Fixable Problem?

http://www.buzzfans.com/sports/story/5395176p-4876398c.html

Run defense proves costly for Panthers

By Darin Gantt The Herald
(Published December 13‚ 2005)

CHARLOTTE -- It's a simple formula, really. When the Carolina Panthers run well and stop the run they fare well, and when they don't, not so much.
They didn't come away with significant victories in either during Sunday's 20-10 loss to Tampa Bay.

Although the Panthers entered the game with the league's second-best run-stopping unit (allowing 85.5 yards per game), they surrendered 114 yards. Carnell Williams had 112 of those, making him just the second back this year to top the 100-yard mark against them. It also dropped them to third in the league against the run, something coach John Fox wasn't pushing the panic button about.

"When I look at the whole season I think we're in the top four; it might be fifth," Fox said. "I don't think it's necessarily a problem. They had 249 yards of offense (actually 247). But if you run the ball on first and second down and keep converting them on third downs, in my mind the problem is not the run defense (the Panthers allowed 10-of-17 conversions).

"The two touchdown rushes are what concerns me the most. We didn't play very good on those two plays."

You can zoom the problems against the run to four games this year. In their losses to New Orleans, Miami, Chicago and Tampa, the Panthers have surrendered 120.3 yards per game. In their nine wins, they allow just 72.2 yards per game.

That nearly 50-yard difference is significant, clearly pointing to what they need to do down the stretch.

As twisted as it sounds, strong safety Marlon McCree said he was actually encouraged by what he and the defensive players saw when they reviewed the tape with coordinator Mike Trgovac.

"The four games we lost it's been technique errors ... for whatever reason," McCree said. "We'll correct that and come back next week and definitely be a better run-stopping team. The guys who have beat us have contributed as well, but for the most part we're doing it to ourselves.

"When we execute, it's a negative gain. When we vacate an assignment, that's when guys get (yardage). ... It's some upside to the loss. Everybody's got to be honed down."

Fox echoed that the mistakes were correctable mental ones rather than physical mismatches, saying there were missed tackles on both touchdown runs, and linebackers out of position on the first.

McCree said that there were many problems, a;though Trgovac had determined that most of the Bucs' rushing yardage came on eight busted plays. The rest were for less than 2 yards per carry. McCree said it wasn't as if the Bucs' offensive line was blowing defenders away, there were just mental breakdowns.

"No, just a play here and there," McCree said. "Whether it was the line, the linebackers or the secondary. We all had our signature on it. That's uncharacteristic of our defense. We play the run well. That was what was most disappointing, when we watched the tape it was uncharacteristic of how we normally play.

"It's surprising. But we're 9-4, we're not 4-9. It hasn't happened too many times. Nine out of the 13 games we've played we've been technique-sound and we've executed. I think from these next three games going into the playoffs, we'll get back to our normal play."

They also hoped to be able to run against the Bucs the way they had the prior two weeks in wins over Atlanta and Buffalo, in which DeShaun Foster combined for 205 yards.

They managed just 82 yards on the ground as a team, with Foster held to 46 yards on 14 carries. As important as the yards was they attempted just 20 rushes, the result of falling behind early.

They average 32.7 rush attempts per game in their wins, and just 21.8 in their losses. It was just the fifth time they passed more than they ran in a game, and it's hardly a coincidence they lost (a win at Arizona the lone exception).

Fox said there were areas the Panthers' offense didn't excel, but he pointed to the Bucs for the lack of rushing success.

"We missed some holes, we missed some blocks," Fox said. "We ran a toss play that their nose tackle made the play on. It's not like he was lined in the position and we didn't know where he was. We ran a toss play for 30 yards, too (it was 20). They rushed the ball for maybe 30 yards more than we did. It wasn't like we had no success running the ball, or passing it. At the end of the day we had more yards than they did.

"The key is points ... (they) are what win games in this league. They were able to keep drives alive on third down and we weren't, whether we ran it or passed it, contrary to popular belief. When you convert third down you possess the ball. They did it. We didn't. They scored two touchdowns. We scored one."

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DGantt would impress me if he looked beyond the raw rushing numbers to the context. Tampa Bay actually didn't run that well on us at all Sunday. They had one good series when our defense was down after the interception, but aside from that they only had a couple of runs because LBs missed tackles or failed to fill. We handled 85% of the running plays, and while the other 15% still count, they wouldn't have gotten that many yards without mistakes in other areas.

I'm really surprised that the columnists and even the posters here are not really catching on to the role the coverage teams have played in our losses recently. We are losing the field position battle badly, and for a team like ours, that's critical.

 

and .

And I don't care how many Smith punts go back for 40 yards, if it's still a 10:1 ratio of weenie slides, fair catches inside the 15, and returns from inside the 10 for every decent return. We need one guy who can do both; and even if Smith was averaging well above average, I still feel very concerned about having him out there dogging punts at $5 mil a year, plus the fact that he's 110% of our offense right now.

 

I'm so done with Rod Smart's wimpy 20 yards up the gut, no chance to break one attacks. But at first read I had thought Collin meant pass coverage. We have GOT to do something about these ins and slant routes. I'm guessing those are hard to defend when the LB's commit to run defense or have blitz assignments? N.O.'s two minute drill at the end of the first half was VERY effective (out's and hitches) but Atlanta was in prevent. Can't you stop all four mentioned routes by jamming the receiver at the line?

 

Dont forget that every week Rod Smart bobbles the ball before finally gaining possession (luckily I do not think he has any fumbles lost and its the only reason he is still in there. Should have been replaced a long time ago), which limits his normally 20 yards up the gut to about 10 or 15.