COLUMN: Giving the Panthers 'D' some love
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Over the past three weeks, I’ve praised several different members of the Carolina Panthers’ offense, and rightfully so. It is one of the best in football.
Plus, at first glance, the defense hasn’t seemed all that impressive.
However, while the Panthers have the league’s 17th ranked defense, they have some individual defensive players who have really stepped up and turned some heads.
Defensive end Charles Johnson, who was signed to a six-year, $72 million contract extension during the offseason — despite just one year as a starter — was counted on to be one of the leaders of the defense.
Thus far, the 6-foot-2, 275-pounder has not disappointed, registering 27 tackles, seven sacks, and one forced fumble in eight games.
Meanwhile, linebacker James Anderson, who was also inked to an extension during the offseason (a five-year deal worth $22 million), has been a key piece of a linebacker corps that was disrupted with early season-ending injuries to fellow linebackers Jon Beason and Thomas Davis.
What people may not realize is that Anderson is currently tied for 14th in the NFL with 66 tackles, having also recorded one sack and one fumble recovery.
That’s not all, though. In my opinion, the Panthers’ secondary is better than it has been in some time, thanks to the work of cornerbacks Chris Gamble and Captain Munnerlyn as well as safeties Charles Godfrey and Sherrod Martin. And while this group is quite young, with Gamble being the senior member at 28 years old, it seems to be improving each and every week. If the Panthers keep this core intact, I think the progress will only continue.
With that said, if I could choose one thing that I believe the Panthers need to do better, it would be to create more turnovers. They have just nine takeaways this season (four interceptions and five fumble recoveries), which is three more than the amount of giveaways that their offense has committed (nine interceptions and three fumbles).
No Mare?
I was none too happy to see Panthers kicker Olindo Mare miss a potential game-tying 31-yard field goal against the Minnesota Vikings in their last game, but I believe it’s just a little too early to be calling for the guy’s head.
I too was sad to see the last original Panther, John Kasay, released during the offseason, especially when he turned around and signed with the division rival New Orleans Saints about a month later.
The biggest thing that irked me was the fact that Mare is just three years Kasay’s junior. I could understand signing a new kicker if he was much younger, but to sign another one who is likely on the last legs of his career? I found myself shaking my head.
Looking back, though, Mare has proven to be a fairly reliable kicker. Despite his slip-up against the Vikings, he has made 13 of 16 field goals (a field goal percentage of 81.3), which is just slightly worse than Kasay’s field goal percentage of 81.8 (18 of 22).
Kasay does have over twice as many field goals of 40-plus in his career, but Mare is far from terrible.
Then again, if he misses another key field goal, I may be calling for a switch myself.
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