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September 10, 2007
Where is Peppers? He'll play everywhere
John Fox was asked at his Monday press conference about how the Panthers used defensive end Julius Peppers in Sunday’s victory in St. Louis. Peppers moved around a lot, often standing up and dropping into coverage.
From a strategic standpoint, Fox tried not to make a big deal of it and said the Panthers may or may not move Peppers around as they go forward. But let’s be real about it. This is what Fox and the Panthers have DREAMED about doing with Peppers since the moment they drafted him. The guy’s an athletic freak and moving him around causes all sorts of headaches for the offense.
The Panthers just didn’t want to do it early in Peppers’ career as he became comfortable with the end spot. Then, in recent years, there were so many issues and so much shuffling on defense that the Panthers couldn’t move Peppers around as much as they wanted.
Now, with Dan Morgan healthy and Kris Jenkins in shape, we’re going to see Peppers all over the field.
PAT YASINSKAS
Posted by Observer Sports on September 10, 2007 at 04:18 PM | Permalink
Comments
This strategy is nothing to sneeze at.
Posted by: bordeni | Sep 10, 2007 5:15:42 PM
Pepper's needs to be rushing the QB and playing the run and nothing else. That is what they are paying him to do.
Posted by: mike | Sep 10, 2007 5:16:30 PM
No they are paying him to make plays on defense, it doesnt matter if its sacking the qb, playing the rush, dropping into coverage, or rushing from the LB position.. Plus if he lines up at say Left End, the offensive line and the blocking back knows to double that side, but if he shifts to the right side as the play clock winds down, they dont have time to change their protection scheme. Also, if a qb sees peps lurking in the flat, you'd be he wont throw that dump off to the running back, having peppers playing numerous roles greatly benefits this defense, especially when they are able to get pressure from Ruck, Moorehead, and Jenkins; honestly, its about time that he did start dropping into coverage, if all he did was line up at the end and rush, the team wouldnt be taking full advantage of his skills.
Posted by: mattdaddy | Sep 10, 2007 5:37:27 PM
"Pepper's needs to be rushing the QB and playing the run and nothing else. That is what they are paying him to do."
I agree, let us not try to get too pretty and over think ourselves. Look what happened to Frankenstein, he was a beast too. I do not mind him playing in different spots on the line or maybe linebacker, but anything will take away from his game.
Posted by: Roger | Sep 10, 2007 5:38:05 PM
We are starting to see the awesome potential of Pep. Giving opponents a different look can screw up their entire pass blocking scheme, and with Pep in a different spot, the opponents may not be able to adjust, esp. with Mr. Jenkins in such good shape. If they do, here comes Pep on a "corner" blitz....
Posted by: El Jimador | Sep 10, 2007 5:39:57 PM
Let's not get ahead of ourselves about this "new look." Peppers' biggest weakness is his lack of week-to-week consistency, and yesterday's 0 sack, 0 QB hurry game doesn't do much to help that. You'd think he could have at least knocked down a pass given how much he was dropping into coverage. Hell, Kemo did that once.
Posted by: Michael Procton | Sep 10, 2007 5:58:08 PM
All in all, Pep is way too talented and way too athletic to be held at one position.
Posted by: mattdaddy | Sep 10, 2007 6:00:50 PM
Our best pass rusher should be rushing the QB, not dropping into pass coverage!!!! on 3rd and 15 we only rushed 3 ,and they threw for the first down, we cant stop teams if we let QB's just sit back there and pic us apart! our defence is at its best when they are putting on the pressure
Posted by: Daniel | Sep 10, 2007 6:21:21 PM
I love how this uneducated idiot is still using my name to act like he knows something. Observer please cease and desist this idiot using my name. I will say it again, until the panthers hire me they will underachieve because I have forgotten more about football than all the coaches combined will ever know.
MICHAEL PROCTON RULES!
Posted by: Michael Procton | Sep 10, 2007 6:58:59 PM
I love how this uneducated idiot is still using my name to act like he knows something. Observer please cease and desist this idiot using my name. I will say it again, until the panthers hire me they will underachieve because I have forgotten more about football than all the coaches combined will ever know.
MICHAEL PROCTON RULES!
Posted by: Michael Procton | Sep 10, 2007 6:59:42 PM
PERFECT STRATEGY!!! PLAY PEP IN A DROP BACK OFFENSE THEN WHEN THE OPPONENT ADJUSTS FOR THAT DEFENSE LET PEP RUSH.THE RAMS NEVER RUN JACKSON TO PEPS SIDE YESTERDAY. PROBABLY THE STRATEGY FOX HAD PLANNED.
Posted by: rutherford county res | Sep 10, 2007 7:07:39 PM
Well, I may be arrogant and obnoxious, but at least I know how to post without doing it more than once...retard.
Posted by: Michael Aaron Procton | Sep 10, 2007 10:38:46 PM
wow mattdaddy, they are paying peppers to make plays? no kidding Einstein. and that being the case, he stole a paycheck yesterday because he made NO plays. i can't figure out if Peppers is lazy as h ell or if Trgovac can't figure out how to use him.
Posted by: m3 | Sep 10, 2007 10:57:10 PM
I do like the idea of droppin Pep into coverage some. Every team we ever face will #1 gameplan for Pep, so moving him around on the line or in coverage will put more pressure on the opponents O. Now this is all in theory that this strategy will open up more chances for other players, which did not really happen yesterday. With that said I think we should continue to work with in spots. Look at what Jason Taylor did last year, it can work, maybe we just need more practice with it. What do you all think?
Posted by: Will Parker | Sep 10, 2007 11:12:12 PM
Peppers is a big influence in others getting sacks or hurries on the opposing QB. Moving him around not only confuses the guy in front of him but also the guy he left to begin with, ultimately leaving the guy thinking to himself well what do I do now. I guarantee if Peppers wasn't moving around they wouldn't have gotten to Bulger as much as they did!
Posted by: JohnnyB | Sep 10, 2007 11:40:44 PM
Gotten to Bulger as much as they did? On 45 dropbacks, they recorded ONE sack and only FIVE hurries, including the more than half of the game in which All-Pro Orlando Pace was out. I shudder to think what would have happened if Peppers hadn't been helping that along...
Posted by: Michael Procton | Sep 11, 2007 12:42:34 AM
Well, I guess you can't please everybody! One sack is better than no sacks and five hurries are better than no hurries. Michael Procton, are you sure your real name isn't Tom Sorenson? Believe it or not our defense as a whole played great against a pretty darn good offense. In the end that is all that matters along w/ the whole winning thing. You should probably take a computer break and start another defense on you fantasy team next week if that is how you're gonna be.
Posted by: JohnnyB | Sep 11, 2007 1:22:21 AM
Our defense played great...and I agree Peps is a monster. A freak if you will. Dropping him into shallow coverage is one of the smartest things they can do really. He's a very quick 6ft 7 monster. Am I the only one who remembers the dump off to Dante Hall and Pepps almost going stride for stride with him? We're not talking about a offensive lineman here...we're talking about the Rams returner. And speaking of defense, anyone else hear Otis Grigsby's name more than once in this game? Wow, I'm so impressed with him. Talk about a great pick up for our defense.
Posted by: Clayton | Sep 11, 2007 3:43:15 AM
You guys can complain about the lack of sacks and hurries, but we made the Ram's offense look bad, and often. Steven Jackson got absolutely nothing on us. Also the Rams had great field position 3 times(Dante Hall kickoff return, and the two fumbles) and managed 3 total points off of those 3 opportunities.
We might now have gotten much pressure on the QB, but we looked pretty damn well. I say if Pep being in the backfield aided us in that regard on Sunday, then so be it. Whatever works, works. These guys know what they are doing.
Posted by: Kelly | Sep 11, 2007 3:48:28 AM
Question:
Is Pep a better SS or a better DE?
Coaches -- all coaches but especially in the NFL -- love to outsmart themselves.
A zone blitz with Pep in coverage should be the exception, not the rule. And as rule you should never rush 3 unless it is the last play of a half or game. An NFL QB will just wait for his most precise route-runner to hit a seam and drill him. You might as well have tackling dummies in the secondary.
Posted by: JAT | Sep 11, 2007 5:55:48 AM
How's the saying go..."Everyone is a coach?" Look, I agree that rushing the passer and getting sacks is great. The longer I watch Peppers play the more I begin to think those stats are like the SAT's for college. Nice to look at but don't truly mean as much as getting the team off the feild. He could drop the QB or RB for a 10 yard loss but then a 20-30 yard play can be gained next to wipe that out. The stats help get him looked at but I'll be honest, Peppers is the defensive version of Micheal Vick. Every O- Coordinator has a plan to try and keep him away from the QB or the RB for that matter. Putting him in different schemes so that offenses don't know where or if he's coming at them. We can't forget he was also a basketball player and that man can jump a mile and has the wing span that can block out the sun. Lets see anyone try to throw to a reciever when Peppers is near him. I think rushing the passer and plugging the run is an insult to the man's athletic ability when he can do so much more then that. That's my opinion anyway.
Posted by: Trey | Sep 11, 2007 8:02:49 AM
Its not like the guy dropped back every play, but it definately keeps the offense on its toes when they dont know where peps is lined up on the field, the bottom line is that whatever Tirgovac did worked very very well:
Last year, Stephen Jackson averaged for 95yds a game, a had 50 yds receiving,
Sunday he had 58 yds rushing, 2 fumbles, 3 rec. yds and no TD's
Last year, Marc Bulger completed 62% of his passes for a qb rating over 90
Sunday, he completed just 52% for a qb rating of only 70.
Bottom line is this defense put together by Tergovac completely shut down a very talented offense, if you hate Tergo and hate peppers dropping back, you cannot deny the success that this defense had against the Rams
Posted by: mattdaddy | Sep 11, 2007 8:07:43 AM
The rams were max protecting a lot. Its tough to get to the qb when they are doing that. It makes sense to drop a lot of guy into coverage when they are max protecting, because then they might only have two receivers running out there, and we might have seven or eight guys covering them. At this point you just wait for the QB to beat himself. Therefore, I dont mind Peppers in coverage. Its been a while since we have seen Pep make an INT and run it back, I would love to see that happen again soon.
Posted by: Rob | Sep 11, 2007 8:11:45 AM
How does this sound: Pep has been chasing backs and TE's all day into the flat but now the Cats are down 4 late in the 4th. How's it going to look then to a winded DE "freak" when a Mulroney or Willie Parker or Deuce McAlister starts coming off tackle? Sounds great to try to confuse a "newby" QB a couple of times early in the year but I wouldn't hang my hat on it helping stop a late 4th quarter drive come the playoffs - and oh by the way the 2003 Super Bowl was lost when the "D" couldn't stop a short-field drive by the Pats. Sometimes "complex" gets confused with "smart".
Posted by: Charles from Charleston | Sep 11, 2007 10:09:34 AM
When the Pats drove down on the Panthers D that last drive, they were playing a basic, bland cover two defense
Posted by: mattdaddy | Sep 11, 2007 11:07:51 AM
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