"...a more diversified offense ..."

"A lot of times, to be efficient, you just need to take what a defense gives you," Fox said. "Sometimes that means dropping the ball down to a back or throwing to a check down when it's a tight end or a fullback. I think those are all parts of a growing process at the quarterback position to read those things out and be patient."

Fox said Delhomme, who is in his first full season as a starter, has made steady progress. That's reflected in his performance in the past four games, in which he has completed 80 of 121 passes for 865 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions.

That progress came in handy Sunday as running back Stephen Davis, who has been the focal point of the offense, sat out with an ankle injury. It also could come in handy as the Panthers head to the playoffs because defenses would have to worry about more than Davis. Fox also said the receivers have played well in recent weeks, and that could mean a more diversified offense in the postseason.


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I read that, and am baffled. We don't check down to the back, the few times that we throw to one we're using him as option #1...and running against Dallas' 9 man front isn't "taking what the D gives you."

 

it looked like we were checking down in the lions game, but before that everything looked like it was locked on the primary guy everytime. Maybe we've "turned the corner" to use an old sports cliche.

 

we can only hope...we can't expect that physical prowess is all that it takes to have an offense. Most teams got that thirty years ago.

 

Ok then..

So, what do we do now? We have a rested (healthy?) Davis, do we still expand the playbook as we dive into the playoff's or do we run Davis 30+ times a game?

 

hopefully, we'll adapt when they bring 8 in the box, or have enough balance so they won't be able to bring 8 in the box. Passing on first down will open things up, but who knows with Henning. Some games he's seemed like a genius, and others he's seemed like he's asleep. Running Davis 30 times a game would be very nice though, since it would probably mean we have the lead.

 

If Davis gets over 10-15 carries against the NYG next week, I'm going to be one pissed off mofo...

 

I meant in the playoffs, not this upcoming game.

 

just making sure we're on the same page...

Davis is expected to play this though. Everyone but Terry Cousin is expected to play the NYG actually.

It's a preseason game, but we still need to win it to play the lower seed.

I think a more diversified offense means Davis gets 20-25 carries, Foster gets more touches, and Delhomme spreads the ball around a lot more.

We've got targets for him to throw to, when you look at the depth at WR, TE, & RB, Delhomme could get 200 yards passing without hitting the same guy twice.

You want to be diversified, spread the ball. Favre's first 9 passes Monday Night (all completions btw) hit 7 different guys. Manning's the same way. I think that's the ability that makes them so hard to stop, because you can't just shut down 1 or 2 guys. That's what we need.

We've got 5 guys we want to get the ball too now. Davis, Foster, Smith, Moose, & Dyson. Five real threats on offense. You can't stop that with 8 or 9 men up.

It would be great if we can get a big dose of Dyson in the final game to give some film, so our others guys get a little more room to make plays.

 

Reznor hits it on the head by not suggesting a recipe or retaining the status quo.
You take what you'll have the most success with. The team can't afford to lose a playoff game doing 'what got them there' if it means going no further.
And you can't abandon the run - though I don't think anyone's ever suggested that should happen.

But if it comes down to ball control, we still fail most of the time. We can't get more than a couple of first downs with the run when we must because we seem to use poor decisions with it.

There's nothing wrong with using some short passing to keep the ball. I'd rather keep the ball than run three or four minutes, get nothing out of it and punt on a thirteen yard drive. Most teams expect more of that with the game on the line, and when the game is on the line Delhomme's that guy.