Peppers' 3 sacks more than all of 2007
By David Scott
dscott@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Sunday, Nov. 09, 2008
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/gameday/story/315639.html
OAKLAND, Calif. – Julius Peppers maintains that sacks are overrated and he recalls a game in 2006 that he said proves his point.
“We were playing the Cleveland Browns and I had one sack and two tackles and my impact was, well, I was a force,” said Peppers on Sunday, minutes after his three sacks had helped the Carolina Panthers beat the Oakland Raiders 17-6 at McAfee Coliseum. “Some guys can have two or three sacks and not really be a force in the game and get lucky. That is why it is misleading.”
Peppers managed to confirm and blow a hole in his theory all at the same time Sunday, when he ripped apart Oakland’s offensive line with those three sacks, two forced fumbles and seven tackles.
In other words, he had a huge impact and the numbers to prove it.
“That was good,” Peppers said of his effort. “It feels good to get sacks. But I won’t put a lot of stock into that because it’s misleading. But as far as outside people looking in, it was good to get those.”
This has become a transformational season for Peppers. After a preseason illness slowed him in 2007 – a factor in his career-low 2.5 sacks – he switched from left defensive end to right. And although he moves around on the line depending on what plays are called, he appears to be more comfortable at the new spot. He has 7.0 sacks and has forced four fumbles through the Panthers’ first nine games.
“Julius is special,” said Panthers coach John Fox. “I though he did cause some havoc.”
Peppers got going early Sunday with what seems to have become a specialty of his this season – the sack-fumble. After sacking quarterback Andrew Walter on the Raiders’ first possession, he got to Walter again late in the first quarter. This time he forced a fumble as he brought Walter down.
And although Oakland’s Kwame Harris recovered, Peppers had again shown how disruptive he can be.
“Early in the game I had a lot of one-on-ones and there wasn’t much help,” said Peppers. “The second half there was a little more max protect and they kept more people in to block.”
The Panthers sacked Walter five times – the other two coming from linebacker Thomas Davis and end Charles Johnson.
“We knew it was going to be a situation where we were going to get most of the pressure from our front four,” said Fox. “I thought we had pretty steady pressure around the corner from everybody.”
Still, despite the fact that the Carolina defense forced the Raiders to punt 11 times and limited them to 259 yards in total offense, Peppers wasn’t particularly happy with the entirety of the defensive effort.
“It was a good day production-wise for me individually, but as a team, I don’t know if it was so good,” he said. “We gave up a lot of yards passing and rushing. But when you don’t give up a lot of points, that is what counts. As far as yards and getting off the field we gave up more than we should.”
Calendar
