As much as I love Kam..........

[Hasselbeck]

Nothing to be nervous about. The pressure is squarely on Carolina. We have beaten them twice in the playoffs already, and the defense played a helluva game yesterday as in zero TD's.

The Panthers offense is night and day from the Vikings though. I mean.. night and day.

Minnesota's offense is actually probably more effective against Seattle, on paper. They rely almost solely on short passes and a bruising running game to convert short yardage situations and eat up clock. That has been the only game plan to give Seattle troubles on a consistent basis. Panthers rely more on big passes down field, which Seattle defends pretty well. If we can defend the seams better in this game (big if) I am pretty confident Carolina will have a tough day offensively.

Cam Newton alone is a bigger threat throwing and running the ball than anyone on the Vikings.

If there's anything to get really excited about though it's the fact that this season the defense has seemed to play infinitely better on the road than they did at home.

 

[vin.couve12]

Pete will scheme it, somehow.

Nah, we'll run what we run.

The catch that Kam gambled on is one of the oldest ways to beat cover 3. Kam either has the flat on that play or he has one of the two middle zones. They're trying to get the TE to the sideline where Sherman could be so what they do is have the WR to that side run a go route so that either Sherman is "run off" and out of the play OR maybe Sherman drops off and tries to take the underneath route (which almost never happens because of Pete's emphasis to not get beat deep). This gives the QB a quick mental if then else decision between two routes. There could have even been a 3rd option with a back or FB to that side. These are called flood concepts and that middle sideline throw is usually there against cover 3 unless someone recognizes it and gambles right. This concept is run all the time against us and it's a rock and a hard place against cover 3 because it doesn't lend well against it. Really the only time we've seen someone beat that is Kam, such as the SF NFCCG where Kam intercepted Kap just underneath Boldin.

Again, most of the time we player cover 3 and they're trying to beat the zone.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Nothing to be nervous about. The pressure is squarely on Carolina. We have beaten them twice in the playoffs already, and the defense played a helluva game yesterday as in zero TD's.

The Panthers offense is night and day from the Vikings though. I mean.. night and day.

Minnesota's offense is actually probably more effective against Seattle, on paper. They rely almost solely on short passes and a bruising running game to convert short yardage situations and eat up clock. That has been the only game plan to give Seattle troubles on a consistent basis. Panthers rely more on big passes down field, which Seattle defends pretty well. If we can defend the seams better in this game (big if) I am pretty confident Carolina will have a tough day offensively.

Really?

Newton is far more of a dynamic dangerous experienced passer than Bridgewater will probably ever be, as was evident the first time we played them when he carved up the LOB on four successive drives to win the game.

Add in scrambling, running and much harder to sack........and IMO it's not even close.

 

[vin.couve12]

Get ahold of yourself.

 

[Hasselbeck]

Another thing of note.. in that first matchup we were without Bobby Wagner and starting KPL in KJ's typical spot as KJ slid over to the mike backer spot. I love KJ but he drops off in a big way when he slides over to ILB.

On that fateful last TD drive in Week 6, KPL and Cary Williams each had lapses in coverage to allow big catches to continue the drive.

We did have Carolina bottled up pretty well until that last quarter.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

That aside, we ate Cam up in our matchup against him this year for 3 quarters. You probably know how seasons past went as well. That isn't to say Cam isn't a threat or that Carolina's offense is lacking. They are obviously very good, but it is a style that we matchup very well against. The teams that have really given us trouble offensively are the ones that do just enough to pick up the first down (eg SD, or NE) and can sustain drives. Granted, that is speaking big picture, yes we have had moments this year where the defense has given up big plays, but it is uncharacteristic.

Oh I agree that I like the matchup, other than the 4th quarter last game our D has stifled Cam and the Panther offense.

I was just disagreeing with you about Bridgewater and Minnesota being a more effective offense against us. Our D's owned Minnesota's offense, and I think Russell and the offense is going to have to score well north of 21-24 points on Sunday for us to win.

 

[vin.couve12]

Another thing of note.. in that first matchup we were without Bobby Wagner and starting KPL in KJ's typical spot as KJ slid over to the mike backer spot. I love KJ but he drops off in a big way when he slides over to ILB.

On that fateful last TD drive in Week 6, KPL and Cary Williams each had lapses in coverage to allow big catches to continue the drive.

We did have Carolina bottled up pretty well until that last quarter.

The big one was Sherm thinking we were in cover 2 when we were in 3. He dropped off underneath when he should have trailed Olsen as the outside deep route.

That was the real big lapse and I highly, highly doubt that happens again.

 

[daveCFPrez]

Yeah TEs have beat us all year. I expect Olson to have a big day Sunday.

THE THING IS THAT OUR 'HAWKS KNOW THIS!!!!

So why the 'EFF does it keep happening??

 

[twelthmanfan]

I agree McCray is better in coverage. I would not be shocked to see the Hawks trade him after this year. Like the draft, no one can predict the Hawks during the offseason.

 

[Sgt. Largent]

Yeah TEs have beat us all year. I expect Olson to have a big day Sunday.

THE THING IS THAT OUR 'HAWKS KNOW THIS!!!!

So why the 'EFF does it keep happening??

Because Pete's stubborn and doesn't want to change scheme........although some of the NFL analysts have said they've seen us switch up or defensive schemes more the past 4-5 weeks. Against Arizona we played some cover 2, which we hardly ever see.

Either way scheme priority #1 for Sunday BETTER be to neutralize Olson.

 

[francois.nc]

Cam will be fine, just check out my sig.... not sure about your Kam?

 

[Hasselbeck]

Cam will be fine, just check out my sig.... not sure about your Kam?

Agreed.. Kam will be fine

[youtube]s9pDSH5-0LI[/youtube]

 

[Threedee]

Next season, Kam will God-willing have a full training camp which will help prevent him from getting injuries that slow him down in coverage. He will have a week to work on it before engaging the Panthers, now.

 

[Happypuppy]

Go look at some old video of Kam and compare it to Kam these days. A year or so ago he had work done on his hip and has ankle issues.

He has lost speed I suspect due to injuries over the years. He used to be able to cover Vernon Davis when he was in his prime and Kam as was well

 

[Hawks46]

Before this thread turns into a idiocracy disease, Cover 3 is usually responsible for the TE since that's what we usually run. They're trying to beat the zone. Not an individual player. Literally any player in the back seven can end up being responsible if the TE enters their zone.

And zone coverage is all about reading and reacting. And Kam has been slow to react this year. Hell yes I'm worried.