Panthers vs. Titans analysis

I'll come back to this later when I have the chance to download the game and look at it, but there are some things I found interesting:

#1) It cannot be understated how much special teams are killing us.
Our drives started from our 20, our 21, our 21, their 24, our 12, our 20, our 25, our 8, their 31, our 30, our 23, our 46, and our 31. Their drives started from their 48, their 40, our 31, their 11, their 30, our 19, their 15, their 49, their 4, their 14, their 19, and their 20.


#2) For various reasons, we're still in far too many third and longs. In the game we had 3rd and 9, 3rd and 8, 3rd and 16, 3rd and 14, 3rd and 3, 3rd and 1, 3rd and 7, 3rd and 2, 3rd and 1, 3rd and 8, 3rd and 9, 3rd and 13, 3rd and 4, 3rd and 5, 3rd and 17, 3rd and 16, and 3rd and 4. That's an average distance of 8 yards to go on third down.


#3) The Titans were giving us some absolute gifts with dumb penalties, but we decided to give them right back. Jeff King had a false start on a first down, then another later on a 2nd and 10. Later, Justin Hartwig held and dropped us into a 1st and 20 hole. Then TD and Pep both get unnecessary roughness penalties, and while I 100% understand that they were provoked, you still have to know that the ref is going to see retaliation. It is incredibly hard to resist reacting to a cheap shot, but you have to go to the refs and bitch instead of shoving back. Pep then got another unnecessary roughness penalty at the start of the third quarter, followed by a Diggs taunting penalty after the interception. Afterwards we get back to the offensive penalties with Jeremy/Jeff Bridges getting a false start on 3rd and 8. Then Beason gets yet another unnecessary roughness penalty that sets up Tennessee for the game-sealing touchdown when it would have been a 3rd and 9 situation that probably would have resulted in a field goal. After that, it's Colbert's illegal block, and finally another Gross false start on 2nd and 11.

That's 10 accepted penalties for 92 yards, many of which came in key situations.


Drive Charts -
First series:
Sacked by Haynesworth on our first offensive play, which obviously set the tone. Then on third down Carr threw a 7 yard route to Colbert. It's third freaking down, and unless it's late in the game when you plan on going for it on fourth anyway, you have to go beyond the sticks. It doesn't matter how much yardage you gain if you don't make the first down because you're punting the next down anyway.

Second series:
Foster got stuffed on first down for a loss, and then on 3rd and 8, Carr was sacked by a blitzing linebacker who wasn't picked up. In fact, does anyone know if this was the team record for sacks allowed? It reminded me of the season opener against Atlanta last year, only this was even worse.

Third series:
Tennessee gave us some gifts with four penalties, but then a false start puts us on 1st and 15, we get stuffed on second down, and try a stupid smoke route on 3rd and 16 that loses three yards and takes us out of field goal range. I understand that the idea there is to gain a few yards to make it a more manageable field goal attempt, but that's still a terrible play call.

Fourth series:
Another false start puts us in second, then third and long, on which we run the dreaded draw play. I'm actually ok with that considering that we were deep in our own territory, but penalties absolutely kill offensive drives, especially when you're not a prolific pass offense.

Fifth series:
We finally set up a 3rd and short with 3 to go, but Carr's pass gets tipped at the line and intercepted.

Sixth series:
A holding call starts the team off at 1st and 20, but we actually manage to convert it. Then on 2nd and 4, Wharton attempts a cut block and whiffs, leaving LaBoy to sack Carr, which means another failed third and long.

Seventh series:
First and second down runs set us up with third and short, but another missed block allows Vanden Bosch to sack Carr almost immediately.

Eighth series:
Run plays and effective short passing convert the first third and short, but then Carr again dumps off the ball on a third and long. We needed 8 yards and the dump off to Hoover only got 6. We then screw up the subsequent turnover on the punt by bobbling the snap on third and long.

Ninth series:
Another false start on 3rd and 8 means that we run the draw and punt.

Tenth series:
Colbert's block in the back on second down makes it 2nd and 16, but Carr converts due to two good passes, then follows up with a couple more including the wide open touchdown.

Eleventh series:
Carr's short passing converts the first down, but then Haynesworth badly beats Wahle to set up 2nd and 17. Two incompletions later, we're punting away our last realistic shot to make this a contest.

Twelfth series:
Tony Brown gets a sack on a Carr scramble, then Gross sets us back another five with a false start. We do get the first on 3rd and 16 thanks to a dumb pass interference call, while Brown drills Carr and puts him out of the game. Moore then guns some passes successfully before air-mailing a throw right to the safety.

Game over.


The reason I broke it down like this is to get past impressions and down into the nuts and bolts of why we lost. When you actually look at the drive charts, you can see that we failed on offense because we had way too many third and longs, and because we killed ourselves with penalties. By my count, three or so of those failed third downs can be pinned on Carr screwing up, but actually looking at the information gets past this idea that Carr was the whole problem.

Carr did not play well, but as usual, he wasn't bad either. He does dump the ball off way too much, but that's not nearly as big a problem as allowing seven sacks, killing drives with stupid penalties, or handicapping the team with bad play-calling. Carr is an easy scapegoat because he looks awkward and skittish in the pocket, but in terms of actual performance, he's been neither good or bad, while we have been bad in a lot of other areas.

If you want to argue the points, then argue the points. Don't come up at me with bullshit like "Carr sucks!" or "Carr is the reason we're losing!" or "Delhomme not only would have won all our games, he would have made the Patriots lose theirs too!"


Positives:

• We were stout up front against their run.
• We actually got turnovers by making good defensive plays.
• We had some success running the ball, just not enough, and not when we most needed to.

Negatives:

• Worst pass blocking in team history?
• It looks increasingly like Jeff Davidson was not ready to be an offensive coordinator in the NFL.
• Carr dumped the ball off too often on 3rd downs.
• Someone should spring Rae Carruth from jail and have him impregnate Danny Crossman.
• We played like idiots and shot ourselves in the foot with dumbass penalties.

 

70% of our sacks were probably due to Carr holding the ball too long. Carr seemed to always shy away from throwing to his first receiver and start looking for his 2nd/3rd options. Carr has the lowest yard per catch in the league at 5 yards per completion. It is now evident why he was sacked so many times in Houston, he never goes to his first option.

 

I've never seen a 50% passing, 100 yard game where 30 of it came on one broken play get called "not bad". Until now.

 

One of the big things I was looking to get out of Carr was his mobility. He's not using that to his advantage either--he's bouncing almost every other pass play outside, cutting his field in half.

That said, our offensive line is just fucking terrible.

 

Carr never seems to see a pocket form. If pressured AT ALL he runs backwards then out of the pocket making a decent throw impossible.

 

Carr is entirely too careful. In fact, careful occasionally merges with timid. He's close.

 

Carr played poorly, but the dude did play with a compression fracture in his spine. I'm not surprised he wasn't mobile or fearless.

I knew Haynesworth was gonna be trouble.

 

I actually agree with Collin's take on the game.

As far as 70% of the sacks being Carr holding the ball too long, I beg to differ. Many times the pressure was the reason for him not throwing to the first option. Our pass protection was not very good today, and more than likely they would've sacked any of our qb's 7 times.

 

100% of the points we gave up might have come from touchdowns and field goals.

 

If you add a couple of passes that were dropped to Carr's numbers and then add a couple of touchdowns that would have happened if Davidson had called the right plays and then give him 100 extra yards for having great hair and pretty gloves then he had a great game.