Discussing the 7 Keys to the Panthers Success in 2009

On the whole, we did an exceptional job at shutting down #1 wideouts.

And I think we can do just fine with about 400-4 out of our TEs combined on the year. Sure, it’d be nice to get more, but I just think anything they do beyond the bare minimum of receiving along with good blocking in the run game is gravy.

I pretty much ranked the 7 keys of success as you did Jaxon. It absolutely all starts with our rushing attack this year. A lot of people (non-panther’s fans) keep telling me that our rushing attack was an aberration in 2008, so it will be really nice to slience the nay-sayers.

Also, it’s important for the defense to be fast, aggressive and fly to the ball as Meeks wants them to. I would love to see more forced turnovers and scoring for our D. The front 4 D-lineman need to produce enough pressure so that our secondary doesn’t have to work so hard to do their job. If Peppers is there, fine…if not, I think we STILL have a solid line with the addition of Brown and of course the further development of Johnson (I’m a huge fan of that guy).

And finally another key is, we need significant improvement from a WR3 and/or TE option. I wholeheartedly agree that if we could get a TE a few catches per game in the middle of the field as well as some WR3 production (outside the hashes in a vertical route would be nice) then everything else opens up. If the opposing D can’t completely blanket Smith because of our other aerial threats — that just draws a huge smile from me. The opposing D then would be hesitant to put an 8th man in the box and well, we’ve already seen our success when they DO, so I can only see improvement when they can’t afford to.

(Yes, I realize I more or less reiterated what whats said in the above post, but I had to put my view in :) Besides, putting a +1 all the time just gets boring, no?)

will be interior OL play. We get the AFC East this year, which include the best 3-4 defenses in football. These massive NTs will be trying to shove our centers in to the QBs at the snap and disrupt the timing of handoffs. A lot of people don’t realize how this can effect the running game. The handoffs to the go on a rhythm just like the passing game does. Mess with that and those fast 3-4 OLBs will be on you before you know it. We’ll get to find out this year how good our centers and guards really are…BTW, are y’all looking forward to seeing K. Jenkins this year? I know Abraham loves playing the Jets…

I would say that having a reliable #3 WR would be a big issue, but the thing is: will Delhomme look for him or will he continue to just try and force the ball to Smitty?I wish we had a Ricky Proehl-esque type of guy at the #3 slot, but it all depends on if Delhomme will even bother finding him.

I also agree that the secondary is a question mark as well. With Gamble and Marshall (I guess…) as our two starting corners, I just hope we don’t get burned more. Carolina got passed on waaaaay to much last season (games like the one at GB, the last game at NO, etc.). Marshall did great his first two seasons, but last season looked like he had regressed a little. I just hope the secondary holds up, b/c they now worry me more than the D-line.

1. Double Trouble – The entire teams structure is predicated on running the ball and stopping the run. Jaxon did a good job of explaining this.

2. Ron Meeks – This will still be a John Fox Defense, but it will have added a little flavor from Meeks. Hopefully he is more like Emerill and not like my old college roommate trying to spiff-up some Raman. As I mentioned above, the teams success will come from its ability to run and stop the run. Our Run Defense is really the area that regularly let us down the last 8 games (playoffs not included in this argument). I do not think we are on the level of the Vik’s Williams’ or even the Jag’s a few years ago with Henderson and Stroud, but I personally like our starting DT’s. However, like many, I question our depth. Some think Irvin will end up starting this season and I really do not see it happening. He should be an upgrade over much of what we had last year, but we will have to wait and see. Also who is our 4th DT in the rotation?!? If we have an injury to D-Lew, Kemo and even Irvin then we are in serious trouble. If that does happen, we could salvage the season, but we would be very thankful that we are not in a run heavy division like the AFC North.

3. Jake – I am confident that Jake will bounce back this season in a big way. I have said this before, but Jake has stepped up in the past when challenged. Nobody expected him to be in the running for Super Bowl MVP (03 season), he has made a Pro Bowl (04 – yds=3,886, TD=29, INT 15, QB rating – 87.3), and he looked GREAT in 07 with comp %=64.0, yds=624, TD=8, INT=1 in 2.5 games. Not to mention how many 4th quarter come backs he has had. With his competitive fire, I am expecting him to continue his focused off-season and have his hard work translate onto the field. Now that does not mean it will happen. The games still have to be played.

4. Secondary – With the addition of Brown, the development of Johnson, and hopefully a repeat dominate performance of Pep, our pass rush should be a strength. This will help out our Pass D along with some schematic tweeks, more experience (Godfrey) and an overall sense of need foe redemption after the Cardinal debacle.

5. Pep – He has no options. He will have to show up and show out regularly to ultimately get what he wants . . . next season.

6. 3rd passing option – I believe that Jarrett will get this spot and lock it down. The problem with our 3rd passing option last year was, IMO, that there was no confidence or rhythm in a 3rd option. The 2 DJ’s were going back and forth in training camp and when the season started Smitty was out the first 2 weeks. Shortly after that Hackett was injured which put Jarrett back at #3.

In 2003, Jake came in originally as a backup. I think he had a lot of confidence in Proehl b/c they had a lot of reps together. In the Jacksonville game, Jake hit none other than Mr. Proehl for the game winner.

With that said, I think Jarrett will earn this role b/c he will get plenty of opportunity combined with the extrinsic motivation Jarrett must be feeling entering his 3rd season.

7. Special Teams – We NEED a perfect long snapper, no more missed blocking assignments on punts, to continue to develop Lloyd as a complete kicker, develop new younger gunners on punt coverage, figure out who is athletic and stout enough to block on kick returns, and find a reliable and dangerous return man in the punt and lick game. That’s all.