Re-Focused: Panthers @ Saints, Week 17

[jtnc]

Carolina – Three Performances of Note

Hard to Cover If You Can’t Get Pressure

Anytime you allow 45 points, the defense obviously was outperformed by the offense more often than not and this game was no different with a whopping 11 defenders grading in the red for the Panthers. The Saints had no trouble moving the ball with only three drives that didn’t produce points. Worse, Carolina never managed to force a single three-and-out series and only one Saints’ drive went for less than 44 yards. One big reason the Panthers were so unable to limit the damage was an incredibly unproductive performance rushing the passer. Saints’ quarterbacks dropped back to pass 39 times, but the Panthers were able to pressure them only four times with no hits or sacks and two tipped passes. Greg Hardy (-1.6) was the most ineffective of the rushers with no pressure whatsoever despite rushing the passer a team-leading 32 times. It’s been a rough final month of the season for Hardy with three of four games grading in the red and this game bringing his first pressure-less game of the season. Hardy also contributed one of the ten missed tackles the Panthers committed on defense.

And Hard to Get Pressure if You Can’t Cover

It’s hard to play great pass defense when your front can’t get any pressure, but the Panthers secondary didn’t do itself any favors with blown coverages and missed tackles aplenty. It didn’t help that cornerback Darius Butler left the game with a broken arm after only nine snaps. His replacement in the base defense, R.J. Stanford, got his first career interception when Drew Brees apparently missed him waiting to undercut Darren Sproles’ route. Surprisingly, Brees didn’t attack Stanford or rookie Brandon Hogan in the nickel much, instead preferring to hand Chris Gamble (-3.4) his worst game of the season. Gamble has had a borderline Pro Bowl-caliber season but looked anything but in New Orleans. Gamble allowed four receptions on five targets and didn’t make a single positively-graded play as even the one incompletion was merely an overthrown ball that Colston couldn’t quite reel in. It wasn’t all about struggles in coverage though with Gamble also missing three tackles in the run game. Two of them resulted in the running back picking up enough additional yardage for a first down when he would have been stopped short otherwise. Not the best way to cap a fine season, but Gamble can take solace in knowing his struggles came against possibly the most dangerous offense in the league right now.

Run Game Does its Part

The Panthers picked up chunks of yardage on the ground with ease and were rarely forced into third-down situations. Unfortunately their defensive struggles caused them to lean more on the pass and run the ball only 24 times. Left guard Travelle Wharton (+3.3) was responsible for some of that success with some big one-on-one blocks. At 1:47 remaining in the first quarter he gets under the arms of Shaun Rogers (-1.2) and forces him out of the running lane, opening a huge hole for Deangelo Williams to burst through and freeing up other players to make blocks at the second level for a nice 13-yard gain. Williams and Jonathan Stewart (+1.9) both had a high yards per carry average, but Stewart was a little better. Stewart ran the ball nine times for 79 yards and had seven positively-graded runs, though one occurred on a play nullified by penalty. His most impressive run of the day came with 1:25 remaining in the second quarter. It was a rare eight-man rush and there were multiple Saints in the backfield when Stewart took the handoff, but he hit the hole quickly and decisively and outran the blitz for a 29-yard touchdown, demonstrating great vision and burst.

Next excuse for Hardy?

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2012/01/03/re-focused-panthers-saints-week-17/

[Kurb]

He's still young.

If it was up to the huddle we would cut every player that made a mistake.

[PhillyB]

interior pressure will help everyone look better. even CJ has looked nonexistent out there during a couple of games. when the Oline knows they only need to worry about one or two guys it makes getting consistent pressure a lot harder. it also means we have to bring blitzes more often to get that pressure, which means if the quarterback reads the pressure right he'll quickly find the hole and get the ball out, negating the pass rush.

lots of factors go into one guy's apparent lack of production.

that said, while DE is certainly not an offseason priority, if there's cap space to address it i think we should. i'd love to anchor the position down with a quality starter (preferably someone good against the run) so we can rotate hardy/applewhite in situationally.

[jtnc]

He's still young.

If it was up to the huddle we would cut every player that made a mistake.

No one said anything about cutting him, he's a rotational player.

[Cat'sGrowl]

Zomg why didn't Hardy get sacks when he had Ogwembotazilanee occupying the middle! Turrible! Just turrible! Dwaft Coples NOW!!

[Miaoww]

Does anyone really take that website seriously?

[Urrymonster]

I would be intrigued to see where the Saints directed their protection, because Hardy was literally the only player on the field who has shown to bring pressure this season.

Excuse for Hardy? One game does not make a career. Try and find one guy on the defence this year who hasn't looked awful at times, because very single one of them has.

[TheRealDeal]

Does anyone really take that website seriously?

Some people take that more seriously than actually watching games.

People love that website.

There are people here who comment on things based on articles from that website and don't even bother watching games.

It has a serious cult following.

[CaptaINCrunchKing]

Hardy is overrated by the fanbase that's for sure, but he's still a young guy figuring out how to play his position in the league. I'd give him another season

[The Saltman]

Horrible game all around for the defense and you can't put blame on one guy. They all were terrible with the exception of anderson. It does go to show how important Charles johnson is on the line though.

Im still pissed about this game.

[jtnc]

Horrible game all around for the defense and you can't put blame on one guy. They all were terrible with the exception of anderson. It does go to show how important Charles johnson is on the line though.

Im still pissed about this game.

Hardy still doesn't take advantage of CJ being double teamed.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

Hardy still doesn't take advantage of CJ being double teamed.

johnson gets double teamed? how often does that happen?