The Good
First let’s start with how the Panthers defended play-action passes where the offense kept additional pass protectors in to block after the run fake. When this happened, the Panthers did a good job of getting defenders in the quarterback’s face forcing errant throws:
Or simply attempting throws to receivers who were never open at all:
Both of which are going to give the Panthers’ defensive backs chances to make plays on the ball:
While also leading to sacks:
And many of the plays they did allow in these situations were either due to missed opportunities to get the quarterback on the ground:
Or from the offense completing low percentage throws in the face of significant pressure:
If the offense is forced to attempt throws like this on a consistent basis, the Panthers will almost certainly be effective as these are plays which rely on both a high level of skill and a reasonable amount of luck in order to be successful. Sometimes you just have to tip your hat and move on.
Despite this success, there are still some areas where the Panthers could be better. Much of this has more to do with the coverage on the back end rather than the pass rush itself, as pressure loses its effectiveness when the offense is given easy completions – either because of very soft zone coverage:
Or because the Panthers insisted on man-blitzing, giving the offense an easy completion over the middle:
The few instances where they failed to muster a pass rush were also easily fixable, as these were either due to a poorly designed (or executed) blitz leading to the pass rushers getting in each others way:
Or because they called a delayed blitz allowing the offense to get the ball out before the additional pass rusher arrived:
On the whole though, the Panthers have done a consistently good job defending the play-action when opposing offenses have used heavy protection sets. In fact, they also had success against heavy sets from pass plays not involving run fakes. Part of this can be explained by the restraints on an offense when they run these sets – in order to keep additional pass protectors in, they tend to draw more defenders into the box, allowing the Panthers to disguise where they are bringing pressure from. It should come as little surprise then that a lot of the pressure the Panthers were able to bring on these plays came on blitzes:
And while they did get lucky some times, such as on this missed throw:
Or on this play, where the Panthers decide to triple-team Kyle Love but only cut Thompson:
On the whole this tends to balance out, such as the following completion against the Bengals:
Of course, there are things that the Panthers could stand to improve in this area as well. While the use of creative blitzes is effective in getting pressure, using a defensive end to cover Tyler Eiffert in man coverage is probably not a great idea:
And given how often the Panthers have been burnt on slants from the slot in the red zone, they could also help their pass rush by using Kuechly to undercut these routes rather than doubling the tight end:
As with the play action plays shown above, there were some occasions where the Panthers failed to get pressure; as with the issues there, this was largely due to a lack of gap discipline on overload blitzes leading to pass rushers blocking each other:
As a former defensive line coach, there should be little surprise that when the offense brings extra players into the box, Eric Washington has been able to have success in disguising blitzes and getting consistent pressure. When this is paired with effective coverage on the back end, the Panthers have shown the ability to get to the quarterback. Where they have struggled, however, is when the offense has looked to get the ball out quickly on RPOs and when they have mitigated the effect of these blitzes by moving the pocket on roll-outs.
We’ll have more on this in Part Two, coming later today
Clips Via NFL Game Pass.
