Boy doesn’t it feel good to get a big decisive win?
Week 11’s Hot Takes w/ Monty
• Next Man Up

• A Defense We All Have Been Waiting For

• Moore Life

• Offensive Game Ball(s): DJ Moore

• Defensive Game Ball(s): Entire Defensive Unit

This past week the Carolina Panthers suffered a close loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. A continuing narrative amongst national media and Panther nation alike is that starting QB Teddy Bridgewater hurts the offense by not pushing the ball downfield. In this article I will take a closer look at some of Teddy’s missed deep balls as well as some of his best throws.
1st and 10: 0:15 in the 1st quarter (intended for Robby Anderson)
-Panthers are in 12 personnel with twin TEs. Robby gains leverage after an inside release and climbs the middle,then breaks to the corner.
-Chiefs are blitzing, leaving man coverage with a single high safety (Mathieu).
-Blitz is picked up by the OL with help from McCaffrey (excellent pass pro rep) and Manhertz. Mathieu sees Teddy eyeing Robby and anticipates the break, therefore closing the gap.
-The result of the play is an incompletion but Teddy did a good job of placing the throw down and away from the trailing defender and Mathieu. Robby was able to get a hand or two on the throw but unable to secure a tough catch.
-Panthers are using 11 personnel WR with trips right. Ian Thomas is matched up against a LB and takes the outside leverage given and stacks quickly (nicely done). Curtis Samuel and Robby Anderson both end up having a window around the 30 yard line thanks to what looks like a rub concept.
-Chiefs are playing a Cover 2 man look with off-man coverage over the bunch formation. LB Ben Niemann (#56) is playing lined up over the inside shoulder of Thomas. Safeties gain no depth which leaves them prepared to jump on intermediate breaking routes.
-It looks like Thomas breaks his route off towards the front pylon and this is where the play devolved. In my opinion, Teddy threw the pass way too flat. If he would have placed more air under the throw he could have totally cleared the nearest defenders head (he never turned around).
-Trust Ian Thomas to make the adjustment to the throw with more air under it. At worst, it could be a pass interference penalty with 1st and Goal to go. So at best it’s six points.. I am comfortable to call this a missed throw.
-Panthers again in 11 personnel with twin WRs to the left. Robby has a deep out, Curtis has a post route.
-Chiefs come out in what looks like a single high look pre snap (could be Cover 3 or Cover 1 man coverage to the offense) It’s a disguised look. All the defenders run almost immediately and gain depth. They protect the sticks on third and long.
-Thomas is open after he chips the edge defender along with Mike Davis is open on the right side. However it’s 3rd down. The coverage is perfect in this situation, and the Chiefs DL got pressure with a stunt off the right side.
-Teddy put the pass out of bounds, which is not the wrong decision necessarily. But he still could have gotten some yardage back by hitting Mike Davis in the flat. They would not have picked up the 1st down, but it would have given the punt team a better chance at pinning them deep.
–Panthers come out in 12 personnel. 2 TEs (Thomas split out wide) and one RB. WRs both lined up on the right. Four verticals concept. Everybody runs streaks.
-Chiefs come to the line in a disguised Cover 2. Corners pressed up on the boundary, but it could be man or zone pre snap. They end up blitzing with six rushers. No safety help. Man coverage across the board.
-Because the Chiefs blitzers out number the Panthers blockers (6 vs 5), one rusher gets home free. Teddy did not anticipate the blitz before the snap.
-It is likely he anticipated that there was some form of man coverage because of how the defenders were lined up on the boundary, which is why he did not audible.
-Robby did have vertical leverage on his defender, but Teddy was hit on the throw resulting in an incompletion. This is a dangerous throw, but I like that he trusted his guy Robby to give him a chance one on one.
Made deep balls:
-Panthers come out in a singleback 11 personnel with DJ and Pharoah Cooper lined up on the left side. Pharoah runs a post, DJ runs a go, and Curtis has the deep over. It’s a play-action pass.
-Chiefs are in zone coverage, and the play-action fake keeps the LBs from gaining depth. The post and go route on the left side of the Panthers formation opens a hole in the coverage for the deep over route.
-The throw is a little behind Curtis.
-First read is the deep over. Many say DJ is wide open for a TD, and he did stack the CB. But if the first read is there, then that is the throw most QBs will take. This is not a missed opportunity for that reason.
-The reason why this is not necessarily a bad throw on Teddy’s end is because he is throwing to a spot. Curtis almost overran the gap in the zone. But the ball is still placed fine.
-There is a flat defender on the left side as well as a hook zone from the middle. Teddy had to throw it before the flat defender could carry underneath the route. It’s more obvious from the end zone view.
-Probably the toughest deep ball throw Teddy made all day. He anticipated where the hole in zones would be and threw to that spot. Great grab by Curtis.
-Panthers line up with11 personnel shotgun formation with 2 WRs on left. Christian runs vertically out of the backfield, splitting the LBs and breaking to the front pylon at around the 25 yard line.
-Chiefs shows blitz pre snap, but drops back their LBs. Looks like Cover 1 man coverage as Zylstra gets chased across formation. One deep safety and an underneath zone by a linebacker.
-Chiefs LBs too late to regain depth when CMC goes vertical and are out of position for the throw after his break.
-Teddy makes a great throw from a muddy pocket, and CMC shows his WR-like ability to track the ball deep and make the grab.
-Panthers use 11 personnel look, two WRs to the right. Curtis is running a 5 yard curl, Robby looks to be running a flag route.
-Chiefs are in a man coverage with two deep safeties.
-Teddy trusts Robby to beat his man in coverage and leverages the throw away from the safety and towards the sideline. Classic pitch and catch in a hurry up situation.
-Panthers are in 11 personnel once again with Robby and Curtis on the right side of formation. Verticals with an underneath crosser by DJ.
-Chiefs shows and brings a five man blitz. The flat defender both jump the crosser and stop gaining depth leaving Curtis open in between zones.
-Gave Carolina the ball at the 50 in crunch time. Great awareness by Curtis to look for the ball when he got behind the two defenders. Routine pitch and catch in the 4th Quarter.
The idea that Teddy did not push the ball enough in this game is slightly overstated. I think his ability to get the ball to his playmakers in the intermediate game is extremely valuable to the offense, as it helped them sustain drives and keep Mahomes off the field. I find it hard to blame Teddy for missing some deep throws too harshly, as they scored more TDs this game than the season average, capping sustained drives with Touchdowns, which was pleasing to watch. With that being said, the deep balls started being completed in the 4th quarter. There were chances that were missed for bad throws, and bad protection. I want to see the deep ball become a bigger threat at any point in the game, but from this film it’s obvious that Teddy and Joe Brady use the intermediate and underneath game to produce deep shots.