The Panthers have a new coaching staff that will hopefully bring in fresh ideas about how to stay competitive in an always-evolving NFL. They won’t be judged based on how they perform at press conferences or what they say their philosophy is. For what it’s worth, we like everything we have been hearing from Matt Rhule and his coordinators thus far.
Speaking with reporters in a conference call this morning, new defensive coordinator Phil Snow shed some light on his plans for the defense. Mainly, he wants to use what he has.
Phil Snow on conference call, asked about the plan for the defense: "I've done a variety of different things. We'll be multiple. What's smart to do is utilize the people that you have. We'll see what we have and put it together."
— Max Henson (@PanthersMax) January 28, 2020
This echoes the same sentiment we heard from offensive coordinator Joe Brady in his introductory press conference with the Panthers. Brady said the most important thing is to put the players in position to succeed. It sounds like Snow has the same idea.
As for his “multiple” comment, he’s likely referring to different defensive fronts. Former head coach Ron Rivera tried to implement a 3-4 defensive scheme this season. That experiment did not go well. While the team’s pass rush improved, their run defense was excruciatingly bad and ultimately cost them more losses than any other element of the game.
Part of the problem was that Carolina’s players simply weren’t as well-suited for a 3-4 than a 4-3, particularly now-retired inside linebacker Luke Kuechly. While it’s now clear he was playing through some pain, he just wasn’t in position to make plays like he normally was due to the schematic issues.
Rather than adjust course, Rivera stuck with the 3-4 too often and it likely was a factor in his firing. It’s worth mentioning that if defensive tackle Kawann Short hadn’t missed most of the season, things might have gone differently for Rivera and his scheme.
In any case, most teams don’t exclusively run a 4-3 or a 3-4. Multiple means we should see plenty of both depending on the opponent, the situation, the personnel on the field, etc. Snow will obviously have different pieces to work with here, but for what it’s worth he mostly ran a 3-3-5 base during his time at Baylor.
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