Top 10 Players We Can't Afford To Lose To Injury Next Year.

[CRA]

For those that left Gross off their list or seem to think we could get around losing him, whats your contigency plan for replacing him if he goes down?

Wharton was okay as a fill in at LT, Bell could not even handle RT last year. Otah is a good run blocker but pass blocking is def. not his strong suit, hes not even guranteed the RT job over Bell right now according to Rivera. That leaves us with this Campbell kid from Oakland who has no experience,Lee Ziemba, who may not even make the team, or Gary Williams. Otherwise we would have to kick a guard out there and I am not confident in any of them out their either.

I will say this Silatolu played LT in college and had he shown us something then maybe I would consider him there but I'm not taking a chance with him there right now.

Cam Newton will allow you to get away with certain play at the T spot most QBs wouldnt allow

[Marguide]

If Gross went down, we would probably plug in Williams. I don't think it would be pretty to watch, and would change our attack by necessity. Tolbert would likely need to stay in to help with protection on obvious passing downs.

[Urrymonster]

1. Newton - Obvious

2. Johnson - In our division, pass rush is essential

3. Gamble - In our division, cover corners are essential, but can't cover w/o a pass rush

4. Gross - No one else has played LT on our roster, gotta protect #1 on this list

5. Smith - Only real playmaker at WR

6. Kalil - Likewise #4, gotta protect #1, no natural replacement

7. Olsen - Beyond #5, who can harm teams in the passing game?

8. Edwards - Otherwise we have the same DT situation to last year

9. Beason - Will throw Keuchly in the deep end, but there is a natural replacement

10. Hardy - Like #2, but he's not as good, but the guys behind him are role players at best

I think CJ is overrated. Simple as. He puts on pressure somewhat often, but it seems like he's not even there too much. Plus I can't recall him being a good run stopper either.

I'm guessing you remember the highs, and the lows, but not the 75% of plays that make up the rest of the game. Johnson is up there with the best in the league at producing pressure and while wasn't as hot at RE in the run game as he was at LE, he was still very efficient. He is every bit the DE as JP was...

[Urrymonster]

Cam Newton will allow you to get away with certain play at the T spot most QBs wouldnt allow

So you'd happily plug anyone in at LT, despite Newton being the most important player on this team?

[panthers34]

i think we underestimate how good and important kalil is..hes so good in the run and pass game and he helps cam out

[La Pantera]

Kalil calls all the protections...

[panthers55]

In a spread attack, tackles are not as important as they are in a power running game or a pure pocket passing attack. A great center and strong guards who are mobile and can get out in space are actually as important or more so than a LT. Drafting Silatolu was about getting a mobile mean guard who can get out on the corners and flatten people more so than a guy who can pass protect in a traditional scheme. Gross was not a great run blocker for us. Running over the left tackle was 19th while over the right tackle it was 24th, not stellar.

[CRA]

So you'd happily plug anyone in at LT, despite Newton being the most important player on this team?

Never said I'd be happy with it....just that Newton will allow you to get away with less than OL play. Bell would have had most QBs on IR last year.....but people for some reason think he has potential now. Granted LT is more important than RT but that is an example of what Newton can do.

I think Kalil > Gross with Newton. Kalil aids with pass protection calls.

We should be able to handle certain injuries. Smitty and Cam and possibly Kalil I think would be the biggest blows. If the D is healthy you should be able to scheme around most issue outside of Gamble.

[panther4life]

In a spread attack, tackles are not as important as they are in a power running game or a pure pocket passing attack. A great center and strong guards who are mobile and can get out in space are actually as important or more so than a LT. Drafting Silatolu was about getting a mobile mean guard who can get out on the corners and flatten people more so than a guy who can pass protect in a traditional scheme. Gross was not a great run blocker for us. Running over the left tackle was 19th while over the right tackle it was 24th, not stellar.

Cam is a pocket passer, who just happens to have some scrambling ability. Contrary to what football outsiders thinks, Gross was great in the run game. I have re-watched most of the games over again and he was very good in run blocking in my opinion. PFF says Gross was the 4th best LT in run blocking. I admit the way they grade some positions is not perfect but grading a Tackle is not a complicated formula.

Gross is extremely valuable to this team and if we just put some average left tackle in, I guarantee you we would suffer from it.

[CRA]

Cam is a pocket passer, who just happens to have some scrambling ability. Contrary to what football outsiders thinks, Gross was great in the run game. I have re-watched most of the games over again and he was very good in run blocking in my opinion. PFF says Gross was the 4th best LT in run blocking. I admit the way they grade some positions is not perfect but grading a Tackle is not a complicated formula.

Gross is extremely valuable to this team and if we just put some average left tackle in, I guarantee you we would suffer from it.

Cam isn't a true pocket passer. He is a pass first QB though.

Yes, there would be a drop off if we lost Gross. We could survive it. DWill might never see the field as a RB likely would have a huge role in pass protection though

[panther4life]

Cam isn't a true pocket passer. He is a pass first QB though.

Yes, there would be a drop off if we lost Gross. We could survive it. DWill might never see the field as a RB likely would have a huge role in pass protection though

Cam has been lauded by many experts for his pocket presence. That's because he is a true pocket passer but he's just not limited to being a pocket passer.

Either way I can see we're not going to agree on the subject, nothing wrong with that..,just no sense in dragging the debate on. See ya in another thread.

[panthers55]

Cam is a pocket passer, who just happens to have some scrambling ability. Contrary to what football outsiders thinks, Gross was great in the run game. I have re-watched most of the games over again and he was very good in run blocking in my opinion. PFF says Gross was the 4th best LT in run blocking. I admit the way they grade some positions is not perfect but grading a Tackle is not a complicated formula.

Gross is extremely valuable to this team and if we just put some average left tackle in, I guarantee you we would suffer from it.

Newton is not a classic pocket passer which means that you don't need a classic pocket passer protection scheme. Plus the fact that he takes the majority of his passing snaps out of a pistol formation or shotgun means that he has more time to find a receiver and throw hence the pass protection can be average and we can still get good results.

As for Gross being a good run blocker the proof is in the results. When we measured how effective we were blocking over the left side our left end which is outside was ranked 2nd at 5.85, 19th over left tackle at 4.11, middle we were 23rd at 3.87, right tackle were were 24th at 4.03 and 1st over the right end at 5.56.

So if we look at that irrespective of individual ranking, you would say that Bell was nearly as good as Gross in the run game. Simplified yeah but suggesting that the right side with all it's question marks and issues was almost as productive as the left side where Gross was stationed.

Am I glad we have him? Sure. But do I think we could replace him easier than Kalil? Yeah. By the way, as you can see, the running up the middle wasn't very good at all. Where was Kalil's ranking?? I did read that his best rating was on screens where he was number 1. Again his ability to get out in space was very valuable as compared to a traditional power blocking.

[DaCityKats]

Come on now. Losing Anderson would not be worse than losing Johnson. Same for the person who had Olsen above him.

Johnson is really underrated around here. I don't know why. But man. I mean, he's 12th in sacks (8th among ends) the past two years despite the worst DT play and no legitimate rusher across or beside him unlike some, if not most, of the rushers ahead of him. 8th in tackles among ends. 10 stuffs last year, which is a lot more than I've seen from all of the ends I've looked at thus far (there isn't an official ranking on it so I can't say for sure if he's 1st in that stat or not). He's a gamer. Extremely versatile. I don't know what else to say about the guy that shouldn't be already known. I just don't understand how losing Anderson, who while solid, would be worse than losing a great defensive end in Johnson.

losing CJ would really hurt this team, people need to go look back the Saints* game for a reminder. this team allowed Brees hours inside of the pocket.

[frash.exe]

your franchise QB is pretty much essential for success and losing yours to injury is almost insurmountable when you're trying to win a championship