Focal Points for the Remainder of the Season

* Fix the tackling. Last night was probably the worst of it this season, but lately there has definitely been a trend of not wrapping up the ball carrier. This might be one area where Mike Mitchell is a bad influence with his fondness for the tucked-arms big hits, as Kuechly has been doing more of it as well after long being a wrap-up guy. I don't know how many yards the Patriots gained after contact but I'm sure it was a lot since they rarely went down to the first defender. Keeping everything in front of you works best as a defensive philosophy when the defense stops the ball from advancing.


* Establish an interior running game. Even with Kalil back, the Panthers have not been effective when running between the tackles this season. Williams, Stewart, and Tolbert have a combined 682 rushing yards on 192 attempts in that area, which is an average of 3.55 yards per carry. I guess that's why Shula didn't pound the ball up the middle last night, as it didn't work on the rare occasions when they tried. That said, having Tolbert run the inverted veer was pretty stupid. He needs to be going north-south. Even Cam's yards per carry average is down to 4.7 from 5.8 & 5.6 the previous two seasons.


* Be less conservative with the route tree. Although Cam Newton is completing a higher percentage of his passes this season, his overall yards per attempt are actually down significantly (7.29 from 7.98 & 7.84) because the yards per completion have cratered (11.5 from 13.8 & 13.1). Ginn has functioned as an effective deep threat, but it seems that Smith and LaFell aren't asked to push downfield much anymore. I'm all for having underneath options so that Cam doesn't force the ball into coverage, but you don't need every receiver besides Ginn running short. Smith and LaFell are both proven downfield targets who should still be utilized in that role. Doing so could also open up...


* More passes to the backs. It was frustrating the last two seasons when Chudzinski didn't get the running backs very involved in the passing attack, and yet the team is currently on pace to get 20% fewer receiving yards out of the backfield than they did last season. Tolbert in particular has been neglected as a receiving weapon since posting strong numbers in his final season with the Chargers. The more you get the backs out in space the more you discourage blitzing, which Cam has struggled against at times.


* Get Greg Hardy going. He has only three sacks over his last seven games, including one on the last play of garbage time against St. Louis. Six of his ten games have no sacks. I don't know if its the lower weight or the pressure of wanting a new contract, but the Kraken hasn't been the same force in 2013 as he was in 2012.


* Limit the amount of times Luke Kuechly is used to cover TEs in man to man. He struggled with Tony Gonzalez and Rob Gronkowski, so you can only imagine what the Saints plan for Jimmy Graham. Thomas Davis isn't going to shut down Graham either, but he appears to be better at sticking with his assignment. Kuechly functions best in coverage when playing some sort of middle zone where he can focus on the quarterback and not worry about mirroring a specific receiver.

 

We're still using him as an occasional interior rusher and it's completely useless, presumably because of the weight. I've actually starting shouting at my TV when I see him lined up inside.


Not sure what to make of the tackling, other than perhaps the team trying too hard on a big stage.

 

I get too caught up in the excitement of the over all game, but for bits I can focus, I suspect a part of TD's insane number of tackles through most of the season is cleaning up when others go for the big hit vs the sure take down. Yes, TD has missed some too, but in most I have really focused in on, it is NOT due to not using his hands to hang on. And yeah, I think I asked a few games back if Luke was really seeming to start going for the highlight hits as opposed to true tackling. Saw him do it a few times last night - and on at least one of those, TD came across the field and took the guy down after he'd gained more yards post Luke's hit.

 

We'll be sure to pass this one onto Coach, Fatso.

Hardy will be glad to hear your expert "get him going" plan...too bad you're not the GM as you suggested you'd be great at.

 

win games

 

It's funny that you do every single thing you accuse me of (most of which I don't do).

 

I one gives a shit, next subject

 

Was about to post about tackling and the interior run game.

I was surprised about the tackling - we'd been good at that. Great vs. SF.

 

I'd like to see more screen passes to backs an wr. Kind of the same thing Brady was doing to us

 

I'm glad you brought that up. Those were the best WR screens I can remember seeing and I'm really surprised they didn't try more. Their OL did a phenomenal job of getting the DL off-balance with a little shove and then quickly getting out in front of the receiver. Carolina doesn't seem to run those smoke routes for Steve anymore, but even when they did he didn't have that many blockers in front.