Anatomy Of A Loss

[fieryprophet]

After the euphoric win over divisional archrival New Orleans Saints, Panthers fan were feeling very optimistic that their team would acquit themselves well in a home matchup against the injury-depleted New York Giants. The humiliating debacle that ensued quickly deflated much of that optimism, and an ugly pattern of inconsistency has established itself early in the season. That being said, there are again insights into the how the game played out that can help make sense of the lopsided result:

1. The Panthers as a fanbase and an organization have a short-term problem that stems from having a long-term stroke of good fortune: they have a young, franchise quarterback with seemingly limitless potential. The problem is that they place an exceptional amount on his young shoulders and it is impossible, no matter how hard he strives to achieve it, for him to be able to answer every challenge presented. In this particular game the defense allowed the Giants to march down the field on the opening drive with no impedance whatsoever, signalling early that the offense was going to be in a shootout. That left little room for stalled drives of any kind, and so when the Panthers early drives ended without points, they would return to the field to find themselves further and further behind on the scoreboard. The running game was being stifled by the defensive excellence of the Giants formidable defensive ends, which left the offense in obvious passing downs and at an extreme disadvantage to the Giants greatest strength: rushing the passer.

2. Jason Peirre Paul played a crucial role in disrupting the Panthers read options, as he is one of the few defensive ends on the planet who is athletic enough to get caught in a mesh point and still make a play on the eventual ballcarrier. In contrast, Matthias Kiwanuka was repeatedly abused by the same scheme, particularly on a DeAngelo Williams run in the Panthers lone touchdown drive. Furthermore, the defensive ends as a whole were able to generate constant pressure without having to sacrifice a defender to the blitz, which left Cam having to attempt more and more passes before he wanted to make them and into tighter and tighter windows. The eventual burst of interceptions that Cam threw were waiting to happen as a result of the Giants pressure defense and the circumstances of the later stages of the game.

3. The Panthers defense has improved only marginally at all three levels, with the linebackers showing the least amount of progress between their expectations and their actual contributions. Jon Beason, in particular, has struggled to return to his previous form, especially in his tackling ability. Even in the Saints game he often failed to wrap up runners and halt them from making further gains. Whether this situation improves over the rest of the season will have a huge effect on any playoff aspirations for the team as a whole. The secondary has shown some improvement, even though rookie Josh Norman is going through the typical first-year struggles of learning how much cushion to allow his receiver, and Munnerlyn being moved to the slot has improved on a former schematic weakness. The pass rush has also seen some encouraging signs, particularly from rookie Frank Alexander, but it struggles with inconsistency to such an extreme that it can go from being prevalent on almost every snap against Brees in one game and near non-existent in another against Manning.

4. In the end, this game was lost in the early stages once journeyman running back Andre Brown started to gash the Panthers defense for long runs. Overaggressive pursuit by the linebackers repeatedly led to them getting caught in the wash and Brown bouncing through a gap and into the flat. With the safeties playing deep in deference to the big play ability of Victor Cruz, they were left to cover a lot of ground and attempt bad angles to bring runners down. Once the defense showed that it could not present a challenge to the Giants offense the rest of the game was a mere formality.

5. In summary, the Panthers offense contains a lot of talented parts and the ability to be both explosive and efficient, but in can only be this way when it isn't forced to abandon the running game. Cam is not far enough in his development, particularly in the freedom to audible and run his own plays, to be forced to play catch up against a heavy pass rush. If he has time to go through his progressions, he usually makes good decisions and can find the open receiver. Otherwise, he and the offense as a whole will struggle. If the defense continues to allow teams to march down the field on their opening and subsequent drives, the mythical sophomore slump for Cam Newton will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, not though his own fault, but because he isn't being put in the best situations to exceed at such a young point of his career.

[YoMoney]

tl;dr

[YoMoney]

tl;dr

[LinvilleGorge]

Play terrible in all three facets of the game - offense, defense, and special teams. Fail to adapt as a coaching staff. Turn the ball over in bunches. Fail to catch the INTs the opposing QB throws right to you.

Yep, that'll getcha a loss every time!

[cbarrier90]

After the euphoric win over divisional archrival New Orleans Saints, Panthers fan were feeling very optimistic that their team would acquit themselves well in a home matchup against the injury-depleted New York Giants. The humiliating debacle that ensued quickly deflated much of that optimism, and an ugly pattern of inconsistency has established itself early in the season. That being said, there are again insights into the how the game played out that can help make sense of the lopsided result:

1. The Panthers as a fanbase and an organization have a short-term problem that stems from having a long-term stroke of good fortune: they have a young, franchise quarterback with seemingly limitless potential. The problem is that they place an exceptional amount on his young shoulders and it is impossible, no matter how hard he strives to achieve it, for him to be able to answer every challenge presented. In this particular game the defense allowed the Giants to march down the field on the opening drive with no impedance whatsoever, signalling early that the offense was going to be in a shootout. That left little room for stalled drives of any kind, and so when the Panthers early drives ended without points, they would return to the field to find themselves further and further behind on the scoreboard. The running game was being stifled by the defensive excellence of the Giants formidable defensive ends, which left the offense in obvious passing downs and at an extreme disadvantage to the Giants greatest strength: rushing the passer.

2. Jason Peirre Paul played a crucial role in disrupting the Panthers read options, as he is one of the few defensive ends on the planet who is athletic enough to get caught in a mesh point and still make a play on the eventual ballcarrier. In contrast, Matthias Kiwanuka was repeatedly abused by the same scheme, particularly on a DeAngelo Williams run in the Panthers lone touchdown drive. Furthermore, the defensive ends as a whole were able to generate constant pressure without having to sacrifice a defender to the blitz, which left Cam having to attempt more and more passes before he wanted to make them and into tighter and tighter windows. The eventual burst of interceptions that Cam threw were waiting to happen as a result of the Giants pressure defense and the circumstances of the later stages of the game.

3. The Panthers defense has improved only marginally at all three levels, with the linebackers showing the least amount of progress between their expectations and their actual contributions. Jon Beason, in particular, has struggled to return to his previous form, especially in his tackling ability. Even in the Saints game he often failed to wrap up runners and halt them from making further gains. Whether this situation improves over the rest of the season will have a huge effect on any playoff aspirations for the team as a whole. The secondary has shown some improvement, even though rookie Josh Norman is going through the typical first-year struggles of learning how much cushion to allow his receiver, and Munnerlyn being moved to the slot has improved on a former schematic weakness. The pass rush has also seen some encouraging signs, particularly from rookie Frank Alexander, but it struggles with inconsistency to such an extreme that it can go from being prevalent on almost every snap against Brees in one game and near non-existent in another against Manning.

4. In the end, this game was lost in the early stages once journeyman running back Andre Brown started to gash the Panthers defense for long runs. Overaggressive pursuit by the linebackers repeatedly led to them getting caught in the wash and Brown bouncing through a gap and into the flat. With the safeties playing deep in deference to the big play ability of Victor Cruz, they were left to cover a lot of ground and attempt bad angles to bring runners down. Once the defense showed that it could not present a challenge to the Giants offense the rest of the game was a mere formality.

5. In summary, the Panthers offense contains a lot of talented parts and the ability to be both explosive and efficient, but in can only be this way when it isn't forced to abandon the running game. Cam is not far enough in his development, particularly in the freedom to audible and run his own plays, to be forced to play catch up against a heavy pass rush. If he has time to go through his progressions, he usually makes good decisions and can find the open receiver. Otherwise, he and the offense as a whole will struggle. If the defense continues to allow teams to march down the field on their opening and subsequent drives, the mythical sophomore slump for Cam Newton will become a self-fulfilling prophecy, not though his own fault, but because he isn't being put in the best situations to exceed at such a young point of his career.

In a sea of drunken ramblings, trolls, and general dissatisfaction, there is this^ ray of hope...

[usmcpanthers]

Well this game was the worst one since arizona 08. All of these threads are warranted

[carolina-chuck]

Week 1 + week 3 = stoic $hit

[fieryprophet]

tl;dr

tl;dr = too long; didn't learn