In-Depth Stats on Panthers CBs Explain High Ranking

Stats provided by: ProFootballFocus

I stumbled across this after reading another post briefly mentioning the failures of our corner, Richard Marshall. Admittedly, I haven't been high on Marshall much at all this season, these numbers proved to be an eye opener, in my opinion. I had no idea, nor would I have ever predicted, the numbers would look this way.

For those of you that don't care to click the link and read a bunch of abbreviations and numbers, I've provided a breakdown below.

I also feel that, as a whole, our defense (specifically against the pass) has performed better on field than on paper. The worst of a player tends to come out on paper more so than the best and stats really just don't tell you how a player has performed when it matters the most.

And to go ahead and bat down an argument that I'm sure would pop up at least once, I'm sure Gamble consistently draws the tougher receivers but aren't we paying him to do just that?

PS. I'm not trying to bash any of our corners, by the way, I think they've all done a great job, along with our entire defense, in keeping the Panthers competitive - even at the times in which we seem to have an inept offense (which we all know the cause of that). The numbers will speak for themselves, however, as each of you take them for whatever they mean to you.

• Marshall ranks higher than both Munnerlyn and Gamble in coverage but is ranked the worst of the three against the run. 
• Marshall also has the least amount of penalties at 2, Munnerlyn having the most with 4. Gamble sits in the middle with 3. 
• None of the three have had any baring on pressuring the QB (by design, I'm sure).
• Gamble has two more tackles than Marshall, 36-34 respectively, on 6 fewer snaps.
• Munnerlyn has 22 tackles on just over a third of the snaps. (Gamble: 634; Marshall: 640; Munnerlyn: 275)
• Marshall and Munnerlyn have combined to miss 4 tackles (2 each) while Gamble has missed 6 (Well, he does like to gamble, eh?).
• Marshall has accounted for one more stop (according to PFF "the cumulative number of solo defensive tackles made which constitute an offensive failure") with 12 meanwhile Gamble has 11 and Munnerlyn 8.
• Half (51.9%) of the balls thrown towards Marshall are incomplete, whereas Gamble has given up completions on over three quarters (78.4%) of balls thrown his way. Munnerlyn sits tight between the two (67.7%). 
• Marshall and Munnerlyn have combined to give up 483 yards (Marshall: 241 / 8.9avg; Munnerlyn: 242 / 11.5avg), meanwhile Gamble has given up 511 / 12.8avg (Gamble has been targeted 51 times; Marshall has been targeted 52 alone; Munnerlyn 31). 
• Gamble also doubles Marshall and Munnerlyn's combined total in yards after catch given up at 225. (Gamble: 255; Marshall: 100; Munnerlyn: 81)
• Gamble has given up a long of 63 yards; Munnerlyn 27; Marshall 21. 
• Marshall has given up 0 touchdowns on the season, meanwhile Gamble has given up 2; Munnerlyn 1. 
• Marshall has 3 interceptions to Gambles 1, none for Munnerlyn. 
• Gamble has defensed 4 passes; Marshall 3; Munnerlyn 1.

Finally, everyone knows of the much maligned NFL QB rating, however, through that, PFF has given cornerbacks their own "QB" rating. I don't believe it is an official NFL stat (I've never seen it) but it seems they simply determine what the QB ratings were while throwing towards each respective corner and average them...

• Chris Gamble = 113.3; Captain Munnerlyn = 101.8; Richard Marshall = an astounding (in comparison) 40.6.

In comparison to the rest of the league...

• Concerning CB-specific QB Ratings, Richard Marshall ranks second only to Phillies Sheldon Brown, who has a 31.8.
• From the bottom (meaning the lower the ranking the worse the player, by the way), Chris Gamble is, overall, ranked 4th; Munnerlyn is 16th; Marshall is 50th. There are 105 total CB's rated.
• If it's any consolation, 19 other CB's on the list have missed equivalent or more tackles than Gamble.
• Ken Lucas is averaging 15.2 average yards per completion over in Seattle, ranked the 12th worst. Gamble doesn't pop onto the list until #36.
• Marshall has the 4th shortest "longest" pass given up among cornerbacks. (That one sure was hard to put into words.)
• Of 16 corners tied for 1st place with 0 touchdowns given up, 4 have more than 500 snaps while only 2 have more than 600. Those two being Jerraud Powers of Indianapolis (601 snaps) and our very own Richard Marshall (640 snaps). He has the most snaps of all corners with 0 allowed touchdowns.