Panthers Obsessed With Rutgers Film

September 3rd, 2012

The Bucs were so damn awful last season even the Panthers don’t want to watch Bucs film to prepare for Sunday’s home-opener in Tampa.

Now Joe’s exaggerating a bit, but not too much. Panthers head coach Ron Rivera told the Charlotte Observer he’s dialed in to watching Rutgers game tape because it’s a better indicator of what to expect Sunday.

New head coach Greg Schiano brings in his own coaching strategies, and the Panthers’ coaching staff is looking at Schiano’s old team for pointers. Carolina is looking at film from last year’s Schiano-led Rutgers team for guidance.

“When you look at what Greg’s done in the past, and it’s not just in Chicago, where both he and Rivera coached, it’s what he did in Miami, at Rutgers as the head coach, I think that’s where you really get the feel as to what he’s all about,” Rivera said. “We have spent time watching the Rutgers tape… He’s grown and changed as a coach as well. If there’s one thing you can say about what Coach Schiano is going to do, they’re going to go out and be a hard-nose, physical football team.”

On the flip side, the New Schiano Order has had 200+ days to devour 2011 game film on Cam Newton and Rob Chudzynski’s high-octane offense. Carolina was the seventh-ranked offense in the NFL last year, with huge numbers racked up on the Bucs. The Panthers were also ranked fifth in the NFL in the all-important “points scored” category for offenses.
 
Joe can’t overstate the challenge the Panthers will pose for the Bucs defense. The Bucs have to stop the run and force Newton into taking risks through the air. If not, it’s going to be a long, hot day.

17 Responses to “Panthers Obsessed With Rutgers Film”

  1. SebringSmitty Says:

    I have a feeling I will have my hands covering my eyes every time the kitty cats run.. But I will still watch. I hope our D is better. GO BUCS !!!!

  2. Bucnjim Says:

    For all the success they had on offense; their record was still not very good! Something tells me the Bucs have a good plan to stop that run and gun BS. Maybe they have some old school Tampa2 physical play up their sleves.

  3. Mavsmoney Says:

    If we shut their run game down on the first few drives it may just convince them to take to the air. It may be our only chance… I dont think we can defend their running game all day.

  4. Brad Says:

    I’m not worried about Newton at all. No way this guy duplicates the numbers from last year. I think we have a nice solid win in game 1. After that I’m not so sure. The media is so wishy washy they just pick whom ever played decent the year before. Everyone had Freeman taking the next step last year now Freeman hardly gets talked about. Now teams have tape on Newton it’s not going to be so easy this year. I believe he like Freeman takes a huge step back as he tries to slow the game down and be more of a pocket passer. That’s just my opinion.

  5. The Dutcher Journal (Pete Dutcher) Says:

    Historically the Bucs stand a very high chance of losing the first game of the season…even during their best years. The year we won the superbowl the Bucs lost the first game of the season.

    It doesn’t mean we can’t win this game. It’s a new era and anything can happen. The point I’m trying to make is that even if the Bucs lose this game they can still have a great season.

    The year of the superbowl the defense got tired in the second half and did not play the full 60 minutes at 100% in that first game. This is common under first year head coaches.

    The key difference here is Schiano has put a strong focus on stamina from the start…so we might not see the issue arise.

    Yes…that’s right. Thos “dreaded” drills Miguel complains constantly about actually served an important purpose. Even if the issue does arise in the first game Schiano will likely get it under control within a game or so.

    I hope no one is expecting to see a Giants or Patriots type of team. I suspect we will more closely resemble the Steelers of ten years ago…run first and smashmouth. Will be interesting to see how it works out with cover two. Tampa could be redefining the scheme if all goes well.

    This is great because many people feel cover two will no longer work as well in todays nfl.

  6. The Dutcher Journal (Pete Dutcher) Says:

    I like our chances in this game though. We learned long ago how to deal with Newton types of players (Vick).

    Btw…if all dogs go to heaven do you suppose Michael Vick isgoing to be nervous if he makes the cut?

  7. ClayBURN94 Says:

    I beleive the bucs gameplan should be to have David/Barron spying Cam “scam” Newton the whole time. What i would pay to see Barron knock the living s*** out Scam Newton. Btw @Bucnjim, do you know what Tampa 2 is? I dont see how that helps us stop the run or Scam newton at all.

  8. Jarret Says:

    Anyone see any similarities between the 2011 Bucs and the 2012 Panthers? Seems like every football “expert” has Carolina as the breakout team similar to the expectations TB had. Let hope they have a similar outcome.
    There’s no doubt Cam is a freak athlete and seems to have all the tools, but check out what he did towards the end of last season..threw for 149, 171, and 158 the last three weeks. Like Joe said, with a year’s worth of film, it’ll be interesting to see if Cam progresses as a passer or turn into mike vick.

  9. Eric Says:

    Sure hope he has grown from the Chicago Wanstedt days or were going to be exposed to unspeakable frustration ala Ray Perkins era.

    35 points will be required to win. Free has to play lights out, which he is capable of.

    Open the thing up.

  10. Eric Says:

    What the heck are lady panthers jerseys doing on Jbf??????

  11. Bucnjim Says:

    I know exactly what the Cover 2 or Tampa2 as some refer to it now because the Bucs perfected it. Even though teams with great QB’s like Rodgers & Brady are able to pick the zone coverage apart; teams with run first oriented QB’s like Vick & Newton struggle. Tampa 2 with it’s 2 deep safties are able to be aggressive with the front 7 while still spying on the QB. Most teams only run the cover 2 to mix up coverage because it is considered to be a little outdated since it’s a pass happy league. The advantage of it though is being able to move the safety up and spy in the backfield when needed. All eyes on Newton!

  12. 76buc76 Says:

    Is it true Blount to Pittsburg for a d-line me?

  13. ClayBURN94 Says:

    The cover/Tampa 2 still dosent help the run because safetys really cant sneak up in the box which they need to against a team like carolina. Also its a defense where linebackers/DB’s drop back to stop the medium/long passes and really only works when you have Derrick Brooks and Sapp. It was succesful against Vick because our front 4 was so ferocious and Derrick Brooks was one of the best if not the best open field tackler in the Nfl in which they used him to spy vick. But you cant do that against the panthers without the pass rush/ Brooks which is what we dont have.

  14. Bucnjim Says:

    I’m not disagreeing with you even though Lynch had a hall of fame career and spent most of his time roaming the middle in run support. My simple point being that zone coverage in most team sports will slow down the opponent and make them chip away instead of allowing big plays. The Bucs style of cover 2 (in the past at least) the defense was reading the QB. This makes it much tougher on the QB to pump fake or just pull the ball down and run. If you’re caught in straight up man coverage the entire game; your back will always be to the QB and that allows him to just run wild. Covering a zone your eyes are reading the QB while defending a certain area. It’s hard to take one player and say spy on the QB because he has other duties and will be caught out of position most of the time.

  15. ClayBURN94 Says:

    Your right about lynch roaming in the box but they werent playing tampa 2 most of the time. They were playing cover 3, 8 man in the box. They did that even more so when Dungy left and mixed it up between tampa 2 and cover 3. Either way i hope they knock the s*** out of Scam newton!! Uh oh i hope Goodell dosent fine me for talking like that…. GO BUCS!!

  16. Bucnjim Says:

    Sounds good to me & thanks for the cover 3 info…..That makes more sense! I like the sound of Barron/David because these guys have a bright future barring injury….Go Buc’s!

  17. Danny Says:

    Newton will take a step back this year. Almost nobody predicted Freeman or Bradford to regress as badly as they did. He’s not going to duplicate all those records he set last year and everybody has a whole year’s a film of him. Plus he only beat one team with a winning record.