One thing no one seems to be mentioning.

[BleedRed]

While our defense did struggle and had some blow assignments. The Panthers who are a very good running team totaled 74 yards on the ground on 27 carries for 2.7 ypc. Got some work to do in our pass defense but our run defense is stout. I'm personally excited to see this defense progress through out the season.

Go Cards!

 

[AzStevenCal]

While our defense did struggle and had some blow assignments. The Panthers who are a very good running team totaled 74 yards on the ground on 27 carries for 2.7 ypc. Got some work to do in our pass defense but our run defense is stout. I'm personally excited to see this defense progress through out the season.

Go Cards!

That could explain a lot.

Steve

 

[187]

Big Dan is going to be the main reason why our run D should improve vastly this season. You can't expect to stop the run when you have a 300 pound nose who is well past his prime getting pushed around up front. Dan is built like a dump truck and if he can continue to hold up at the point of attack our ILB's and run D as a whole will benefit from it greatly.

 

[Bodha]

ASC touched on it above.

When a rookie QB, who looked horrible in preseason, is putting up 400 yards through the air...why run it? Clearly there is something majorly wrong with your pass D for this to be happening. If it aint broke, dont fix it.



However I do give credit to our D line. Our entire depth chart played. Dock, Dan, CC, Vonnie, Carter, Eason. So im sure fresh legs in the rotation kept the run game under control.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Big Dan is going to be the main reason why our run D should improve vastly this season. You can't expect to stop the run when you have a 300 pound nose who is well past his prime getting pushed around up front. Dan is built like a dump truck and if he can continue to hold up at the point of attack our ILB's and run D as a whole will benefit from it greatly.

I think Dan is better than his backup and his backup is better that last year's starter. The two of them should really enhance our defense especially once Acho and Bradley work their way into the starting lineup. None of that will solve our secondary issues but a good run defense might keep us alive long enough for Peterson to grow into his position.

Steve

 

[gmabel830]

ASC touched on it above.

When a rookie QB, who looked horrible in preseason, is putting up 400 yards through the air...why run it? Clearly there is something majorly wrong with your pass D for this to be happening. If it aint broke, dont fix it.


However I do give credit to our D line. Our entire depth chart played. Dock, Dan, CC, Vonnie, Carter, Eason. So im sure fresh legs in the rotation kept the run game under control.

But they did run it.. as the original post said, they ran 27 times for 2.7 YPC. That's good rush defense. Not saying that our constant blitzing and having people too focused on the line of scrimmage didn't hurt the passing game, but their lack of rushing yards wasn't due to a lack of attempts, it was due to good rush defense.

 

[Duckjake]

But they did run it.. as the original post said, they ran 27 times for 2.7 YPC. That's good rush defense. Not saying that our constant blitzing and having people too focused on the line of scrimmage didn't hurt the passing game, but their lack of rushing yards wasn't due to a lack of attempts, it was due to good rush defense.

Carolina had gouged Whisenhunt's teams on the ground 4 times in regular season games. Carolina has a rookie QB starting in his first game.

Focusing on stopping the run was simply smart coaching. Who knew, besides me, that Newton could throw like that? And even I had my doubts after seeing his completion % drop like a rock because of his play in the 3 pre season games I didn't see.

Blitzing like crazy? Also sound coaching. I know I've read many times on this board that you blitz a rookie QB.

It would help if our blitzes worked a little better.

 

[LoyaltyisaCurse]

Who knew, besides me, that Newton could throw like that? .

 

[Kel Varnsen]

That could explain a lot.

Steve

LOL

 

[WarnerHOF]

Now we just need to draft a long haired Samoan and turn O'Brien Schofield into a roid junkie. I think that will fix our pass defense.

 

[Russ Smith]

I think Dan is better than his backup and his backup is better that last year's starter. The two of them should really enhance our defense especially once Acho and Bradley work their way into the starting lineup. None of that will solve our secondary issues but a good run defense might keep us alive long enough for Peterson to grow into his position.

Steve

Absolutely had the same thought watching the game Sunday, our backup is better than last years starter and he's the backup because the starter is better than him.

Both are nice things to say.

 

[82CardsGrad]

I think Dan is better than his backup and his backup is better that last year's starter. The two of them should really enhance our defense especially once Acho and Bradley work their way into the starting lineup. None of that will solve our secondary issues but a good run defense might keep us alive long enough for Peterson to grow into his position.

Steve

Would LOVE to see Williams continue to develop into a major force. I question his maturity when he reports into camp out of shape each year... However, he consistently shows flashes of what "could be" which is hard to ignore.
And for a late round pick, Carter appears to very solid! Hope both of these guys become mainstays in our run defense!

 

[Cardiac]

While our defense did struggle and had some blow assignments. The Panthers who are a very good running team totaled 74 yards on the ground on 27 carries for 2.7 ypc. Got some work to do in our pass defense but our run defense is stout. I'm personally excited to see this defense progress through out the season.

Go Cards!

Great observation.

I think Dan is better than his backup and his backup is better that last year's starter. The two of them should really enhance our defense especially once Acho and Bradley work their way into the starting lineup. None of that will solve our secondary issues but a good run defense might keep us alive long enough for Peterson to grow into his position.

Steve

Fully agree.

But they did run it.. as the original post said, they ran 27 times for 2.7 YPC. That's good rush defense. Not saying that our constant blitzing and having people too focused on the line of scrimmage didn't hurt the passing game, but their lack of rushing yards wasn't due to a lack of attempts, it was due to good rush defense.

Absolutely.

Carolina had gouged Whisenhunt's teams on the ground 4 times in regular season games. Carolina has a rookie QB starting in his first game.

Focusing on stopping the run was simply smart coaching. Who knew, besides me, that Newton could throw like that? And even I had my doubts after seeing his completion % drop like a rock because of his play in the 3 pre season games I didn't see.

Blitzing like crazy? Also sound coaching. I know I've read many times on this board that you blitz a rookie QB.

It would help if our blitzes worked a little better.

Good stuff. I expected Cam to struggle but he wasn't fazed by the blitz. He did throw 2 picks so he wasn't full proof but pretty darn close.

 

[earthsci]

...full proof...

:BIM:

foolproof

 

[splitsecond]

Carolina had gouged Whisenhunt's teams on the ground 4 times in regular season games. Carolina has a rookie QB starting in his first game.

Focusing on stopping the run was simply smart coaching. Who knew, besides me, that Newton could throw like that? And even I had my doubts after seeing his completion % drop like a rock because of his play in the 3 pre season games I didn't see.

Blitzing like crazy? Also sound coaching. I know I've read many times on this board that you blitz a rookie QB.

It would help if our blitzes worked a little better.

Every analysis I have heard of the game agrees. I don't remember which retired coach it was I heard saying it, but they said they would have done EXACTLY what Horton did, and Newton just played far above everyone's expectations.

As I have said before, I think even if we were lock down in secondary, he still gets 300yds passing. His throws were on ropes, and he has very good weapons downfield.

 

[conraddobler]

Steve Smith blew by our CB, he was wide open, that's just a rookie mistake, he can't be that open that far downfield, ever.

 

[DoTheDew]

I think a lot of you are discrediting Newton too much. He was target all night and his WRs were making difficult catches. There were a few blown assignments, but most of the yardage was just great plays by the Panthers. Steve Smith's 2nd TD, for instance, was not Peterson screwing up. It was a perfect pass where only Smith could get it and no CB would have been able to prevent it.

I don't care how Newton looked in preseason with Smith not in there and him passing to the back-ups half of that time. Fact is he actually looked great this game. The fact that more then half of his yardage was either to the TEs and back-up WRs, or the one 77 yarder where Peterson was blitzing tells me that PP21 and Jefferson are not the ones who had the bad game in coverage. It was Rhodes, Wilson, and the LBers sans DWash who were struggling.

 

[PJ1]

Steve Smith blew by our CB, he was wide open, that's just a rookie mistake, he can't be that open that far downfield, ever.

That was Rhodes and Wlison missed the pickup. Peterson was blitzing on that play.

 

[Darkside]

While our defense did struggle and had some blow assignments. The Panthers who are a very good running team totaled 74 yards on the ground on 27 carries for 2.7 ypc. Got some work to do in our pass defense but our run defense is stout. I'm personally excited to see this defense progress through out the season.

Go Cards!

Totally agree. Also, our D gave up 21 points, and I don't care how many passing yards we give up each game, if they hold them to 21 I trust our offense to score more during any given game. They shut down the run, and I was impressed. Scared to death about our rookie secondary, but still, the fact is, passes are lower percentage than runs and if we can shut down the run I'll be happy for the most part.

 

[PJ1]

I really like our DL now. Better depth than I can remember. Keep rotating them and keep them fresh.

 

[Cheesebeef]

The fact that more then half of his yardage was either to the TEs and back-up WRs, or the one 77 yarder where Peterson was blitzing tells me that PP21 and Jefferson are not the ones who had the bad game in coverage.

dude... PP21, Jefferson and Marshall were getting TORCHED by everyone. Guys were catching the ball wide open. They even had Peterson on TEs mutliple times and they were killing him. The only play where anyone seemed to be even close to playing tight coverage was the second Smith TD.

 

[Chopper0080]

Carolina had gouged Whisenhunt's teams on the ground 4 times in regular season games. Carolina has a rookie QB starting in his first game.

Focusing on stopping the run was simply smart coaching. Who knew, besides me, that Newton could throw like that? And even I had my doubts after seeing his completion % drop like a rock because of his play in the 3 pre season games I didn't see.

Blitzing like crazy? Also sound coaching. I know I've read many times on this board that you blitz a rookie QB.

It would help if our blitzes worked a little better.

This is something that I have heard both ways. Some argue that blitzing young QB's is the way to go because it forces them to make fast decisions.

The other mind set which I think is better is to play coverage against a young QB. The reason behind this is that college QB's are used to larger throwing windows and can really get discouraged at how small the throwing windows are in the pros. The other reason is that forcing a QB to make quick decisions can prevent them from over thinking situations and man coverage can make it easier for QB's to complete passes.

 

[conraddobler]

This is something that I have heard both ways. Some argue that blitzing young QB's is the way to go because it forces them to make fast decisions.

The other mind set which I think is better is to play coverage against a young QB. The reason behind this is that college QB's are used to larger throwing windows and can really get discouraged at how small the throwing windows are in the pros. The other reason is that forcing a QB to make quick decisions can prevent them from over thinking situations and man coverage can make it easier for QB's to complete passes.

I'm almost positive that's how teams will play him after watching our tapes.

He's not that accurate, most of his passes weren't dead on, although oddly enough the two TD's were.

Anyway, I think they do just that because if you blitz him and don't get to him he has the arm to make you pay dearly for that.

 

[Stout]

I think Dan is better than his backup and his backup is better that last year's starter. The two of them should really enhance our defense especially once Acho and Bradley work their way into the starting lineup. None of that will solve our secondary issues but a good run defense might keep us alive long enough for Peterson to grow into his position.

Steve

No one could have said it any better. I am so very glad that we seem to have tightened up our run defense. Now if we could just get Schofield into the starting lineup...

 

[Duckjake]

I'm almost positive that's how teams will play him after watching our tapes.

He's not that accurate, most of his passes weren't dead on, although oddly enough the two TD's were.

Anyway, I think they do just that because if you blitz him and don't get to him he has the arm to make you pay dearly for that.

I think Newton is a lot like Roethlisberger in that even if you do get to him he has the ability to get away and make a play or at least pick up a few yards running because he is so big.

So I would agree that playing coverage may be the way to go. But with both of those things considered, accuracy and strength in the pocket I still go with the Cardinals game plan Sunday being the right way to go given the circumstances.