Even as the NFL coaching carousel spins at a rate that constantly flings head coaches off and into the ether, there are a select few football minds that the Carolina Panthers have found themselves having to plan for time and again.
Sean Payton and his offense-driven New Orleans Saints have traditionally served the perfect foil to Ron Rivera’s defense-oriented Panthers. Bruce Arians has been a common adversary, first with the Arizona Cardinals and now with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. So too has Dan Quinn, first as defensive coordinator of the Seattle Seahawks and now, head coach of the Atlanta Falcons
But outside of the NFC South, there is another coach who the Panthers have time and again looked to outwit. One whose talent with Xs and Os on offense put him well ahead of league-wide trends, and who is now beginning to prove his mettle as master and commander of an entire team: Kyle Shanahan.
A second-generation NFL coach, Shanahan first faced the Panthers in 2011 and 2012 as offensive coordinator of the Washington Redskins. Then, late in the 2014 season, Shanahan met Carolina in the same role with the Cleveland Browns. And then again – this time in the NFC South – for two years as offensive coordinator of the Atlanta Falcons.
On Sunday, the Panthers will play against Shanahan for the ninth time, and the second since he took over as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers in 2017. Even as he now goes about his work way out west, the Panthers simply cannot seem to get away from having to prepare for Shanahan. And likewise, Shanahan can’t seem to free himself of Carolina.
“I thought I got away from them, but I had to have my first game as a head coach against them, and now they’re back this year,” said Shanahan this week. “They’re always a tough team to play.”
When the 2019 NFL schedule was released this past spring, one may have chalked up Week 8’s game against the 49ers as an easy victory – after all, the 49ers had gone 6-10 and 4-12 in Shanahan’s first two seasons on top of a steady plummet into the NFL’s basement. Through six games, however, they have burst through the ceiling many had set for them: they boast a perfect 6-0 record, and in doing so have established a clear identity.
Their offense, led by Shanahan, is an “active” unit that heavily utilizes pre-snap motions and has been especially apt at running the football. Their defense, led by defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, features five first-round draft picks on what is quickly becoming a defensive line to be feared.
“They’re 6-0 for a reason,” said Panthers head coach Ron Rivera of the 49ers. “When you put the tape on, you see a lot of good things that they do. They’re very well-coached. I have a tremendous amount of respect for what Kyle does. I’ve gotten an opportunity to coach against him, gotten an opportunity to watch the things that he’s done. … This will be a very good test for our football team.”
Though he is looking from a distance, the circumstances behind Shanahan’s success through a decade of coaching at the NFL level are plain for Rivera to see. Perhaps the biggest is the fact that he draws his very life from father Mike Shanahan, a legendary head coach with the Denver Broncos who led the franchise to two Super Bowl triumphs – which undoubtedly helped him break into the NFL as an assistant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2004.
“He’s been very fortunate. He started coaching at a very young age, he’s been around it his whole life, he’s got a great role model in his father,” said Rivera. “And so I think he’s learned a lot. And each year, your growth as the guy making the decisions is huge. I’ve said this before, the biggest mistake I had early on is I didn’t have a former NFL head coach on my staff.
“He’s had the luxury of having his father around so he can bounce ideas off of him. And I think he’s done a great job.”
Also helping Shanahan take a third-year leap as a head coach – much like Rivera did in 2013 – is the fact that he has been given time to mold the 49ers into his image. When Shanahan was first hired by San Francisco in 2017, he inherited a team that had been gutted by the collapse of Jim Harbaugh’s regime, and was consequently listless (Their Week One loss to Carolina was a 23-3 drubbing) until a late-season surge. Last year, while still rebuilding, any chance the 49ers had at a winning season was wrecked when star quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo tore his ACL in Week 3 – laying bare the flaws that the roster around him still had.
Now, Shanahan’s 49ers have distinguished themselves as a team that runs the ball, plays defense, and has the personnel necessary to execute their vision: All-Pro tight end George Kittle, wide receivers Marquise Goodwin & newly-acquired Emmanuel Sanders, plus a running back trio of Matt Breida, Tevin Coleman, and Raheem Mostert on offense. On defense, linemen Nick Bosa & Dee Ford, linebacker Kwon Alexander, and cornerback Richard Sherman among others.
“They have a good scheme for the guys that they have, and they run it to a T,” said right guard Trai Turner. “They have some really good, capable players.”
“We pride ourselves on stopping the run, and so far this year it looks like they’ve prided themselves on running the ball,” said safety Eric Reid, who played under Shanahan in 2017. “And then they pair their run game with great play-action. And they have weapons obviously in Kittle, who I know from his rookie year, they’ve got speed with Marquise, and obviously Jimmy has a quick release and can put the ball in the right place.”
Considering the amount of times that they have gone up against Shanahan’s offenses, there is an argument to be made that the Panthers are uniquely prepared to face the 49ers in the midst of their scarlet hot streak.
However, such an idea is met by a major caveat: one spelled out by linebacker Luke Kuechly.
“I think all that [familiarity] helps, but I think it also helps them as well. Because as much as we’ve seen them, they’ve seen us,” said Kuechly. “You’ve got a good feel for what they’re gonna do, but you don’t know when they’re gonna do it.”
Kuechly explained that one of the most-challenging aspects of San Francisco’s offense is that they not only utilize pre-snap movements as heavily as any team in the league, but they are also very clever in packaging their run plays and pass plays together out of the same looks. The purpose of this practice is, of course, to deceive a defense and keep them off-balance. But such an approach also takes an offense that is both disciplined and physical: Something the 49ers have no issues being.
“The thing that’s interesting with pre-snap movement is obviously you can mess up a defense if they don’t know what they’re looking at. But these guys offensively, they have no issues moving,” explained Kuechly. “They don’t miss blocks, they don’t miss assignments. So these guys are coached really well, they take a lot of pride, I’m sure, in all their pre-snap stuff, because they know that if it’s a little advantage, they’re gonna try and make the most of it.”
Considering that Shanahan’s approach is similar to the one he took in Washington, Cleveland, and Atlanta – which got him a head coaching job to begin with – there is little mystery as to why Shanahan has become a successful NFL coach. In the short term, he and his 49ers are perhaps the most formidable foe that the Carolina Panthers have faced yet. And long term, Ron Rivera believes there is a chance for them to become a worthy adversary in the ever-competitive NFC.
“I like where they are, I like who they’re becoming,” said Rivera. “I think they can be a force for a while in this league.”
