News sport : Greg Cosells Playoff Preview: Panthers take the option away from Seattle Panthers at Seahawks The Carolina Panthers have played the Seattle Seahawks close the past few years, including in Week 8 this season. One way the Panthers slowed down the Seahawks in that game was to take the “option” out of Seattle’s read option runs. [Join FanDuels $2M Divisional Round fantasy league: $25 to enter; top 17,475 teams paid] The Panthers would define the Seahawks runs. By having a defender on the edge commit to quarterback Russell Wilson, they’d make Wilson hand it off, and play that handoff. Wilson wasn’t a factor running the ball; there was no option for him. If you take away Wilson’s running ability, you take away a big part of the Seahawks’ offense. Watch how Antoine Cason off the edge to Wilson’s right plays him, taking away his option and forcing Wilson to hand off. The problem for the Panthers might be on the other side of the ball. Carolinas offense has been very good at being creative in its run game. They’ll have multiple run concepts within the same play, which is tough to defend because you have to account for quarterback Cam Newton as a runner. They’ve been very effective on offense with this approach. Jonathan Stewart’s 13-yard touchdown in the first quarter last week is a good example. It was a combination of quarterback power and running back sweep. Newton rode the mesh point to influence defensive end Frostee Rucker, then he gave it to Stewart on the sweep. Stewart made linebacker Sam Acho, the unblocked defender, miss on the perimeter and he scored. The problem against Seattle is their defense won’t be influenced by the multiple backfield actions that the Panthers are riding to success. The Seattle defense is very static, they don’t move around a lot and won’t be bothered by the backfield action because they’re not reactive. They just play. So I think Carolina will have a tough time running the ball. Then it will fall on Newton to make some throws. He was still very erratic on his accuracy last week. Will Newton make the throws against a tough Seattle secondary? Your guess is as good as mine. Ravens at Patriots In his last nine playoff games, Joe Flacco has thrown 20 touchdowns to two interceptions. The Ravens have won seven of those nine games. Everyone talks about how important it is to win in the playoffs, and Flacco has led seven road wins (an NFL record), yet the public perception of Flacco doesn’t match what he has done. Nobody is suggesting Flacco is as good as Tom Brady, but so few people talk about Flacco and when they do it’s generally not positive. But last week he once again played very well in a playoff win. On a third and 10 in the second quarter against the Steelers, Pittsburgh lined up in a “2 man” coverage with two deep safeties and man coverage underneath, with linebacker Lawrence Timmons on tight end Owen Daniels. Daniels ran a pivot route working off the inside leverage of Timmons, and Flacco had great anticipation and ball placement to hit him for a 19-yard gain. Flacco showed very good functional mobility, with the ability to make throws out of the structure of the play. In the third quarter, Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison got pressure but left guard Kelechi Osemele helped and pushed Harrison at the last moment. Flacco did a great job extending the play, and Torrey Smith had an excellent route adjustment in the back of the end zone, and the two combined for an 11-yard touchdown. Watch how the Patriots play on offense in this game. They use “12” personnel (one back, two tight ends) 40 percent of the time, that’s the highest percentage in the league. They could easily do that again, or they might spread it out some, because Brady is a veteran and he can get rid of it quickly if they spread it out. The whole key is getting to the Ravens’ secondary because that’s their weakness. The Ravens’ line and linebackers are very good. To get to the secondary the Patriots are going to have to neutralize the Ravens’ rush. One of the ways the Patriots camouflaged and compensated for what is an average offensive line is by using a lot of sets with two tight ends, who could help in protection. How they plan to handle the rush and get to the Ravens’ secondary is worth watching early in the game. - - - - - - - NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league. from Yahoo Sports ift.tt/1I7wUUn ift.tt/1AXhGPY
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 13:31:02 +0000
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