Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Carolina Panthers by the numbers after Week 1

Some numbers I find significant and/or weird as Carolina enters its home opener vs. Green Bay Sunday:

0-1 -- The record of all four NFC South teams after one week.

1 -- Steve Smith's current rank in receiving yards in the NFL (178).

1.9 -- I had this in my column today focusing on Cam Mania, but 1.9 was the average number of pass plays of 20 yards or more the Panthers had per game in 2010. They had eight 20-yard plus pass plays Sunday.

2 -- Cam Newton's NFL rank in passing yardage after one week (422). He is sandwiched bewteen Tom Brady (517) and Drew Brees (416). Enjoy that while it lasts, Panther fans.

8 -- Kickoff or punt returns taken back for TDs in Week 1, which was an NFL record. One of them, of course, was the misplayed 89-yard punt return the Panthers allowed Arizona rookie Patrick Peterson Sunday, which turned out to be the game's winning points.

52 -- Length of the field goal head coach Ron Rivera didn't let Olindo Mare try with the game tied at 7-all in the second quarter Sunday. On fourth-and-16 from the Arizona 35, he instead elected to punt and explained this decision Monday by saying he felt field position was very important at that stage. (Jason Baker knocked it into the end zone, so the Panthers gained only 15 yards of field position there.)

I generally liked almost everything the Panthers' new coaching staff did Sunday, but this struck a false note to me. Mare, from 52 yards, kicking indoors? That's the sort of thing you signed the strong-legged kicker for, right?

Ultimately, it was a 7-point game and those 3 points wouldn't have mattered that much, I suppose, but it did make me wonder.

In case you are curious, John Kasay has made 40-of-78 field goals from 50 yards or more in his career (51.3 percent). John Fox routinely let Kasay try from the 50-52 yard range. Mare has far fewer attempts from the same distance but a similar percentage -- 19-for-41 for 46.3 percent.

68.6 -- I love this number from Sports Illustrated. Green Bay, while officially a 3-4 defense, actually played a 2-4-5 (2 defensive linemen, 4 linebackers and 5 defensive backs) on 68.6 percent of its snaps last season. The Panthers are going to need to run the ball effectively on the Packers when Dom Capers lines 'em up like that.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

the negativity in this column makes me want to slash my wrist.....i guess someone has to keep it real though.

Anonymous said...

Newton & Smith pulled a quickie & got a freebie in Az. That door slams shut now. Enjoy it while you can = 100% on the money.

Anonymous said...

^^ Really? That's called an audible. That's what QB's are supposed to do. Come on...hate somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

somebody tell Fowler he can take his kisser off Scambos butt anytime now ... 2 days long enuff
oh ... they permanently affixed? ... yikes ... thats a game changer ...

Anonymous said...

September 13, 2011 11:45 AM

^^uh an audible is when the qb changes the play at the line but there were no audibles by the cp qb against with the ac

DaveK said...

The Packer's defense...that stat is very misleading. It's not really a 2-4-5 because two LB's act as DE's on most downs. It's really a 4-2-5 on most downs even though there are four LB's on the field. The problem is you don't which two of the four LB's are going to be rushing and which ones are going to be dropping. Cam will have his head full trying to figure them out. Plus, they also have Woodson acting more as a safety in the box then a CB with Williams and Shields being such good cover corners. So, even when they have five DB's on the field it's not a true 'nickel' defense that you can easily run against.

Anonymous said...

"the negativity in this column makes me want to slash my wrist....."

That's typical Scott Fowler - a big black pit full of despair that sucks all the good out of life.

Sportsdon said...

If we still had Fox we would have started Clausen and had no chance at a win last Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Sportsdon, that's a silly statement. If I remember correctly, Fox never wanted to start Clausen, he left Moore in for weeks until injuries forced him to put Clausen in.

John B said...

So when is Woodson going to get fined/suspended for throwing that punch?

Anonymous said...

Fox would have started all pro Anderson & won the game by a couple TDs & hated over-hype of Qbs as he did with Heiz Weinke whom he benched even though CW was #2 alltime rookie behind Manning.

Its clear SS is a detriment and only plays when & with who he wants plus sabotages as he did last yr to get rid of JC and Fox. Time to unload that lil snarley rat.

Anonymous said...

another loss this week and we are well on the way to the Andrew Luck sweepstakes---

Anonymous said...

Okay Cam haters, NO PANTHER QB has EVER passed for that many yards! I continue to hear that ARZ defense was the culprit, but I guarantee that you all couldn't throw for 50 let alone 422. Why can't you be a LEGITIMATE fan and cheer for this team. The true fans cheer no matter who's under center, I believe that some of this involves race to a certain degree and that's sad and unfortunate. I cheered when Clausen, Moore, Delhomme hell even when we started the guy that was changing diapers the week we signed him. Carolina will NOT draft another QB so the Luck ambitions can slowly wither away. If anything we will draft a Blackmon or Jeffries. Cam will win its only a matter of time.

Smort said...

Actually, Chris Weinkie has the record for most pass yards in a game for Carolina. He passed for 423 yards against the New York Giants on Dec 10, 2006. Cam missed that record by only 1 yard.

Anonymous said...

Weinke had 500 a couple times & had seven 500 yard games at FSU in his 4 yrs there.

Newton passed for 240 yds his previous 3 preseason losses.

At his lone season at Auburn he never had a 250 yard game but did have RB Dye who did most of the TD work running.

These donks will be bragging on that one hit 422 yarder for the next 100 yrs. RR had 5 recievers on every play.

Anonymous said...

That's an interesting article. See what can happen when sportswriters actually look at something other than the box score for numbers. Not typical of the CO. Good job, Scott, but it could have been even better with another half hour's work.

Anonymous said...

A QB doesnt just throw for that many yards, on any NFL deffense unless he can play. I really think that you'll pull for this team no matter whos under center or what color his skin is. You dont win everywhere you ever played, unless you are good. Nobody hates on Tebow the way people hate on this guy. Tebow is GARBAGE! When will anyone see that? I'm only 5'11" 195lbs. and im a more accurate passer than Tebow, and i dont play football. Its because he is white, and this is comming from a white guy. Cam Newton is a STUD point blank period. You will know i told you so, and he is just going to keep shutting up the haters. I think he embraces the haters. I love my Panthers, if you are not a true fan, then why are you on this web-site?

Anonymous said...

Cam Nooton is a 6' 6" 250 lb sock monkey

Anonymous said...

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d82240ed5/article/fox-didnt-hear-broncos-fans-wishes-so-maybe-hell-see-them

Anonymous said...

Fox hated goldenboy Heisman QBs and their media hype so better be glad he left or Newton would have def been benched. He benched Weinke and now Tebow. Fans pissed.

Anonymous said...

Lancaster County? Do you even have a school there? Do you even have teeth there? lol! Dude I'm a four year business grad at NC STATE, and i also happen to teach muay tai at a fitness club. Low I.Q.? Bitch-slap? Please...
Why do people care so much that he has made mistakes in the? Have you not? Cam Newton is a "football player", not your sons fourth grade teacher.
Fact is Tebow will never be what Newton is going to become, a superstar. Tebow was a product of the system at Florida, Newton was the system at Auburn.
Quit hating, haters...

Anonymous said...

Very well said about the Cam haters. And to the guy that called him some kind of monkey your momma!

Anonymous said...

Florida idolizes the great Tim Tebow. Never has there been such a great example of a great intelligent honest humble christian human flawless athlete who not only won the Heisman and a second NCAA title finishing with over 13,000 all purpose total yards and 165 TDs.

Thank God he didnt end up at that loser ungodly heathen Carolina Panther team with all those nutcases who worship some crook now that the Gators kicked out for stealing laptops and cheating many times who was nothing beside Tebow. We appreciated Chris Leak and his 4 yrs with the NCAA title. He was a stellar student athlete also because Florida is known for only the highest quality. We discard the trash.

Thank God the administration wiped that criminal felon back up QB from Florida. Noone was surprised what he did soliciting hundreds of thousands from Auburn. Crook for crooks. The NCAA and Heisman will take all that from those dirtbags and especially the dirtbag filthy lying cheater QB.

Tebow is the greatest ever and will prevail in the end. Losers and cheats will fail as usual. Fox will be fired in Denver too or Tebow will be sent to a new team as the starter.
We know Foxs reputation for hating Heisman winners who dont get them taken back for criminal behavior.


Go Gators.
Go Bucs.

Jim and Tam St Augustine Fl

Anonymous said...

Like I said before, if you are not a panthers fan, get the hell off this site! To hell With Florida, and to hell with the Buc's.
Ones belief in religion has nothing to do with football, talent does. Comparing Tebow to Newton is like comparing your face with your ass. Tebow had great numbers in that system, but I wish I had $5 for every wobbly pass he threw to a wide open receiver for a TD, if the receiver is covered... it's going the other way for 6.
I could have made those throws lol. Now those runs thats a different story, but last time i checked a QB throws more times than not in the NFL.
Tebow would have never have done what Neton did against the Cardinals, well maybe one thing... lose. Fox does not want Tebow to start because Fox wants to keep his job for more than a year.
Tebow will never do anywhere, what even Jake Delhomme did here in sweet Carolina.
GO PANTHERS!!!! & GO PACK!!!!

Anonymous said...

WOLFPACK that is ;-)