defense was generally, a little soft. Under Tim Lewis, things became more disciplined, and improved, but only marginally. Lewis failed to find a way to use the physicality of Lucas, Marshall and Harris while allowing the smooth athleticism of CJ Wilson, Charles Godfrey and Chris Gamble to accentuate the defense.

Ron Meeks appears to be poised to change all of that. The Indianapolis secondary, line backing corps and often, defensive line only had two or three star players. For much of the time, outside of Dwight Freeney and Bob Sanders they weren’t exactly the who’s who of defensive play makers, but for some reason Meeks managed to have his defensive finish in the top seven in points allowed five times during time in Indianapolis, within which he won a Super Bowl (2006) and lead the NFL in scoring defense (2007).

With the Panthers having high picks and big money up and down the defense and speculation running rife as to why the team hasn’t had the defense it should’ve for years, the tide may be beginning to change.

Thomas Davis and Jon Beason form what just might be the best young tandem at MLB and WLB in the NFL today and Meeks will undoubtedly be dreaming up packages to get these two headlines as devastating play makers.

The offseason is still weeks away from being in full-swing and realistically it’s impossible to ascertain what picks in the draft the Panthers’ will eventually have and really, which players will be signed or released before training camp.

One thing is for sure, the Panthers signed the best defensive coordinator available. One with experience playing under a defensive minded head coach, one who by all accounts is considered, flexible and skilled and most importantly an experienced, successful and brilliant mind.

That being said you can likely expect to see more, yet more effective zonal schemes, which will suit the Panthers strengths in the back seven. We can also expect to see a lot more blitzing, pass rushing and more aggression from the Panthers players.

What the team still needs however is a few more pieces on the defensive line and with a number of ends, tackles and hybrids of the two entering the market, one would think the Panthers can find Meeks some pieces to fit his plans.

Expect the secondary to become more of a centre piece, expect a lot of free running style defense and expect fewer mistakes.

Trgovac and Fox were different in their defensive styles and this often lead to a good compromise of zone and man to man schemes that revolved around some kind of four man rush, safety blitz or the occasional free fire blitzing. It was largely a success, but there were often breakdowns in assignments in both the zone, gap discipline and in man to man coverage.

Meeks and Fox have both come from a background of using zonal schemes, aggressive front lines and strong linebacker play. While the two will differ slightly in their secondary coaching Fox’s extensive experience in the area will at the end of the day mean he and Meeks ought to be on the same wavelength in their understanding of the team’s capabilities. This is the most important aspect of the hire.

When Fox got involved with the defensive coaching over the last few years his involvement wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, the clouding of the waters because he and Trgovac couldn’t devise a concise, accurate game plan, was. With Meeks that breakdown in communication shouldn’t rear its ugly head and the team should be allowed to finally do what they do best. Play some damn football.

[Debil]

Hope so

[countryboi]

i am waiting to pass judgment to i see it on the field....i have not see poo from the colts defense that would make me think he are going to be any better than last year on defense

[PlayMoore!]

I didn't know that barry sanders played for the colts.... lol I think you meant bob sanders.

[bleys]

i am waiting to pass judgment to i see it on the field....i have not see sh*t from the colts defense that would make me think he are going to be any better than last year on defense

perhaps you've not seen the stats? They are in most threads that say something like 'the colts defense sucks'... And then someone will post stats.

Minus the bad year in '08 (which was still overall better than us), they have been really good.

The one downside is their ability to stop the run. One of which shouldn't carry over any worse than it may already be here (we have a much bigger D-Line, and hopefully we'll add to that this off season).

But as with everything, I'll hold my judgment until we get to see what happens.

[BlindSite]

perhaps you've not seen the stats? They are in most threads that say something like 'the colts defense sucks'... And then someone will post stats.

Minus the bad year in '08 (which was still overall better than us), they have been really good.

The one downside is their ability to stop the run. One of which shouldn't carry over any worse than it may already be here (we have a much bigger D-Line, and hopefully we'll add to that this off season).

But as with everything, I'll hold my judgment until we get to see what happens.

They've been bad at stopping the run because they've never had a defensive line other than a very light unit. Freeney and Mathis are both small ends and their defensive tackle spot is one they've been trying to upgrade for years.

Our defensive tackles and LDE are better than indy's when it comes to run stopping.

[bleys]

They've been bad at stopping the run because they've never had a defensive line other than a very light unit. Freeney and Mathis are both small ends and their defensive tackle spot is one they've been trying to upgrade for years.

Our defensive tackles and LDE are better than indy's when it comes to run stopping.

Yep, agreed.

[monstercat]

I strongly disagree about Tim Lewis...I saw absolutely no improvement whatsoever after he took over. In fact, if anything the secondary started making more mental mistakes and giving up more big plays after he came here.

[carpanfan96]

Sounds good to me, I still see godfrey as a star under meeks.

[The Cat Attack]

i would still prefer a younger defensive cordinator

lets be honest, fox is getting up in age after 30 years coaching (20 in the league) and his contract is up in a couple years

if a younger guy was in here then we could see wat he had as a possible h/c when foxy retires or leaves

plus we need young, crazy intisity @ practice, no some old hag scheme

[Delhommey]

Meeks always did a lot with a little.

Indy definitely put their money on the other side of the ball.

[BlindSite]

i would still prefer a younger defensive cordinator

lets be honest, fox is getting up in age after 30 years coaching (20 in the league) and his contract is up in a couple years

if a younger guy was in here then we could see wat he had as a possible h/c when foxy retires or leaves

plus we need young, crazy intisity @ practice, no some old hag scheme

Its nice to find the next whizz kid, but for every one that pans out there's five or six that causes a franchise to suffer.

[megadeth078]

i would still prefer a younger defensive cordinator

lets be honest, fox is getting up in age after 30 years coaching (20 in the league) and his contract is up in a couple years

if a younger guy was in here then we could see wat he had as a possible h/c when foxy retires or leaves

jeff davidson

[stirs]

It won't matter who we bring in if Fox overrides their decisions.

I will be in the wait and see camp also.