Broncos can exploit the Panthers" biggest weakness

Thursday Night Football Promo: Panthers vs. Broncos

By Ty Schalter September 8 at 10:52 AM

Nine months ago, Carolinas secondary was the most intimidating in the NFL.The Panthers unit led the league in interceptions (24) and interception rate (3.7 percent), per Pro Football Reference. They allowed the third-least frequent touchdowns (3.2 percent), and joint-least average yards per attempt (6.2). All this despite a pass rush that ranked just No. 14in sack rate.

Then the Panthers rescinded all-pro cornerback Josh Normans franchise tag, releasing him to the free agent market. CarolinasNo. 2 cornerback, Peanut Tillman, retiredand safety Roman Harper re-joined the New Orleans Saints. Almost instantlyone of theteamsgreatest strengths turned into one of their biggest weaknesses.Last years slot man, Bene Benwikere, is now the Panthers top veteran corner.Benwikere has struggled to earn first-team reps throughout training camp, according to Jonathan Jones of the Charlotte Observer. Second-round pick James Bradberry will wear Normans number, and almost certainly start in his No. 1 corner spot against the Super Bowl champions. Third-round selectionDaryl Worley will likely start on the opposite side, meaning the Panthers are going from a top cornerback pair with a combined 202 NFL starts, 45 interceptions, three Pro Bowl berths and two first-team all-pro nods to zero, zero, zero and zero.

The Broncos, meanwhile, return nearly everyone from their league-best yardage defense, save rotational inside pass-rusher Malik Jackson. Running backC.J. Anderson re-signed, and together with Pro Bowl wideouts Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, keep the explosive core of the Broncos offense intact. In theory, new quarterback Trevor Siemian has to do to get the Broncos back in the title race is improve on the 31st-ranked team passer rating of 76.3 Manning and Brock Oswelier combined for in 2015.

ButSiemians 70.4 preseason passer ratingproves hes not yet where he needs to be.The QBplayed it too safe in the second preseason game, completing 10 of his 14 attempts for a paltry5.4 average yards per attempt (and minuscule 7.5 yards per completion).But in the first and third games, Siemian was more aggressive resulting in far more big plays (and, admittedly, a poor interception in the third game). Overall, he executed catch-and-run routes to Thomas and Sanders very crisply, opening up more intermediate throws as the offense rolled.

After a series of in-breaking dump-offs to Thomas and Sanders, and a missed shot deep to Thomas, Sanders sells another in-breaking route to create massive separation and make it easy on Siemian:

The result? Very healthy averages of 12.4 yards per completion and 7.3 yards per attempt.

An added bonus of havingThomas and Sanders, two of the best catch-and-run guys in the business, is the Broncos can hit on big pass plays without seven-step drops.This helps ease the Broncos biggest concern: the offensive line. They finished No. 13in pass protection last year, per Football Outsiders, but only center Matt Paradis returns from that group.

If Coach Gary Kubiak game plans around the the Panthers front seven, Siemian should be able to complete a lot of high-percentage throws that directly attack the Panthers newest and maybe only weakness.Andunless Bradberry, Worley and safety Tre Boston step in and play like cagey veterans, Siemian and the Broncos have a great opportunity to pull off a season-opening upset.

Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&ct2=us&usg=AFQjCNHY1HcP_MrVjH9AmFCKWZKGEThOVQ&clid=c3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331&cid=52779203452780&ei=G7zRV4CXIsLJ3gGc6qHwCQ&url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fancy-stats/wp/2016/09/08/broncos-can-exploit-the-panthers-biggest-weakness/