Hey everyone, for last year's playoff game against the Panthers I crafted an extensive post on my team's weaknesses and strengths, which you can read here: http://www.seahawks.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=104777&p=1529029#p1529029, and - as I secretly expected - you guys beat us. Oh well, we never should've made it that far to begin with.
Now we meet again, for the fifth time in four years. We haven't beat you guys once in those first four matchups, so history's against us, but let's take a look at a few of the changes in the Panthers this season and see what the likelihood of breaking the spell is.
1) Kelvin Benjamin is gone. That's probably the single biggest factor right there. He blew an ACL in training camp and he's out for the season. Utterly devastating, as no one's been able to step up in his absence to provide what he provided on the field last year. Replacing him are rookie Devin Funchess (who's been anemic) and Ted Ginn Jr. (who's having the best year of his career, but that's not saying a lot.)
2) The offensive line has been retooled. Legendarily terrible left tackle Byron Bell is gone, replaced by Michael Oher. He's only mediocre, but mediocre is a breath of fresh air over what we dealt with for years on that side. The rest of the line remains the same as last year's playoff lineup, so all of a sudden we've got a vastly improved unit there that's keeping Cam upright.
3) The offensive backfield has made some changes. Deangelo Williams is gone. Jonathan Stewart is the feature back now, with Tolbert rotating in, Fozzy Whittaker, and rookie Cameron Artis-Payne providing backup roles.
4) The defensive end position was a question, and then an unsatisfactory answer, and suddenly, now, a question again, but an exciting one. We rolled into the season with Charles Johnson at LDE and the hope someone would step up at RDE. No one really did, outside of Kony Ealy and Mario Addison providing flashes. Then Charles Johnson yanked a hamstring and went on temporary IR, and the team traded for Jared Allen and picked up some kid named Ryan Delaire. They both debuted against the Bucs, and Jared Allen played reasonably well, but Delaire was a destructive force from the opening snap. He had multiple sacks and the left tackle simply couldn't handle him. Whether he can repeat that performance (it WAS the Bucs, after all) remains to be seen, but we're all pretty excited.
5) The defensive secondary is vastly improved. Some of it's experience, some of it's free agent talent. We brought in Charles Tillman from the Bears, and as much as anything he's provided veteran leadership. He's our starting CB2, which lets second-year man Bene Benwikere cover the slot, which is his best skill. Josh Norman is an island on the outside, playing like the best CB in the league right now (no, really, he's playing like Richard Sherman, and I don't say that lightly.) At safety we've still got old-ass Roman Harper out there, but we brought in Kurt Coleman at free safety and it's been revolutionary for the defense (check out this article for a schematic breakdown on why: http://www.carolinahuddle.com/index...utes-to-carolinas-defensive-renaissance-r652/
In total I'd say this year you guys are facing a wounded - but overall improved - squad in the 2015 Carolina Panthers. But we still have serious weaknesses despite a 4-0 start. Here are three ways Pete Carroll and the Seahawks can take advantage and come out with a fifth straight win:
1) Bracket the hell out of Greg Olsen. In week one the Jaguars committed three men to him at times, bracketing him with a backer and a safety and sometimes a corner. It was remarkably effective, and the passing game was shaky that day. We won largely because of defensive plays.
Since then teams have followed the same blueprint, more or less gambling that Carolina's marginal stable of receivers won't be able to beat single coverage or find holes in zones while Olsen is on lockdown. The Texans followed the same idea and did a decent job of slowing the passing game. The Saints, recognizing that Ted Ginn Jr. was a feasible deep threat, decided to roll more coverage his way and keep safeties back for second-year man Philly Brown, who caught a deep bomb touchdown the week before. The result was Greg Olsen's career-best game. Bracket Greg Olsen, nothing else the Panthers can do to you is worse than what they can do with a single-covered Greg Olsen.
2) Pump fake. Seriously, pump fake all day. Josh Norman is a boss but he's so turnover hungry that he's liable to telegraph coverage jumps that can be exploited. The Panthers like to leave Roman Harper deep in trap coverage, so if you get a speedy receiver to bite on a pump you may well have your receiver one-on-one against Harper, which will be an easy decision for Wilson to make.
3) Step up in the pocket. It remains to be seen what Carolina's new DE duo can do, but through four games the story has been an interior DL mysteriously bad at getting inside pressure and rushing DEs who fly harmlessly past the quarterback as he steps up in a neat pocket. Wilson should stay in the pocket on Sunday and step into his throws rather than moving laterally.
4) Score early. Carolina is not a team built to put up quick points, especially with Kelvin Benjamin gone. If you can get on the board early and often you'll force the offense to become one-dimensional, and that's where your secondary can feast. Cam is playing the best ball of his career right now despite limited numbers, but that doesn't mean throwing to Philly Brown down 21 points is going to provide a very good outcome.
That's about all I've got. As usual this one should be hard-fought and close. Here's to an injury-free game, and possibly someone on this forum explaining to me what the hell this emoticon is: :17:
Now we meet again, for the fifth time in four years. We haven't beat you guys once in those first four matchups, so history's against us, but let's take a look at a few of the changes in the Panthers this season and see what the likelihood of breaking the spell is.
1) Kelvin Benjamin is gone. That's probably the single biggest factor right there. He blew an ACL in training camp and he's out for the season. Utterly devastating, as no one's been able to step up in his absence to provide what he provided on the field last year. Replacing him are rookie Devin Funchess (who's been anemic) and Ted Ginn Jr. (who's having the best year of his career, but that's not saying a lot.)
2) The offensive line has been retooled. Legendarily terrible left tackle Byron Bell is gone, replaced by Michael Oher. He's only mediocre, but mediocre is a breath of fresh air over what we dealt with for years on that side. The rest of the line remains the same as last year's playoff lineup, so all of a sudden we've got a vastly improved unit there that's keeping Cam upright.
3) The offensive backfield has made some changes. Deangelo Williams is gone. Jonathan Stewart is the feature back now, with Tolbert rotating in, Fozzy Whittaker, and rookie Cameron Artis-Payne providing backup roles.
4) The defensive end position was a question, and then an unsatisfactory answer, and suddenly, now, a question again, but an exciting one. We rolled into the season with Charles Johnson at LDE and the hope someone would step up at RDE. No one really did, outside of Kony Ealy and Mario Addison providing flashes. Then Charles Johnson yanked a hamstring and went on temporary IR, and the team traded for Jared Allen and picked up some kid named Ryan Delaire. They both debuted against the Bucs, and Jared Allen played reasonably well, but Delaire was a destructive force from the opening snap. He had multiple sacks and the left tackle simply couldn't handle him. Whether he can repeat that performance (it WAS the Bucs, after all) remains to be seen, but we're all pretty excited.
5) The defensive secondary is vastly improved. Some of it's experience, some of it's free agent talent. We brought in Charles Tillman from the Bears, and as much as anything he's provided veteran leadership. He's our starting CB2, which lets second-year man Bene Benwikere cover the slot, which is his best skill. Josh Norman is an island on the outside, playing like the best CB in the league right now (no, really, he's playing like Richard Sherman, and I don't say that lightly.) At safety we've still got old-ass Roman Harper out there, but we brought in Kurt Coleman at free safety and it's been revolutionary for the defense (check out this article for a schematic breakdown on why: http://www.carolinahuddle.com/index...utes-to-carolinas-defensive-renaissance-r652/
In total I'd say this year you guys are facing a wounded - but overall improved - squad in the 2015 Carolina Panthers. But we still have serious weaknesses despite a 4-0 start. Here are three ways Pete Carroll and the Seahawks can take advantage and come out with a fifth straight win:
1) Bracket the hell out of Greg Olsen. In week one the Jaguars committed three men to him at times, bracketing him with a backer and a safety and sometimes a corner. It was remarkably effective, and the passing game was shaky that day. We won largely because of defensive plays.
Since then teams have followed the same blueprint, more or less gambling that Carolina's marginal stable of receivers won't be able to beat single coverage or find holes in zones while Olsen is on lockdown. The Texans followed the same idea and did a decent job of slowing the passing game. The Saints, recognizing that Ted Ginn Jr. was a feasible deep threat, decided to roll more coverage his way and keep safeties back for second-year man Philly Brown, who caught a deep bomb touchdown the week before. The result was Greg Olsen's career-best game. Bracket Greg Olsen, nothing else the Panthers can do to you is worse than what they can do with a single-covered Greg Olsen.
2) Pump fake. Seriously, pump fake all day. Josh Norman is a boss but he's so turnover hungry that he's liable to telegraph coverage jumps that can be exploited. The Panthers like to leave Roman Harper deep in trap coverage, so if you get a speedy receiver to bite on a pump you may well have your receiver one-on-one against Harper, which will be an easy decision for Wilson to make.
3) Step up in the pocket. It remains to be seen what Carolina's new DE duo can do, but through four games the story has been an interior DL mysteriously bad at getting inside pressure and rushing DEs who fly harmlessly past the quarterback as he steps up in a neat pocket. Wilson should stay in the pocket on Sunday and step into his throws rather than moving laterally.
4) Score early. Carolina is not a team built to put up quick points, especially with Kelvin Benjamin gone. If you can get on the board early and often you'll force the offense to become one-dimensional, and that's where your secondary can feast. Cam is playing the best ball of his career right now despite limited numbers, but that doesn't mean throwing to Philly Brown down 21 points is going to provide a very good outcome.
That's about all I've got. As usual this one should be hard-fought and close. Here's to an injury-free game, and possibly someone on this forum explaining to me what the hell this emoticon is: :17:
