The Panthers offense has underperformed for the majority of the season so far and has struggled to put points on the board. However, on their second drive of Sunday’s matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers the Panthers offense sustained a long drive that ended in a touchdown. Below is a breakdown of the seventeen play drive that led to the Panthers first touchdown of the game. On the personnel line, wide receivers are denoted as “WR”, running backs as “RB” and tight ends as “TE”. On certain plays, offensive linemen are brought in but they will be counted as tight ends for personnel purposes.
“The [drive] that was 17-plays, 8 minutes, 10 different guys touched the ball? Converted five times on third down? It was a very meticulous drive, that’s what you look for. You want a time-consuming [drive], you want to be able to do that. Part of it is being able to have a really good mix of run, play-action pass and then dropback pass. If you can do that and do it at a 33.3% rate, you give yourself a chance to methodically move down and control the clock.”
-Ron Rivera
Play 1 – 1st and 10 from the Panthers 18
- Offensive Personnel: Two WR, one RB, two TE
- Playcall/Result: HB dive, five-yard gain
- Defensive Formation: 4-3 Under
Both Chris Manhertz and Ed Dickson are brought across the formation to Daryl Williams’ outside shoulder and Devin Funchess comes off the line-of-scrimmage(LOS) and lines up next to Dickson on the outside edge which creates an unbalanced formation. From there on, this play is a cut-and-dry halfback dive. Jonathan Stewart finds a small hole through the middle, gets slowed down by a defender at the line of scrimmage and fights forward for a five-yard gain.
Play 2 – 2nd and 5 from the Panthers 23
- Offensive Personnel: Two WR, two RB, one TE
- Playcall/Result: Triple Option, four-yard gain
- Defensive Formation: Base 4-3 defense
This play starts with Cam Newton in the shotgun with Christian McCaffrey behind him and Jonathan Stewart to his left. Newton correctly reads the defensive end who follows Jonathan Stewart; then he reads the safety bearing down on McCaffrey, and decides to keep the ball. The offensive line provides adequate blocks across the field and Newton makes the correct decision on this triple option play.
Play 3 – 3rd and 1 from the Panthers 28
- Successful QB Sneak
Everyone knew it was coming and the Panthers line gave Newton just enough room to grab the first.
Play 4 – 1st and 10 from Panthers 28
- Offensive Personnel: Two WR, two RB, one TE
- Playcall/Result: Triple Option, one-yard loss
- Defensive Formation: Base 4-3 defense
The Panthers replicate the formation and play call from the second play of this drive but are not nearly as successful this time. The defensive end keys on Stewart just as he did the first time, but this time a linebacker sat directly behind him ready to take Newton if he kept the ball. If this was a simple read option, then Newton made the correct read because Stewart was more likely to succeed than him, however with McCaffrey rolling out wide and no one readily guarding him Newton should have pitched it. This play results in a loss of one because Stewart unsuccessfully tries to reach the edge before defenders can close in on him.
Play 5 – 2nd and 11 from Panthers 27
- Offensive Personnel: Two WR one RB two TE
- Playcall/Result: Reception by Benjamin for Five Yard (2 YAC)
- Defensive Formation: Base 4-3 defense
Funchess runs a stuttered go (aka Out N Up/In N Up), Dickson runs a bump inside, Benjamin runs a flat curl, Manhertz runs a modified wheel. Not much was available in the way of real options due to two defensive backs and a linebacker covering Newton’s main reads. Well covered overall and Benjamin was the most open receiver.
Play 6 – 3rd and 6 from Panthers 33
- Offensive Personnel: three WR one TE one RB
- Playcall/Result: Reception by McCaffrey for 15 yards(12 YAC)
- Defensive Formation: 4-3 Cover 0 look
Two wide receivers are split wide with a third in the slot, Shepard motions from outside to slot and runs a shallow crossing route, Dickson runs a corner route, Funchess runs a stab(looks like an option route), Benjamin runs a tall curl.
Newton’s first read is Dickson who is covered, then he quickly looks across the middle and sees both McCaffrey and Shepard. The DB responsible for Shepard is behind but Newton notices that he is passing right through McCaffrey’s route which gives McCaffrey extra space. This was a great read by Newton; I initially thought Shepard was the right read but his trailing defender would have caught up right around the first down marker while McCaffrey had the space to gain much more. This looks to be a similar play to the 4th-and-1 play the Panthers could not convert against Philadelphia late in the fourth quarter.
Play 7 – 1st and 10 from the Panthers 47
- Offensive Personnel: Two WR, one RB, two TE
- Playcall/Result: HB Dive, one-yard gain
- Defensive Formation: Five defenders on the line
When the Panthers line up under center, the Buccaneers assume that the play will be a run and this time they are correct. Tampa Bay rushes five players off of the line of scrimmage and the linebackers are quick to follow suit. Both Ed Dickson and Trai Turner were brought across the formation after the snap but a linebacker was left unaccounted for and he hits McCaffrey at the line of scrimmage.
Play 8 – 2nd and 9 from the Panthers’ 48
- Offensive Personnel: Three WR, one RB, one TE
- Playcall/Result: Wide Receiver screen, incomplete
- Defensive Formation: Nickel package look
McCaffrey motions out of the backfield and Samuel motions into the backfield. Samuel runs a swing route while McCaffrey is the target for a wide receiver screen on the opposite side. Defenders crashed towards both targets and ignored deeper options as well as Dickson who pivoted and then turned to find a block. The Buccaneers clearly knew what was coming before the ball was snapped and defended it perfectly.
Play 9 – 3rd and 9 from the Panthers’ 48
- Offensive Personnel: Three WR, one RB, one TE
- Playcall/Result: Reception by Shepard for 14 (12 YAC)
- Defensive Formation: zone coverage
Panthers send Benjamin and Funchess deep, send Shepard on a shallow crossing route with McCaffrey trailing Shepard on a similar route. This was a fantastic play call because it overloaded the left side of the field, then cleared it and overloaded it again which allowed both Shepard and McCaffrey to have 5-10 yards of separation. The ball could have gone to either for a first but with Shepard approaching the sideline he would see less resistance getting the first and he did just that. Matt Kalil did a great job keeping his rusher in front of him, thanks to an assist from Andrew Norwell, even though he got behind Cam, he didn’t have a chance to make a play.
Play 10 – 1st and 10 from the Buccaneers’ 38
- Offensive Personnel: Two WR, one RB, two TE
- Playcall/Result: Incomplete deep right targeting Funchess
- Nine Players near the LOS(4-3 Under or Over), Rush 5, Spy on Newton
Manhertz motions from Kalil’s outside to Daryl Williams outside and is kept in to block while Benjamin runs a fade route, Funchess runs a corner option route and Dickson runs a flat route from the backfield. Stewart quickly fakes the handoff then stays in to block. Funchess decides to turn upfield instead of cutting back because he has the height advantage and has been left one-on-one with his defender.
The Buccaneers defense clearly expects a run up the middle which puts both Benjamin and Funchess in one-on-one matchups along the sidelines against smaller corners. Newton steps up into the pocket as pressure develops on either side and a linebacker comes in when he starts to step up, he delivers a decent throw but Funchess can’t pull it in. Had Newton placed the ball more behind Funchess then he would have had a cleaner path to catching it but Funchess still managed to touch it with both hands.
Play 11 – 2nd and 10 from the Buccaneers’ 38
- Offensive Personnel: Empty backfield
- Playcall/Result: Reception by Curtis Samuel for nine-yard gain
- Defensive Formation: Nickel package
McCaffrey motions out of the backfield to the left slot receiver position. Funchess runs a go or corner route, McCaffrey and Samuel run stab routes, Benjamin runs a sluggo route, and Dickson immediately stops and turns for a wide receiver screen. This play is designed to be a quick read on the linebacker. If the linebacker moves towards the TE in the flat then throw to stab receiver and vice versa, the other routes are only looked at if the defense is actually playing man coverage which they aren’t on this play. Good quick read due to Lavonte David going to Dickson almost immediately.
Play 12 – 3rd and 1 from the Buccaneers’ 29
- Offensive Personnel: One WR, one RB, three TE
- Playcall/Result: Reception by Dickson for 14 yards (1 YAC)
- Defensive Formation: 8 in the box
The Buccaneers fall for the run fake again. Stewart blocks well and Taylor Moton is brought in as the third tight end on this play. Manhertz stays in to block but slowly moves toward the flat to provide a third option, Dickson runs a corner route and the receiver at the top of the screen runs a go route. This was designed to put Dickson in-between zones while giving him as much room as possible to create YAC. Pass protection held up well and Newton delivers a good throw for a good chunk of yardage.
Play 13 – 1st and 10 from the Buccaneers’ 15 – Throw away
- Offensive Personnel: Two WR, one RB, two TE
- Playcall/Result: Play-action, Throw Away
- Defensive Formation: Base 4-3 defense
The Panthers run another play-action pass keeping both Stewart and Dickson in for max pass protection. The Buccaneers initially rush four but fall for the play action and end up having seven rushing the line of scrimmage. Stewart misses the stunting defensive tackle and Kalil gets beat to the inside by the edge rusher, Newton’s two options are covered well which ends in him throwing it away.
Play 14 – 2nd and 10 from the Buccaneers’ 15
- Offensive Personnel: Two WR, one RB, two TE
- Playcall/Resutl: Rush up the middle for 11 yards
- Defensive Formation: Base 4-3 defense with a clear idea that the play will be a rush of some type.
Ed Dickson motions from out wide to a fullback position and helps open a good hole for Artis-Payne to explode through. Well executed blocking, a little bit of luck that the linebackers thought it was going to be an off-tackle run and good explosion by Payne make this play work.
Play 15 – 1st and goal from the Buccaneers’ 4
- Offensive Personnel: two WR one RB two TE
- Defensive Formation: Goal line defense
Rush up the middle by Artis-Payne for three yards. Payne makes a good cut to avoid a free linebacker but ends up rushing into the pile because of it and being stopped on the one. Everyone knew it was going to be a run and the offensive line did a decent job of providing enough room for a positive gain.
Play 16 – 2nd and goal from the Buccaneers’ 1
- Offensive Personnel: Two WR, one RB, two TE
- Defensive Formation: Goal line defense
The Panthers presented a formation very similar to the one they used the last two downs and a number of times this drive. Once again, everyone knows it will be a rush up the middle and even though the offensive line kept the Buccaneers from making it into the backfield, there wasn’t anywhere for Artis-Payne to go with the ball and ultimately was stood up just past the line of scrimmage.
Play 17 – 3rd and goal from the Buccaneers’ 1
- Goal line offensive and defensive packages
On third-and-goal from exactly the one-yard line, a run is expected and therefore it isn’t worth disguising it as something else. The Panthers use their biggest bodies and keep the defenders from making it into the backfield, this allows Stewart to get a running start and dive over the pile for the touchdown.
The first non-Newtonian touchdown this season. Seventeen plays later.
