Contrary to what you may be hearing on talk radio this morning, the season is not over. Yes, the Panthers played extremely poorly yesterday against the New Orleans Saints, who were an 0-2 divisional opponent with their backs against the wall. Yes, the Panthers only scored one touchdown against a 32nd-ranked defense that had previously allowed teams to average over 500 yards per game the first two weeks. Yes, the Saints gashed a Panthers defense that just last week held all-pro LeSean McCoy to under one yard per carry and their offensive tackles seemed to allow Cameron Jordan to live in the backfield on most plays.
But that game is over. Let’s watch the tape and learn from it.
With Greg Olsen out, Ed Dickson stays on the field for 100% of the snaps just as the Pro Bowler did; the difference is, Dickson had zero receptions on those 59 snaps. Cam Newton was lifted as an act of “self-preservation” for the last two drives of the fourth quarter (Anderson was 2-for-7 for 17 yards for all you DA truthers out there), that’s why he’s only at 85%. Christian McCaffrey seems to be settling into his normal workload, which appears to be staying on the field for 60-70% of the snaps, Jonathan Stewart played his highest percentage of downs at 44%. Rookie wide receiver Curtis Samuel saw more snaps, although how much of that was designed and how much had to do with the early Kelvin Benjamin injury, we don’t know. The Olsen injury changes the personnel groupings the team feels comfortable using. Former TE2 Ed Dickson was on the field for 60% of the snaps in Week 1; Sunday’s TE2 Chris Manhertz was only on the field for a quarter of the snaps. Alex Armah, who was activated from the practice squad for this game, did not see the field even once.
Linebacker Shaq Thompson plays a ton of snaps with Thomas Davis missing some time with a rib injury; the young linebacker was on the field in passing downs and against the Saints, every down is a passing down. The bump in Thompson’s snaps is one of the reasons why nickel cornerback Captain Munnerlyn was only on the field for 11 plays. Charles Johnson and Julius Peppers with an almost even split at defensive end, as we’ve seen every week this season.
These tables are sortable, so play around with them and draw your own conclusions; see something interesting? Let us know in the comments!
| Offensive Snaps | Percentage | Defensive Snaps | Percentage | Special Teams Snaps | Percentage | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| E Dickson | TE | 59 | 100% | 4 | 15% | ||
| T Larsen | C | 59 | 100% | 3 | 12% | ||
| A Norwell | G | 59 | 100% | 3 | 12% | ||
| D Williams | T | 59 | 100% | 3 | 12% | ||
| M Kalil | T | 59 | 100% | ||||
| T Turner | G | 58 | 98% | 3 | 12% | ||
| C Newton | QB | 50 | 85% | ||||
| D Funchess | WR | 50 | 85% | ||||
| C McCaffrey | RB | 41 | 69% | 2 | 8% | ||
| R Shepard | WR | 38 | 64% | 4 | 15% | ||
| C Samuel | WR | 36 | 61% | 12 | 46% | ||
| J Stewart | RB | 26 | 44% | ||||
| C Manhertz | TE | 15 | 25% | 6 | 23% | ||
| D Byrd | WR | 13 | 22% | 19 | 73% | ||
| D Anderson | QB | 9 | 15% | ||||
| K Benjamin | WR | 7 | 12% | ||||
| F Whittaker | RB | 6 | 10% | 15 | 58% | ||
| A Silatolu | T | 5 | 8% | 3 | 12% | ||
| J Bradberry | CB | 58 | 100% | 9 | 35% | ||
| L Kuechly | LB | 58 | 100% | 8 | 31% | ||
| M Adams | SS | 58 | 100% | 8 | 31% | ||
| K Coleman | FS | 58 | 100% | 8 | 31% | ||
| D Worley | CB | 58 | 100% | 4 | 15% | ||
| S Thompson | LB | 53 | 91% | 11 | 42% | ||
| T Davis | LB | 45 | 78% | 6 | 23% | ||
| M Addison | DE | 45 | 78% | 1 | 4% | ||
| K Short | DT | 39 | 67% | 8 | 31% | ||
| S Lotulelei | DT | 31 | 53% | 8 | 31% | ||
| C Johnson | DE | 31 | 53% | ||||
| J Peppers | DE | 27 | 47% | 11 | 42% | ||
| K Love | DT | 23 | 40% | ||||
| V Butler | DT | 19 | 33% | 7 | 27% | ||
| W Horton | DE | 16 | 28% | ||||
| C Munnerlyn | CB | 11 | 19% | ||||
| D Mayo | LB | 8 | 14% | 16 | 62% | ||
| D Cox | SS | 15 | 58% | ||||
| J Norris | LB | 15 | 58% | ||||
| B Jacobs | LB | 15 | 58% | ||||
| C Jones | FS | 15 | 58% | ||||
| A Armah | RB | 10 | 38% | ||||
| T Moton | T | 9 | 35% | ||||
| G Gano | K | 7 | 27% | ||||
| J Jansen | LS | 6 | 23% | ||||
| M Palardy | P | 6 | 23% | ||||
| K Seymour | CB | 6 | 23% |
