Seahawks/ Panthers All 22 is up

endzorn":3o1lq8cr said:

I just finished.

Again people, not trying to set the world on fire with analysis. I spent most of the time keying on the line play and defensive front seven because I've had people ask me a lot of questions regarding Carolina's success running the ball.

I texted pehawk and said I thought all things considered Newton had played the best game I've seen from him. Literally seconds later Kam changed all that. Despite that I thought he was actually making it through reads and finding open receivers. His problem is that as he goes through those reads his feet stay put and when he pulls the trigger the ball sails from his target. He did throw an absolutely beautiful shot to Olsen with his feet facing a good 30 degrees to the left of where they should be.

I read a stat that newton targeted Simon's receiver 10 times and completed all ten. It was apparent. Newton appeared to point at Simon presnap on two occasions late in the game and then completed a pass to his man. Honest to God, if Maxwell had started this game, TJack would have been running the victory formation.

A few things stood out about Carolina's success running the ball.
- They have four guys who will initiate contact while running and one is Newton. Much of their yardage came from falling forward while being wrapped up and gaining two or three extra yards with guys hanging on them. Especially Stewart. He doesn't have much shake, but he almost always bowled for a couple extra yards after contact.
- Our defensive line wasn't getting blown off the ball and in fact I thought Williams played well and McDaniel did his normal average/below average work trying to hold his ground. We went small inside with Dobbs and Bennett and that's when Carolina had more success opening holes. Dobbs is no Hill. Not close.
- Carolina like to get the flow of traffic moving to the left, pull #68 and cut to the backside of the run. Number 68 is a fantastic player while pulling. He almost always gets a hat on the first defender and opens a lane for the back. The 15 yarder that Stewart had can be attributed in part to his great pull block. I want to give that kid some credit because he is as good in space as I've seen.
- Wright likes to over pursue from the weak side and two decent runs came when he got caught in traffic trying to get around blockers and the cutback went into the hole he vacated.
- We had a lot of drag tackles, but let's give credit to the physical running of Carolina.

Simon was bad. He was picked on all game and Newton wasn't afraid to stare Simon's man down. Simon in turn just complained about offensive pass interference. Maxwell would likely have forced Newton into throws he didn't want to make or sacks.

Schofield deserves a lot of credit. He was in Newtons face repeatedly and was our most consistent rusher. He narrowly missed a couple sacks and forced Newton to throw early. All in all I thought we were getting decent pressure. If that backside pressure comes this weekend I think Rodgers will struggle to get free from the pocket.

Kam Chancellor is a #=+*ing man.

Britt played one of his best games. After seeing the amount of pressure Johnson had generated the previous few weeks I really thought Britt was screwed, but when he was heads up with Johnson he was rock solid. His problem comes from stunting when he lets rushers get inside.

Sweezy can have 10 great plays in a row, but while run blocking he will occasionally get his arms extended and lean out too far. Edwards was able to toss him aside and stuff plays. When he keeps his weight over his feet he's very good. He is also prone to confusion on stunts so he and Britt will often let a stunting lineman go free.

Carp was solid, rock solid. The ONLY times I saw Kuechly get swallowed by a block were from carp reaching the second level. Okung was also solid.

I will go on record saying this was the most impressed I've been with Wilson. He got the ball out of his hands faster than I've ever seen and was able to exploit an average secondary. The line actually gave him some very good pockets and that contributed to him making beautiful throws. He just gets it. He's accurate, savvy and wise. You all saw it.

Where is Chris Matthews value? He's a terrible blocker on special teams return units and as a cover man he looks like he wants to run to the action to show he's there, but he doesn't want to get in on the action.

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