Analysis from the Carolina Panthers coaches film

Hello to all,
I just finished my review of this past weeks game film. If I were handing out game balls, I'd give one to Vernon Davis, Ahmad Brooks, Tony Jerrod-Eddie and Anquan Boldin. Those guys had a huge impact on the game. I know Vernon Davis sounds surprising considering how few catches and yards he had in the game but he had a HUGE impact on the game. Carolina was as committed to shutting down Vernon as most teams are to shutting down megatron. Boldin's 45 yard catch was all because of the threat of Vernon.

From the Defensive side of the ball:
Both our ILB's brought their game this week. Both of them played outstanding and made some pretty amazing "wow" plays. A lot of those aren't the ones you'd think about, it was just great to watch some really good LB play. Brooks played far better this week than he did last week. He was more consistent, absolutely collapsed the edge and got a great push in pass rush. Our goal line stands were awesome, but no one was more impressive on our goal line stands than Tony Jerrod-Eddie. He was the reason we were able to make the stops we were, he was an absolute beast from the NT position on the goal line.
One thing this game gave me a great appreciation for is the great job Jim Tomsula does with our D-line. I truly think we have the best D-line coach in the league. The way all of our D-lineman played in this game and what they've shown me over the past 6-8 weeks or so is pretty outstanding. A lot of these guys aren't high draft picks and Tomsula gets these guys to play with great technique, leverage and recognition. He's routinely able to take lower draft picks and turn these guys into quality contributors to the team.

From the offensive side of things:
Our offense was a little out of sync through almost the first 2 quarters. Part of this had to do with Carolina, they came with a LOT of blitzes throughout the game and mostly in the first 2 quarters. They blitzed more than they didn't. Vernon's impact on the game was very apparent. There were at times 3 defenders watching VD, Carolina truly feared Davis' speed and playmaking ability. I loved some of Roman's jumbo set calls, he set up Gore's big run late in the game perfectly, it was a thing of beauty to watch. Tukuafu's loss was felt in the game; Dixon did an alright job, but wasn't consistent. I think our O-line didn't play too well in the first half; partially because I don't think they anticipated all the different blitzes Carolina came with, but they did much better in the second half.

Personally, I think Carolina's defense is better than Seattle's. Their players play fast, meaning, they diagnose quickly and get to the play.

That's all I'll talk about for now, per the usual I'll follow with some breakdowns. I'll be moving over to the seahawks scouting/week2 breakdown probably by tomorrow or thursday, I've already started scouting out Seattle's game against the Saints from last Saturday.

Excellent post Jonny!!!

Thanks for the insight.....love hearing this sort of analysis.

Agree with what you said about Carolina D vs. Seattle....only x factor is Seattle D in Seattle might be best defense in the NFL. On a neutral field I think it's a toss up between all three of ours.

Think about this Seahawk game at the stick or at any other home field in the league.....it wouldn't be that bad.

Here's an example of how much attention Carolina was paying to VD:



Here we run a bunch formation



Carolina runs a cover 3 zone here. You see how the LB's have VD bracketed off the snap.



You see how the corner, safety and flat defender are all turned to watch Vernon, leaving Boldin.



You can really see from here how all 3 defenders are watching Vernon leaving Boldin a huge area outside to pick up a 12 yard gain for a first down.

I love you

uh oh looks like i'm not getting much work done today

Caroline has better, more discipline LBs than the SheHawks. Seattle generally more aggressive to the ball. They are confident enough about their secondary to put more guys up front to stop the run. The Saints passing offense has enough threat to make Seattle cover more of the field. Saints were able to move the ball some on the ground against Seattle. Panthers aren't familiar with us like Seattle is. It will always be tougher going for our offense against the Seattle defense.

Seattle is all zone

Thanks jonnydell, I agree with Tony Jerod-Eddie's play. What happens next year when Tank, Dial and Williams have a full off season and training camp. The D-Line is loaded. I thought Glenn Dorsey played a great game too.

I'd much prefer we retain Tomsula than Roman.

Woot! Been waiting for this

What stuck out to me watching the game is how
much either Cam himself or the coaching staff wore him down early. When Kaep runs he slides or gets out of bounds quickly. When Cam ran he exposed himself to big hits. How many times did he fake to an RB and pull the ball out on option. Not sure if it was the OC or Cam trying to be superman but by 3rd quarter he looked beat up.

If anyone can give me some hints at how to make gif's to include in my posts. I'm working on a macbook, it's my wife's as my wife has taken over my computer for work so I'm not real savvy with a mac, just PM me if you can give me some advice.

Originally posted by nj9er:
What stuck out to me watching the game is how
much either Cam himself or the coaching staff wore him down early. When Kaep runs he slides or gets out of bounds quickly. When Cam ran he exposed himself to big hits. How many times did he fake to an RB and pull the ball out on option. Not sure if it was the OC or Cam trying to be superman but by 3rd quarter he looked beat up.

I agree. I also meant to include this in my OP but will use this as an excuse now.
I wanted to talk about Kap compared to Newton from a mechanics and progression read standpoint as many people have asked about how Kap compares with some of his counterparts.

I think Cam Newton has a faster delivery than Kap and a "stronger" arm. I mean stronger, not necessarily a faster arm, in that he can sling the ball from any platform. Cam Newton's footwork was ok, but not good and his throwing mechanics are terrible. Because he has such a strong arm, he often doesn't use his legs or hips well in his throwing motion. As far as mechanics go, Kap is way beyond Newton. Footwork, I'd say from a drop and "load" the legs standpoint, they are about even. When it comes to setting their feet to make the throw - kind of what I'm talking about with mechanics, Kap is way ahead. This is why Newton seemed to miss wildly on a few throws. His footwork was terrible and he will lock down his feet and just muscle the throw. When Newton's footwork and mechanics are on, he's probably a sweeter throwing than Kap(think of Newton's dime to Steve Smith), but he doesn't have a lot of throws like that per game. Kind of surprising a guy who's been a starter in the league for 3 years would have such poor throwing mechanics.

As far as progression reads. I think Kap is farther along as well. Newton really stared down his receivers a few times. Kap did too, just not as much. Kap also was able to get to his 3rd reads more than Newton.

Originally posted by nj9er:
What stuck out to me watching the game is how
much either Cam himself or the coaching staff wore him down early. When Kaep runs he slides or gets out of bounds quickly. When Cam ran he exposed himself to big hits. How many times did he fake to an RB and pull the ball out on option. Not sure if it was the OC or Cam trying to be superman but by 3rd quarter he looked beat up.

That's a great point. There was a moment in the first half during the broadcast where the camera switched to a frontal view of Cam approaching the LOS...he looked absolutely exhausted. At that point I knew he wasn't going to last...