Julius Peppers Does Have an Inside Move

A few posts back I threaded a Julius Peppers interview where he basically said all he has in an end rush and no inside rush. Wouldn’t you know it on his sack of Brett Favre, guess what type of move he used? An inside move folks, how about that? Maybe Julius was just setting up the Packers RT? Nah... No need to worry; Julius still has his full arsenal of pass rush moves.

After doing my film review of the Panthers loss to the Packers I was more than satisfied with what Julius Peppers is doing on the field. He had a great first half and still played hard to the end. I did notice Stanley McClover replacing him more in the 2nd half on running downs. That aside here’s what shows and doesn’t show in Pep’s stat line:

• On the Pack’s first offensive play Pep was in Favre’s face.
• On 3rd down he chips the RB going to flat to knock him off his route
• Pep blocks a FG
• On an inside move Peppers sacks Favre (McClover was right behind him). Pep got ripped on this play because he forced a fumble, got the recovery but the ref’s gave the ball back to the Pack. Bastards!
• Pep makes a tackle 20 yards downfield saving a TD
• Pep makes another tackle 10 yards downfield
• Pep forces a bad pass on 3rd down by getting in Favre’s face

He had more tackles then listed but these were the ones that stood out. This is a pretty damn good day. If the refs had given him the fumble recovery it would have been that much better. The guy can change the game with the pass rush and on special teams.

If you want to fault any part of the defense you have to wonder why we can’t cover that TE slant pattern down the middle. The Packers Donald Lee scored on the same play twice. MLB Jon Beason leans too far left and SS Chris Harris is late getting over, twice. (You guys still rock though)

Panther fans need to stop criticizing Julius Peppers and the effort of the team. These guys are playing hard but they are lacking talent at several key positions due to injury and unmet expectations. There's no need to make major changes to this defense or to worry about whether Peppers skills have deteriorated.