This will be a long post, full of raw data, but I've spent many hours grading game film, so that several incorrect assumptions about our DL personnel could be clarified. As I promised, on this thread.

(If my play analysis shows me to be wrong, I’ll admit it freely, BTW.)

But it didn't.

This also answers criticism of Hardy that derived from an earlier thread. I let this early thread go by, without much comment, but when Revshawn was so laudatory in his praise of James, and repeated the myth (about our Run Defense), I started taking a look - because I thought that they were seeing it wrong.

I don't post often about Cap Space, because contracts are so fluid, and I have no idea of management's intentions.

And I similarly avoid much involvement in Mock Drafts, because, as my good friend, Jake Humphrey once said, about college players:

Proper evaluation is an inexact science.

More than that, I have no dog in the fight, from college affiliations, and, again, have no idea of management intentions, as to what they perceive their needs to be. I don't do windows, or FF, and I don't play a GM on TV.

All that said, if it's evaluation of a particular NFL player, with film available to study, I'll put forth the effort to justify an opinion, not just wing it with a cursory, off-the-cuff comment.

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Admittedly, this is MY list of the Best 10 Plays of 2011; there may be others that some might feel deserve inclusion, but I narrowed it down subjectively, as best I could. For me, it was tough not to include Greg Hardy's Sack for a Safety, in game 3, v Jacksonville; or Andre Neblett's fabulous show of hustle, to trail a play 30 yds downfield, from his play responsibility at the LOS, and recover a fumble, v the Bucs in wk 16.

So I've arranged these favorites in chronological order, in Poll fashion, to see what the readership favors.

(After consultation with BW, I've found that it's difficult or impossible to attach GIF images from NFL.com videos, so for those who want to see the plays again, I've added links, where possible. Frankly, I didn't imagine just how many minutes would be spent, enduring NFL.com ads :-)

Have fun, in reliving all the highlights of a turn-around season - and imagine that this is only the beginning of a return to prominence for the Panthers in the NFL. Let me know your comments about all this.

The list of plays can be found after the jump...

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In yesterday's game, most observers were probably aware of the great individual effort Neblett made, in blasting up the middle, and getting an early sack on Josh Freeman.

And most saw the vicious helmet-to-helmet collision that knocked him woozy, late in the game, when he and Charles Johnson butted heads, making a tackle, like two mountain stags. (Let's hope it isn't a concussion, keeping him out of the last game of the year.)

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I'd added this to the bottom of comments about LaFell as our #2 WR, but nobody reads an old post about to drop off the FP, so...

http://www.fftoolbox.com/football/2011/nfl-targets-report.cfm?view=rising&pos=WR

Per stats found fftoolbox.com, LaFell’s been targeted 37 times, and hauled in 26 of those, for a 70.3%, and is listed on their list of Rising (getting more targets the last 3 games, than previous) receivers.

Here’s their list of the leading WRs in the league, for which his YTD targets are not yet enough to make the list.

http://www.fftoolbox.com/football/2011/nfl-targets-report.cfm?pos=WR

But… surveying both lists, I find the % leaders are:

1) 76.1% Percy Harvin
2) 72.6% Marques Colston
3) 70.7% Wes Welker
3) 70.7% Greg Jennings
5) 70.6% James Jones
6) 70.3% Brandon LaFell

As a comparison, Legedu Naanee shows up near the bottom of the overall list, at a 57.1% completion %.

This should settle once and for all which of these 2 WRs is the more productive and valuable to the Panthers, especially when one considers that LaFell has 2 TDs, to 0 for Naanee, and that he averages 15 YPR, to 10.3 for Naanee. and has gained 19 more yards, on 10 fewer catches.

They’ve brought LaFell along slowly, but now it’s time for him to break out as one of the league’s elite. In my observation, most of his 70.3% receptions have been difficult catches; it’s time he gets more easy ones thrown to him.

Much talk has been made over the last few years, extolling the talents of Thomas Davis, and how he was playing at an All-Pro status as a Panther LB, before going down with the first of two surgery-causing knee injuries.

Whether he ever plays again is unknowable at this time, but our memories are filled with bright images of his stellar play in 2008 and 2009.  His loss to the team (like this year's loss of Jon Beason) has caused great consternation among the fan base, and one gets the sense that most feel he is irreplaceable.

However...what I plan to show is that James Anderson has indeed replaced him, and matched him, in talent and accomplishments.

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The last 2 weeks of greatness, folks:

I took my Panther Pride with me when I lived in Dallas for 5yrs.

I even worked on Cowboy Stadium wearing my Panthers hardhat! In fact, there are more that a few mirrors that have "cowboys suck, Panthers rule" written on the back of them! Imagine those players primping in the locker room not knowing that some construction worker wrote Panther Pride on the back of it before sticking it to the wall!!!

by DesertCat on Jun 22, 2011 6:52 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions   5 recs

Gross, all the way

Gross has been a solid foundation for our offense to build out from, embraces his leadership role, and continues to move forward with this team during tough times. Peppers, while dominant during his tenure as a Panther, never embraced a role as a leader and created the immense drama that eventually led to the destruction of our DLine. If Beason wasn’t around to lead our defense, there’s a good chance the drama would have had far more substantial repercussions.

While playmakers are valuable, the truth is that Peppers was just another guy doing his role, and pretty much filled his salary value. Gross, while not as superior a playmaker, has transcended his role and become a pillar of this team on and off the field. There are some things you can’t attach a stat to.

by ppalm on Jun 22, 2011 12:37 PM EDT reply actions   9 recs

More Rec'd to Green comments after the jump...

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Here's the latest installment of the Best of the Best (5 Recs minimum) from the latest 2 weeks' postings.

I've not included those posts associated with the Panthers All-Time Greats, as these were numerous, but more in the order of poll votes.

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There wasn't much response to the last In the Green post, so I've waited 2 weeks to accumulate more. 

Here they are, for your renewed amusement:

(Thanks again to Jaxon for his efforts in making them more readable than I know how to.)

So let's start with the 'green' pictures

Whatever they do

Don’t M*ck with these statues

via www.carolinastockphotos.com

by AParker on May 19, 2011 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions   14 recs

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Not many posts with 5 Recs this past week - but what there were were 'cherce',

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Our second week of the Best of the Best, to emphasize the popularity of those posts, from the past 7 days, that were turned green from receiving at least 5 Recs. By the way, if I missed any that did turn green, let me know, and I'll add them.

There were 11 such this week, down from the Draft-stimulated 19 the week before, but still of high quality.  Special props to 2 of our female posters, jamie and privategirl, who produced 3 of the 11....so let's get to it, after the jump...

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Guys and gals, this is a trial balloon that I'm flying here.Whether it becomes a regular feature will depend on your reactions, and those of the Editorial Staff.

What I've done is scan each FanPost from the last week, and cut/paste (no editing on my part, other to eliminate space-taking sigs) every post that received a minimum of 5 Recs.  That was an arbitrary number, but there were so many 3s and 4s that it becomes unwieldy to include those, too.  This makes it the "Best of the Best," which is what I was seeking to recognize.  This past week, there were 18 Greens of 5+ Recs, and that's probably going to be a very high number, due to the Draft. So check them out...after the jump...

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Saw an interesting article from ProFootballFocus.

They charted and rated 49 DBs who rushed the QB at least 30 times last year.  Then they added up all their resultant sacks, hits, and pressures (unweighted) to arrive at their total "Disruptions."

Guess what (or do you even have to guess?) - there were NO Panthers on the list.

http://www.profootballfocus.com/blog/2011/03/19/defensive-backs-bringing-heat/

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In our 4th defensive series, with the game still scoreless, at the 12:14 mark of the 2Q, St. Louis has it 1and10 on our 25. Brayton gets sucked in, losing contain on his RDE side, and Jackson easily gets the corner turned for a 14 yd gain. Two plays later, he again lets Jackdon turn the corner, but is bailed out by Beason and Godfrey coming up for the tackle, and more so by an Offensive Holding penalty, nullifying their gain. Nonetheless, they soon kick a FG to go up 0-3.

On the next series, at the 5:44 mark of the Q2, we’ve got them 3and12 at our 43. A stop here would probably force a punt. But Brayton jumps Offside, making it 3and7, and they’re able to complete a pass for an 8yd gain, keeping their drive alive. On 2andGoal from our 6, Brayton misses a tackle behind the LOS, allowing a 4 yd pass to be completed, ending in a TD the next play, making the score 0-10.

My contention is that Brayton’s errors was instrumental in both their early scores. Had he played sharper, we could’ve been up 3-0 at the half, instead of down 3-10.

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The hurry-up offense is our most effective weapon.  I've been saying that for a few weeks now.  Every really good drive that the Panthers have had this year has come from a 2 minute drill (or much less) that Matt Moore has engineered, starting from the 1st game vs the Giants, where he went 50 yds in less than 33 seconds, to throw the go-ahead TD, end of the 1st half. 

Pictured via cdn0.sbnation.com

Matt Moore throws a pass against the Rams.

The INTs he's thrown this year have far overshadowed his accomplishments, in the eyes of a lot of others on this board.  But the word <engineered> that I used above is the key.  These aren't scripted drives; he's running the show in these hurry-up sequences.  And that's probably WHY they work, or part of it.  He doesn't have to use the crap the OC sends in, but works from the shotgun, usually with 4 WRs and Goodson the lone back (who, incidentally, has turned into a really fine blocker - notice when the D sends only 4, Goodson leaks out as a safety valve receiver; when they bring 5 or more, he stays to pickup the blitzer - he's far better at it than Williams, Stewart, or Fiammetta, especially.) 

To give my idea some substance, I'm taking the time to enumerate each hurry-up drive Moore's run this year.  See if it doesn't open some eyes, as to just how effective he's been. Analysis after the jump...

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Of course, this is just the 13 series that we ran on Offense, as the Defensive PbP is just too time-consuming.

via cdn3.sbnation.com

But Oh Joy Abounding! - it is fine and righteous to be able to annotate a win.  If I get too slurpy about our fine fellows, be advised that I'm silently wiping my chin, from time to time.  Fortunately, there are a lot more plays to describe than the previous norm, as we controlled the ball for over 36 minutes of the game.

Series 1.

Q1, 14:54, 1and10, C34.  We line up here with an OL of Gross, Wharton, Kalil, Schwartz, and 65 Garry Williams, at RT.  There's a 2WR set (Smith left, Gettis right, in motion; King the TE, right, Fiammetta and Williams in the I, Moore UC.  Our standard run off RT gains only 1.  Fiammetta blocks nobody, and Schwartz leads his man right into Wms' path.

14:35, 2and9, C35.  Now D-Will is the lone back, as King and Barnidge are the TEs.  D-Will starts up the middle, but this is the designed cut to the left outside that we've used successfully the last 2 games, in our first series.  It goes for 10, and a FD, due to fine blocking by King and Rosario (in, not as a TE, but split out left, then in motion right.)

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via cdn0.sbnation.com

Like a visit to the dentist, I might as well get this over with...

Something a little new this week, I'll BOLD a player's name when he or she deserves (IMHO) credit or blame for a particular play's success or failure.  That way, it'll be easier for all you quick scanners to identify my biases more quickly.  If any of you saw anything I've omitted, or wish to modify the judgments, please do so.

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via cdn3.sbnation.com

I'll concentrate on sets and alignments here, as there's increasing talk about the role our OC has played in our winless season.  I'll offer a few value judgments and hope you'll do the same.

Series 1)

Q1, 14:51, 1and10, C37 (after a good KO return by Goodson)  From a 2WR set (Smith & Gettis), with King the TE left, Fiammetta and Williams in the I, Clausen UC, we run a nice screen to D-Will, who takes it 14 for a FD.

14:00, 1and10, N49.  Panthers take their 1st Time Out, as crowd noise seems to confuse communication between the QB and his line.  With 2 TEs set right (King and Rosario), D-Will the lone back, a run by Williams goes nowhere.

13:24, 2and10, N49.  A 5WR set, including Williams slot left, empty backfield, Clausen UC, they send 5 rushers.  Bernadeau whiiffs on Sedrick Ellis, allowing a sack and a 5 yd loss.  Clausen locks in on Gettis from the snap (a little sideways glance elsewhere would've shown that both King and Rosario were wide open over the middle.)  Deeper routes to the wideouts didn't have enough time, but the short dumpoffs could've beaten the rusher.

12:50, 3and15, C46.  3WR, Shotgun, Rosario shifts to FB, ahead of Williams.  Clausen attempts a quick smoke route to Smith, but throws it in the dirt, leading to a punt.

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Update by Jaxon: Hat Tip to BigD with a positive post to try and pick us up. Front page material I think.

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We need something to smile about.  Recalling these outstanding efforts might do it.

I wanted to do the standard "Top 10," but couldn't eliminate any of these.  There are plays from the Offense, Defense, and Special Teams mixed in here.  The order of importance is my own ranking, of course, and you'll undoubtedly have differing ideas on those, but here they are, for your enjoyment.  (A separate list of Worst Plays will be forthcoming.)

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