Carolina's "vaunted" defense (2 Viewers)

[bigdog]

The Saints play the same opponents except for two teams. So should you also discount what the Saints have accomplished.

The Panthers played the Giants(3-6) and Vikings(2-7). The Saints played the Bears(5-4) and the Cowboys(5-5). Combined, the Panthers played 5-13 teams where the Saints played 10-9 teams. Those two games are much easier for Carolina than New Orleans.

 

[Saint Ced]

San Francisco has the best O-Line in the league and that front four manhandled them. You got to give it up to the front seven they have. I think we beat them in the dome, but lose at their place two weeks later.

That's true, but the 49ers MUST run the ball for their offense to be even have a pulse. The Panthers shut that down, and the rest is history. Our offense is MUCH more dynamic than that. The weakness of Carolina's D is their secondary. If you can hold their front at bay, that secondary can be beaten.

I'm eager to see what Brady does against them. The Pats passing game is the closest thing the Panthers will see to ours, so it should be interesting.

 

[Goatman Saint]

Ill make my opinion after New England. If the Patriots can do well against them, then I worry less. At this point, numerically and highlight wise they seem tough. However, with Evans finally looking like the Evans of old, and De La Puente not having to do more than needed, the line has been looking much better.

 

[Blessedog]

They have faces some mediocre offenses and that is being generous. Their front 7 is legit though and we will need to run the ball in order to help neutralize their pass rush. If we slow down their rush we can expose them and it can turn ugly really quick.However, if we don't stick with the running game and that line is allowed to run wild Drew could get killed out there.

Carolina is a team that can be run on and we will need the run game if we want to win. They can be had in the middle of the field as well and we can spread them out much more effectively than any team they have faced thus far. Personally, I think we crush them. Something like 45-24.

 

[ILLINI Saint]

San Francisco has the best O-Line in the league and that front four manhandled them. You got to give it up to the front seven they have. I think we beat them in the dome, but lose at their place two weeks later.

Ya I watched the short cuts game the other night to get a look at both. Carolina gave up a lot of big runs earlier on and then just started blowing up plays in the back field with their front 7. They are legit and I agree we take them in the Dome and if we can get out to a lead in their house, we"ll have a good shot there as well.

 

[Cougar 1]

The Panthers and Niners are very similar. Both have good run games and running QBs, and solid defenses.

So IMO, our keys to victory against both are the same. On D, we must contain their run game and QB. On O, we must take care of the ball, and run the ball well enough to give us balance and keep their Ds on their heels.

Ive been hard on the O line all season. IMO, to become a serious contender, the O line was gonna have to step up, esp in the run game. We will soon find out if last week's performance was an aberration, or if the O line, along with MI, have finally turned the corner.

 

[wizard1183]

They're THE team to beat in NFC. No other team is competes. It'll be tough, but we have to win Sunday and have to go 1-1 with them.

 

[birdog]

They haven't faced a top 10 offense this season yet. I heard this today on the 'moving the chains" show on Sirius. The Pats will be the first top 10 offense they face this year. Let's wait & see how they do, before we start worrying.

 

[bclemms]

We have to play Carolina 2 weeks in a row pretty much. What kinda BS is that smh

It could be worse, look at it from Carolina's perspective.

 

[wizard1183]

They haven't faced a top 10 offense this season yet. I heard this today on the 'moving the chains" show on Sirius. The Pats will be the first top 10 offense they face this year. Let's wait & see how they do, before we start worrying.

They're beating pats in their house. Pats suck this yr. barely pulling it off past few weeks

 

[Bespoke]

How good is Carolina's Defense? Well let's take a look.

They haven't allowed an opposing Offense a First Half Touchdown all season.

Let's think about that for a minute, to not give up a TD in the first half through 10 weeks... Imagine what our record would be if we did not give up any First half TDs?


Oh and also
12.8 Points per game - 2nd.
282 Total yards per game - 2nd.
82 Rushing yards per game - 2nd.
3.8 Yards per Rush attempt - 9th.


Yeah they are really good.

 

[wizard1183]

They're def a top contender for a SB

 

[birdog]

They're beating pats in their house. Pats suck this yr. barely pulling it off past few weeks

I'm not so sure.....to beat the Pats, they need to score points! You & me both know Brady will throw for at least or 2 TDs, if the weather permits it and probably kick a couple FGs.....are you sure Cam can do the same?

The Panthers need to score around 20-23 points to win. I'm not so sure they have the QB to do that.

 

[JonsDuu]

Another way to look at CAR d is to compare their pt allowed per game vs their opp average scoring per game. CAR allows 12.8 pt/gm. Theirs opp ave score is 21.6 pt/gm. In other word, they're keeping their opp 8.8 pt per game less than what their opp average scoring.

In comparison, the Saints d allows 18.1 pt/gm vs opp ave score 22.2 pt/gm for a -4.1 pt/gm. (Don't really know how to account for the number of games where the Saints were up by 3 scores early and went into prevent mode, which allows opp to score more than normal).

CAR d is good. But so are the Saints.

In term of offense, CAR score 23.8 pt/gm vs opp d 23.7 (diff +0.1)
Saints score 29.4 pt/gm v opp d 24.5 (diff +4.9)

Offense-wise, CAR is average, Saints is way above average.

 

[Wisco Steve]

Think about that. If you don't run the ball against them their ends can pin their ears back and it makes a huge difference with the pass rush. Also, when we are chipping ends with Graham it doesn't allow him to stretch the field which is what he does best.

Besides, Carolina's pass defense is ranked better than their run defense. They've shown themselves as more than capable all season to take away one dimension offenses.

Also, everyone is raving about the play of Cam Newton. His passing stats aren't really any different than last season and his rushing stats are way down. Carolina, San Fransisco and Seattle are all the same team to me. If we play good defense and don't turn the ball over we win easily. Those teams are struggling to score points but they are simply allowing their opponent to score less.

I am not saying we abandon the run against them at all, we all know that balance is key to our play calling. I am sure we will test them plenty up the middle and right at the ends. Don't really care about the ranks, anyone that has seen them play enough knows the front seven is the strength and you can pass on their secondary when given time. Drew is the master of sliding around in the pocket and finding a receiver down field and he will need to quite often. As far as the chip blocks, they need not come from Graham--he seldom does anyways. We will use Jed and the RB's for this and it will be important on several plays.