State of the Carolina Panthers

[Braylon4MVP]

Hey guys, I’m starting a personal project and I have a few questions for the members of each team’s forum. Please don’t feel like I’m asking you to answer all of these questions.. Any input any of you guys have, in any way, would be GREATLY appreciated. I’m essentially trying to gain as much knowledge as I can about each individual team’s schemes and players. Here are some guideline questions that I would love feedback on, but any type of info you have would be awesome.

Offense:
-What kind of offense do you run?
-What kind of blocking scheme?
-Does your offense run through a specific skill player?
-Are you expecting significant changes from last year’s offense?

Defense:
-What kind of defense do you run?
-Are you heavy into man or zone coverage? Do your DBs press often?
-Are you a defense that places high value on pressuring the quarterback?
-When facing a superstar (Julio Jones, Antonio Brown. Gronk, etc) do you generally say “make the rest of the offense beat us” or “he’s going to get his anyway, let him get his, he won’t single –handidly defeat us”?
-Are you expecting significant changes from last year’s defense?

Player Specific:
Most productive offensive player?
Defensive player with greatest impact?
Breakout offensive player?
Breakout defensive player?

Please don’t feel like I’m asking for huge in depth answers! I would love them and greatly appreciate them, but any contribution you guys are willing to make would be awesome! As well as obviously greatly helping me, I feel this could be a nice topic for conversation to spark activity during the forum’s greatest down time. Thank you!
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RIP Crakburn, B2TB, Sean Taylor and Chris Henry

John Frusciante FTW
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[Panthers11]

As the vet here I'll take a stab it.

Offense:
-What kind of offense do you run?
We run an offense that relies heavily on the run game. We use the play action quite often and the QB run is obviously huge for us, especially in the redzone. Our passing plays are usually down the field and have relatively long developing routes.
-What kind of blocking scheme?
We run a power blocking scheme but rotate the read-option and zone scheme sometimes.
-Does your offense run through a specific skill player?
Greg Olsen is the closest answer to this. He's in on every play and can act as a primary target or stay in to block.
-Are you expecting significant changes from last year’s offense?
Not really. KB coming back will change some red zone calls to use him. But I think Shula has learned what works and will incorporate KB in on it.

Defense:
-What kind of defense do you run?
Primarily have a 4 man front with Kuechly and Davis in. We rotate either Klein, Shaq, or another secondary player depending on the situation.
-Are you heavy into man or zone coverage? Do your DBs press often?
We use zone. It's what made Norman stand out so much. We don't press often and I think the rate goes down next year with Norman gone.
-Are you a defense that places high value on pressuring the quarterback?
Yes. Our front 7 is and has been the core of our D. We utliize interior pressure more than most due to our supreme talent there. Our DE were dominant in 2013 (Hardy/johnson) but now we have a younger and less experienced group with potential. Especially with our very young secondary, our pressure on the QB is key. McDermott is aggressive with blitz packages and throws in a CB blitz every once awhile. I expect Benwikere and Shaq to go after the QB alot.
-When facing a superstar (Julio Jones, Antonio Brown. Gronk, etc) do you generally say “make the rest of the offense beat us” or “he’s going to get his anyway, let him get his, he won’t single –handidly defeat us”?
With Norman, we placed him on the #1 and it paid off. This year, I think it will depend. We don't really lean either way on this, but I'd say we do our best to attack the #1 and stifle the offense.
-Are you expecting significant changes from last year’s defense?
I'd say a tad more creative. The young secondary will force us to take a few more risks to get to the QB. Other than that, our D-line and LB will stay similar.

Player Specific:
Most productive offensive player?
Cam. He simply produces. Through 5 years, only one QB in NFL history (Marino) has more total TD.
Defensive player with greatest impact?
It's Kuechly. He's the closest thing to a QB on defense in the league. He makes all the calls and is in on every play. He also makes impact plays as he leads LB's in INT since being in the NFL.
Breakout offensive player?
Devin Funchess. He came on towards the end of the year after missing a lot of TC and preseason. I expect 900/8.
Breakout defensive player?
Kony Ealy. I think he goes over 10 sacks this season. Those DT's make his life a lot easier.
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Dalvin Cook to Carolina hype leader.

[Zithers]

Offense:
-What kind of offense do you run?
They focus on being run heavy while having a big play passing offense. The run offense is pretty diverse, with every sort of read option you can think of, along with ground-and-pound, and of course stuff for Cam to do.

-What kind of blocking scheme?
Mostly power. I think.

-Does your offense run through a specific skill player?
I don't think Cam counts as a skill player... leading the answer to being no.

-Are you expecting significant changes from last year’s offense?
I think schematically it'll be the same. Benji being back will make things more dynamic tho.

Defense:
-What kind of defense do you run?
Basic 4-3 (well... 4-2-5) that mostly relies on the front four to do the damage, with calculated blitzes. Shaq Thompson could become a hybrid Deone Bucannon type player this year to make things interesting.

-Are you heavy into man or zone coverage? Do your DBs press often?
I think last year it was like 75% zone. Not really.

-Are you a defense that places high value on pressuring the quarterback?
Yes. That is Gettleman's MO.

-When facing a superstar (Julio Jones, Antonio Brown. Gronk, etc) do you generally say “make the rest of the offense beat us” or “he’s going to get his anyway, let him get his, he won’t single –handidly defeat us”?
Having Luke and TD roam around the middle and flats of the field really helps with keeping star RBs/TEs in check while star WRs were stuck being doubled on the sidelines or draped by Norman. We'll see how that changes without J-No.

-Are you expecting significant changes from last year’s defense?
No Josh Norman is the big difference... Also, the DEs could stay healthy. Charles Johnson, Mario Addison, and Jared Allen all got hurt at some point during the season. If Kony Ealy and Johnson stay healthy there could be a lot more consistent pressure from the edges.

Player Specific:
Most productive offensive player?
Cam. Besides Cam, probably Olsen.
Defensive player with greatest impact?
Luke.
Breakout offensive player?
Funchess is pretty much the only option. Though Benji could make a jump in productivity.
Breakout defensive player?
Kony Ealy or Tre Boston.
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