Bucs vs. Panthers: Key Panthers Defensive Match-ups
by Jaxon on Sep 18, 2010 10:00 AM EDT
in Panthers Game Previews
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This is the second part in a two-part key match-up analysis of the Panthers upcoming game against the Bucs. This edition focuses on the Panthers defense and its match-up with the Bucs offense. The Bucs are coming off a week 1 win at home against the Browns in a game the Bucs showed an improved defense and a lucky bounce offense. Did you see their first TD catch in the end zone? When the ball bounces like that you know its your day. The Panthers defense though got some similar bounces to go their way in week one as well so this might be a battle of karmas!
When I look at the match-ups on the Bucs offense I immediately look at the wide receivers since the secondary is struggling in deep coverage. This problem is compounded by the questionable status of CB Chris Gamble who injured his ankle in practice on Thursday. Fortunately the Panthers will be facing a young, but talented pair of WR’s.
CBs Richard Marshall and Captain Munnerlyn vs. WRs Mike Williams and Sammie Stroughter
The Panthers will do their best to keep the taller Marshall on Williams so the smaller Captain can cover the 5’10" Stroughter. Both CBs have given up big plays either last week or in the preseason. What keeps me hopeful in this match-up is both Panther CBs are very aggressive in man coverage. As long as they continue to trust their safeties they should be able to make plays in the ball. The only question is whether they should be trusting their safeties.
It’s also worth mentioning that recently signed CJ Wilson will see a lot of action in this game. I’m not sure whether Wilson would line up as the nickel corner or would they prefer to move Munnerlyn to the nickel and put Wilson on the outside.
DE Charles Johnson vs. RT Jeremy Trueblood (Named after my favorite show!)
Trueblood is a huge RT at 6’5" 320lbs who’s size and long-arms can suck the life out of a pass rusher. He possesses good balance and plays with a mean streak; it’s been rumored he keeps wolves at home. Johnson on the other hand had better come fired up to play and be ready to lay the Silver (and black) to Trueblood. ;)
...more after the jump...
Seriously, the defensive line has vowed to get more pressure this week and I would hope Johnson is taking that personally. I’m looking to see some fire from Johnson and a couple of key sacks as a result. Trueblood is big but he’s not a Pro Bowler either. I expect Ron Meeks to focus is pressure on the right side of the offensive line as the Panthers focus on knocking him off his spot and hopefully throwing some errant passes.
DT Ed Johnson vs. RG Davin Joseph 6’3" 313 lbs
The Bucs will try to run off RG and it will be up to Johnson to hold the point and allow the Panthers active LBs to shut down the run game. With DT Louis Leonard probably out of the game due to injury I still don’t expect Johnson to focus on the pass rush. With either the faster Nick Hayden or Andre Nemblett next to him they will be the player expected to provide the middle rush.
LB Jon Beason vs. QB Josh Freeman
Though Beason is no longer lining up at the Mike he is still the guy reading the defense and trying to get in the QBs head. He will try to disguise the Panthers intentions with fake blitzes, delayed blitzes and stunts all the while responsible for containing Freeman in the pocket. Freeman is big but mobile and must be contained from running for first downs. Yet if the Panthers can get pressure Freeman will throw some bad passes.
I do think the Panthers defense will play better this week and essentially win the game for the Panthers as the offense continues to try and find itself. I also think the Panthers special teams will play a part in the victory with at least one big play. My other wild card is rookie DE Greg Hardy. Hardy is still an unknown to the league so I’m hoping we get another couple big plays (first sack?) from the talented rookie.
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Greg Hardy needs reps. If Freeman breaks out of the pocket, Hardy will eat him alive.
Last week, Brandon Jacobs broke a run to the outside, and C. Johnson tried his best to catch him as he turned upfield. He didn’t make it, and the run went for 20+ yards. As I rewatched it, I was thinking “Man, Hardy would have caught him for a loss or short gain.” Hardy is a weapon with his speed and his “never stop” motor. If he hasn’t earned reps, I don’t know who has.
The other wildcard in our favor is Sherrod Martin. Last week he showed he has the speed and instincts required to give help in the cover-2. He was also great in run support. Godfrey was slow getting over to help Gamble several times. So while Godfrey got the easy tip picks, and he made some good tackles, he cost us on some big pass plays.
Final point: If the Bucs mediocre d-line dominates our o-line, we won’t win this game or many others to come. But if our o-line plays as a unit and gets the running game going, we’ll win, and the fog lifts on the Panthers’ future this year.
Where there’s a will… I want to be in it.
I read somewhere that
Hardy got about 25 snaps in the first game – but I am pretty sure that at a good chunk of them were on special teams. I still think that Johnson and Brown can be successful. But I agree with you, if it looks like the starters can’t get pressure on Freeman, it’s time to unleash Hardy.
He didn't come in until the 1st quarter was almost over, not til their 3rd series.
Not counting ST, I counted him in on 29 defensive snaps – less than 1/2 of what they ran. It was 13 the first half, 16 the second, including all 11 plays in their last 3 series. Whether the coaches considered this mop-up, or a transition to him being in their full time isn’t evident yet. If he outplays Brown again this game, they’ve gotta think about increasing his snaps.
Like CJohnson, he had 4 tackles (not counting the punt block) – Everette Brown was invisible: zero tackles.
He either subbed for CJohnson or EBrown, and played both LDE and RDE, depending. I think he does his most effective work at RDE, where he’s hard to turn the corner on, and is probably a better pass rusher than is Brown.
All great points to me!
Beason was on Primetime with Pacman Thurs raving about Hardy. How does anyone block a punt? Much less a rookie in his first game? It shows you how much determination and effort this guy is bringing on every play. This is definitely a situation where Fox needs to compromise his principle of not playing rookies too much too early.
on behalf of tha dirty south: soul food, carolina blue, southern hospitality, and tha queen city
by southtunnel on Sep 18, 2010 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions
Like I read somewhere, Hardy almost SWALLOWED the punt.
He took it in the chest, it wasn’t just his fingertips or forearms, like most punt blocks.
But that probably won’t happen again – he wasn’t blocked on the play. Duh!
However, the real indicator of how good he is was the fumble he caused. You’d think from the picture above that Marshall was making the tackle, and maybe sharing the FF. Not so. By the time Marshall got his arms around Bradshaw, Hardy had already knocked the ball loose, on his own, with a powerful hit. And the thing about it was that the play was a run to their right side, away from Hardy at RDE. It took a long time to develop, and there was a mass of bodies for Hardy to negotiate to get there, but he pursued it like few DEs I’ve ever seen, and then delivered the hit.
I didn’t have time to do a Defensive Play-by-Play this week, but if I had, this would’ve been the Feature Play. It was at 2:51 of the 4th Quarter, game already decided (just 2 minutes after his punt block/Safety). and it shows there’s no quit in the boy, and he plays it to the end. Anybody who questioned his effort and desire was seriously mistaken, and we’re only too lucky that so many other teams did on draft day.
If you want to have some fun – when Hardy’s in the game, try (I know it’s hard to do), don’t watch the ball, but watch how he plays his position. If any rookie in the league DOESN’T look like a rookie right now, but a top seasoned pro, it’s him.
We were hoping a month ago that EBrown would step up this year – now I’m thinking he may even get relegated to backup.
That run you described should never have happened.
Charles Johnson had no business at RDE – his position has previously always been on the left side, and he isn’t built to contain the sweep on our right side. EBrown might be, and Hardy DEFINITELY is.
He has the best pursuit speed, the most tenacity, and most important of all, he has the best reaction time. He very quickly senses a run, and when it’s on a passing down, he gets off his rush and pursues, not just quits and stands and watches, like some DEs I could name. Had that been Hardy there, instead of Johnson, on that particular play, I’d bet it goes for no gain, and the Giants only tally about 88 yds on the ground for the game.
A comment on what Jaxon said about Hardy: you would think he’d be “an unknown to the league,” but there were a lot of plays that he was double-teamed. They knew something.
It might be Landri
who lines up alongside Ed Johnson.
Does anyone else get a sick feeling in their stomach when they think of our corner situation?
The Giants wideouts made Captain and Marshall look like fools out there. Literally. I’d feel much better if Gamble were playing. Thankfully they’re going against Freeman this week, but man…I’m nervous about our corners. Hopefully the pass rush is much better this week.
Marshall did have a rough game...
But I’m not worried. As has been explained before, without a decent pass rush in the Cover-2, a QB has time to pick apart the defense, which is exactly what happened.
Like Jaxon said, I'm not too concerned if they are in man coverage
My biggest concern is Munnerlyn being far too small to make a play on a bigger receiver. But if he stays on Stroughter then he can do his job. And yes, the safeties and the pass rush is key!
on behalf of tha dirty south: soul food, carolina blue, southern hospitality, and tha queen city
by southtunnel on Sep 18, 2010 11:24 AM EDT up reply actions
I'm the pessimist and I still have faith in this defense
They’ve shown that they can get to the QB by rushing 4 or blitzing, they have shutdown formidable running games, and the secondary has been great at times.
But like we debated all off season this is a very young team. They are going to make mistakes and at times be exploited by more experienced offenses. With the youngest team in the league, we are just going to have to accept this, and on both sides of the ball.
But I’m confident because we’ve shown we have the ability to dominate on defense. We just need to put all the pieces together for 4 quarters. And Tampa Bay is a very good team to do that against.
on behalf of tha dirty south: soul food, carolina blue, southern hospitality, and tha queen city
They are the second youngest team in the league, so no disadvantage to us there.
Freeman is mobile and racked up a lotta yds against us last year, but he is susceptible to the bad throw (esp. with his thumb injury), so I expect pressure packages will result in 3+ sacks.
But we are faster on the line this year
Especially when Brown and Hardy are in.
on behalf of tha dirty south: soul food, carolina blue, southern hospitality, and tha queen city
by southtunnel on Sep 18, 2010 1:06 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Youth is overrated.
Indianapolis has a young team. Expectations are based more off the quarterback.
"I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault." ~ Jack Tatum
Yeah, I wish we had a Hall of Fame QB.
Then I wouldn’t care at all about how young everyone else is.
"The game of life is a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity." - Lewis Grizzard
by ThePanthers! on Sep 18, 2010 4:00 PM EDT up reply actions
Green Bay, Dallas, New England, Houston, Philadelphia all boast one of the top 12 youngest teams in the league.
As well as Jacksonville, Buffalo, KC, TB, Seattle.
Again, expectations are based way more off of the quarterback than the age. The Colts were just an example.
Youth is overrated.
"I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault." ~ Jack Tatum
And on the contrary...
The Raiders, Lions, Cardinals and Redskins are some of the most experienced teams.
"I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault." ~ Jack Tatum
I understand what you're saying.
I agree that age isn’t as important if you have the right leaders. On defense the position that the leader is usually doesn’t matter but on offense if your QB isn’t able to be the leader then you usually don’t have a good one and of course success is based off of how good the most important player is. Young teams can mean rebuilding/reloading or they can mean having a great core group that allows you to win without as much experience in other positions. If the QB isn’t considered a core player then that team is not going to win.
I’m pretty sure we’re on the same side of what you were saying above, especially since our teams are the two youngest in the NFL.
"The game of life is a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity." - Lewis Grizzard
by ThePanthers! on Sep 18, 2010 6:50 PM EDT up reply actions
Thought your previous comment was sarcasm.
I just get sick of the excuse that it a “young team” or that a team is good because they are “full of veterans” or “have more experience.” It’s just an easy cliche that irritates the heck out of me.
"I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault." ~ Jack Tatum
I just reread the comment.
I see how you could confuse it for sarcasm. I didn’t mean for it to be sarcasm but it is definitely true. I would love a Hall of Fame QB.
"The game of life is a lot like football. You have to tackle your problems, block your fears, and score your points when you get the opportunity." - Lewis Grizzard
by ThePanthers! on Sep 18, 2010 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions
If Johnson can't have a field day against Trueblood, he doesn't deserve to start.
Trueblood is average in pass-pro and terrible in run blocking. Not to mention he can’t go 15 plays without a penalty. Tampa fans hate him and see him as a Kenyatta Walker type.
"I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault." ~ Jack Tatum
Your right about the run game though.
If the Bucs can’t get an interior run-game going a faster defense will stall us.
"I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault." ~ Jack Tatum
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