Rev Preaches the Good Word on the Cardinals and the Panthers Game
by Revshawn on Oct 30, 2009 5:28 PM EDT
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If you're looking for hope in such dire times for the Panthers, fans can embrace one thing. The Panthers rank 1st in the nation in defending the pass.
Yes, in spite of everything that's happened, that is one statistic you can hold onto if the Panthers hope to stop the Juggernaut that is the Arizona Cardinals during our next game. The Cardinals will be coming at us with a fury of weapons unlike we have ever seen this season. Kurt Warner and Larry Fitzgerald are two of the most elite players in the NFL, and fellow receivers Anquan Boldin and Steve Breaston are two pretty decent threats right along with them.
After rebounding from a 1-2 start before hitting the bye week, the Cardinals are 4-2 with the division lead and are ready to put some distance between them and the 49ers. However, they still don't have a running game. At all. The Panthers are 26th in the league in defending the rush, while the Arizona Cardinals are 32th in rushing yardage. That's a key number you need to circle if you want to cheer for the Panthers on Sunday.
If you look at the game at face value, the Cardinals have a strong advantage. They have an explosive offense when they drop back to pass, and this year their defense threw away all of the crazy scheming in favor of a simpler game-plan, so they suddenly became 1st in the league in rushing defense. While they have not yet become as good as they were on their run to a Super Bowl, they'll have a wonderful stage to show that off against the Carolina Panthers in Week 8.
On the other hand, the Panthers can stop the pass and Julius Peppers has seen the light and has begun to cause constant pressure once more. In spite of the team struggles, Deangelo Williams has still been solid and he's on pace for a 1,000 yard season. If Jake Delhomme suddenly find his groove against the team that took it away so that the Panthers actually have a QB, they may just rise up and take down the Cardinals.
They'll definately need a little help though. So here spawns the list of what the Panthers DO NOT WANT to happen in the game against the Cardinals, inspired by a popular meme running its course on Cat Scratch Reader, the DO NOT WANT dog.
The Panthers DO NOT WANT to play like they are the Colts or the Patriots. Stop giving Jake the chance to throw downfield and get picked off. He's not playing the best right now! Jeff Davidson needs to realize that and get back to what the Panthers know how to do the best, running the football.
The Panthers DO NOT WANT to stop the blitz. Thomas David should return against the Cardinals, and once he does the Panthers get back the best blitzer on their team. The Panthers did great causing pressure with their D-Line against the depleted O-Line of the Bills, but if they start out slow against the Cardinals why not open the playbook a bit and send Davis and Beason in there to kill da't Kurt Warner fella? It couldn't hurt, and Lord knows we can't give Warner forever in the pocket to do his dirty work.
The Panthers DO NOT WANT a dropped punt, kickoff, or otherwise a ball on the ground on special teams. Of the few people that should be fired on the Panthers team, the latter should be Danny Crossman. I can understand a mistake here and there, but when your team is on the field one time every possession and you're making constant mistakes, it should cost you your job. Needless to say, to beat a team on this caliber we don't need any mistakes. Kurt Warner needs to constantly be starting from his own 20, and we need to get some return yards on special teams.
The Panthers DO NOT WANT a bad performance from Jake Delhomme. John Fox took till Wednesday to decide whether or not he would start Jake, if it was a good motivating tool for him we'll see this upcoming performance. There's also that story about where the coaches were messing with his mechanics, which I don't believe. I think it was a clever tool for the coaches to take some heat off of their favorite guy. Anyway, even though Jake will be starting, expect for him to be on a very tight leash for this upcoming game. At the second or so interception if he isn't doing anything decent he will probably be pulled in honor of Matt Moore. The best way for Jake to protect his job is to work the short game, throw beyond the first down marker, and keep drives alive like we've been asking him to do for a while now. We don't need a Peyton Manning, we need the Jake we all know and love.
If we can get away from all the things we DO NOT WANT to happen, then all that is left is what the Panthers want and need to happen. Beating the Cardinals is not a faroff dream, we just need to stop doing stupid things. So let's stop doing stupid things and make the other team look stupid for a change!
I'm sure that is something we can all agree on, at least if you're a Carolina fan.
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Man cannot live on bread alone
You will need to keep the pressure on Kurt Warner and establish a run game. If you can do this you will win. Fitz still hasn’t had a break out game yet, maybe this is the week.
I swear we need to photoshop a Panther's head on the do not want dog.
Great post rev
Cat Scratch Reader's resident optimist.
Prophecy
While I am now a reluctant supporter of the “can Jake and fire Fox” camp, I have two prophecies to share with you Rev.
1. Peppers will disappear for the rest of the season. He’s faced 2nd rate/string tackles the past few weeks and will not have success against better quality opponents.
2. John Fox will be fired and sign on with San Diego, leading then to several playoff appearances.
Mike Gandy is no quality LT
Neither is Levi Brown a quality RT, Peppers should have success against both. This is the game where we find out if his speech was really from the heart.
by chinchillas sword on Oct 31, 2009 2:54 AM EDT up reply actions
peppers
how do you define success for a DE? All DEs have worse stats against better LTs, but if you’re gonna talk about effort, you can’t just talk about sacks. if he gets one, you can’t say he tried really hard, and if he doesn’t get any, you can’t say it’s because he was half doin it. also look at how many times he knocked the qb down, forced an early throw, blocked kicks, tackles for loss on run plays, etc., and keep in mind that if they have good run blocking, and the lead, they will probably just run away from him.
by usana_gaines on Oct 31, 2009 3:49 PM EDT up reply actions
You guys will be watching the game
you tell me how Peppers is doing.
by Flowing Willow on Oct 31, 2009 4:02 PM EDT up reply actions
Stone me
I am a false profit and should be stoned. Peppers was the man, Jake did his job well, I am in shame. On top of my false prophecy, I picked Az as my defense in FF and got 1 point. I also had J Stew on my team but benched him and his 20 points. I am a disgrace to my team and all FF leagues everywhere. In the words of the profit Bob Dylan: “Everybody must get stoned.”
You should be ashamed. There is only one Rev lol
Just messing with you man. And don’t feel bad about that Az defense. I had mine on ESPN starting and I scored -4 points.
"Once again the trousers of evil are yanked down by the mocking hands of justice!"-Revshawn
My gut isn't acting up this week.
So either two things have happened. I’ve come to terms with the Panthers sucking, or the Panthers are destined to win tomorrow.
I think it’s the latter
"Once again the trousers of evil are yanked down by the mocking hands of justice!"-Revshawn
defensive stats are a bit misleading
we are 1st in passing defense largely because teams have been able to run all over us, plus we have played against some terrible qbs. But overall, our defense looks much improved as compared to the first few weeks of the season. Arizona has not played well at home this season, hope the same trend continues…..
arizona
the cards are just starting to get it going and could be looking at this game as a chance to step it up and throw in some new wrinkles. they’re defense has been very tough, though, and i expect the game to be more of a defensive struggle than a shootout. the team with the most turnovers loses. hopefully we get it together and force some turnovers. i know the defense has been put in some tough situations, but if they want to win, they need to step it up even more. if jake throws an interception, or we fumble a punt return, the defense needs to get the ball back. they need to go from very good to championship defense if we’re gonna win.
I like that kool-aid, but I don't see it happening.
Don’t get me wrong, Ron Meeks has done great in Carolina. I don’t think our #1 passing defense rating is a fluke. I think he’s just done a great job with our football team. On the other hand, I don’t think we have the tools on the D-Line to emerge as a top rushing defense right now. Hollis Thomas, while good, is still 35 years of age. He’s not going to be able to keep going at DT for long, though he could do us good for the next couple of years.
In addition, we still aren’t creating turnovers as a defense. As good as our guys have been, I don’t think we have picked off the ball at all this season. Our safeties and linebackers need to do a better job of reading the QB’s eyes and sneaking into passing lanes. This can all be taught over time, but defensive turnovers could be the key as well to making us an elite team.
The Panthers aren’t perfect, but they are an above average team. We just need to stay in the hunt for the playoff hunt long enough to put it all together to give us a chance at the long winning streak we need to get into the wildcard.
"Once again the trousers of evil are yanked down by the mocking hands of justice!"-Revshawn
As good as our guys have been, I don’t think we have picked off the ball at all this season.
We have three INTs, actually.
by SlayerGhaleon on Nov 1, 2009 1:00 PM EST up reply actions
Man I don't like you. Lol
Point point though. I’m still used to last season I guess.
"Once again the trousers of evil are yanked down by the mocking hands of justice!"-Revshawn
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