Before the season started the Panthers looked like they would not carry a fullback on the roster for the first time in a number of years. They chose to keep sixth-round pick Alex Armah on the practice squad to start the season, and while he didn’t see much action in the first few games after he was called up to the main roster when Greg Olsen broke his foot, he has slowly increased his role as the season progressed and could have a serious impact on the Panthers rushing attack moving forward, even with Olsen set to return this week against the Jets.
Let’s take a look at couple of plays where Armah was involved in the running game and why the Panthers run game has been extremely successful with Armah on the field, especially when he is lined up in the traditional fullback role.
In the above play Russell Shepard lines up slot left; Chris Manhertz and Ed Dickson line up on Daryl Williams’ outside shoulder, and Cam Newton is under center with Armah lined up at fullback behind Matt Kalil and Andrew Norwell; Jonathan Stewart is lined up as a tailback. The Dolphins have five defenders on the line of scrimmage with four behind them (nine in box) with the outside corner in off coverage and a single high safety. Manhertz motions from right to left and the ball is snapped. Manhertz picks up a defender while Kalil pulls outside with Armah as Newton pitches to Stewart, who takes it around the edge for 11 yards.
Williams, Trai Turner, Tyler Larsen and Dickson all basically end up out of the play. Norwell provides a great block that keeps the edge open for Stewart. Shepard provides a good initial block and opens a rushing lane inside which Kalil helps solidify. Armah correctly identifies his assignment downfield with both Kalil and Shepard engaging defenders Armah goes for the unblocked man and clears him well. If Stewart had made a better cut at the edge, he could have grabbed another yard or two, and if Dickson or Turner had gone to the second level instead of blindly following the guys they weren’t blocking, Stewart might have been in a position to take it to the house.
The Panthers come out in the same formation as the previous play except Cameron Artis-Payne is the tailback and the Dolphins load the box again, however, this time they only have four down linemen. This play, Dickson goes straight to the second level but was too slow and didn’t end up making an impact. Armah correctly identifies his target, but trips and falls, which results in Artis-Payne not having a rushing lane that looked very promising not even a second earlier.
The line slides to the left just like the last two plays, initially it looks like Williams is pulling, but then Norwell, Turner and Dickson all slip to the second level well. For some reason Cameron Wake thinks Newton is bootlegging and motions towards him which gives Stewart enough room to hit the actual hole; Turner takes his guy out all together and Dickson turns back and blocks the other side instead of taking the head on threat.
Armah doesn’t exactly block well from a technique standpoint, but it ends with the defender on the ground and out of the play, so sometimes a poor technique gets the job done. More importantly, the four closest defenders immediately went to plug the hole between the LT and LG when the line slid and Armah moved towards the hole. This created an advantage for Stewart who would only have to beat one defender and when Wake hesitated and moved towards Newton which allowed for such a big gain.
Armah has a tendancy to lean into his blocks and try to use his body instead of his arms, which will create problems if not corrected in the future; that being said he is big, fast, strong and has shown a great ability to create an advantage when on the field. While Armah didn’t necessarily have a “positive” impact in any of the three plays above, had his teammates done better on the first play he would have been the one who truly opened up the field for Stewart, and on the third play the defense keys in on him and the line moving left which allows Stewart to cut back to the right with little resistance. In both of those plays, he was asked to play a strong role and did so perfectly. I tend to believe if he doesn’t trip on that second play Artis-Payne gets 10 or more yards due to the fact that Armah is in a great position to make a strong block and give CAP enough room to go six to eight yards untouched.
When Olsen returns, it will be interesting to see whether Armah continues to line up in the backfield or if Ed Dickson returns to the role the team imagined for him when the season began. Either way, it is exciting to see the development of a rookie who is just beginning to learn a position and how he can contribute to the success of the Panthers running game as the weather turns colder and the Panthers continue to lean on their running backs.
