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Josh Norman's Departure Leaves Panthers Secondary Defenseless
Losing Josh Norman is proving to be a big issue for the Carolina Panthers.
If you ask Head Coach Ron Rivera or any of the players on the Carolina Panthers roster they aren’t concerned with Josh Norman only those on the roster. But if you ask Panthers fans, it was painfully obvious that Batman was not there to defend his “Gotham City.”
Last Sunday, Matt Ryan and Julio Jones connected for 300 yards and a touchdown, with Matty Ice adding another 203 yards and 3 touchdowns to his total for the day.
While this was a career day for the duo from Atlanta, the real story lied in how a defense that was one of the best in the NFL last season, allowed over 500 yards passing, and the 6th most single game
Oct 2, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones (11) scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter of their game against the Carolina Panthers at the Georgia Dome. The Falcons won 48-33. Mandatory Credit: Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports
receiving yards in the history of the NFL. Match this with the fact that the Panthers had not allowed 48 points in a single game since they allowed 49 to the Detroit Lions in Ron Rivera’s first season as Head Coach, and questions began to pour in.
The biggest of course was, “did the Panthers make a mistake in letting Norman walk?” The answers have been mixed, and of course we can not definitively answer whether or not he would have made a difference.
Let’s take a deeper look at how the result could have been different.
In the 2015 NFL Season, Josh Norman erupted onto the NFL Landscape and quickly became a household name. He did this by repeatedly “shutting down” some of the NFL’s best and most productive wide receivers. You can view the numbers that the “Elite” Wide Receivers produced while being covered by Josh Norman on the Panthers last season below.
2015 Stats vs. Josh Norman
Allen Robinson 0-3, 0 yards
DeAndre Hopkins 2-7, 24 yards, 0 TD
T.Y. Hilton 1-3, 15 yards, 0 TD
Dez Bryant 1-5, 6 yards, 0 TD
Julio Jones 4-6, 33 yards, 0 TD
This is just a small sample size, and obviously there was the infamous game involving Odell Beckham Jr. in which he had 6 receptions for 76 yards and a touchdown. But the overwhelming opinion of spectators, coaches, and especially opposing Quarterbacks, was to not throw the football in Josh Norman’s direction.
This was not only a benefit for the Panthers defense, to have a “lockdown” corner on one side of the field, but this gave them a lot more flexibility on defense. The Panthers could bring many more complex defensive packages, blitzes, and feel confident that the man opposite Norman was not going to beat them.
Fast forward to this past weekend, and we saw a completely different Panthers defense. One that didn’t have any answers, was on their heels, and one that could not figure out a way to stop the freak of nature named Julio.
The Panthers tried many different strategies throughout the game. They tried the 2016 NFL Draft 2nd Round Pick James Bradberry in coverage until he left the game with a toe injury.
They then used a combination of Benwikere and the second CB taken in last year’s draft, Daryl Worley. When Julio began to make receptions time and time again, there eventually became help over the top from the safeties, but still Julio prevailed. Of course, there was no benefit to be gained in the secondary from a lack of pass rush throughout the entire game, even failing to put pressure on Matt Ryan when blitzing.
Mix all of that with Michael Griffin, the recently signed former Titans Pro-Bowler, getting the most snaps at Free Safety over Tre Boston and Colin Jones, and the Panthers were doomed. Nobody wearing white could manage to slow down Mr. Jones on this day. But…would Batman himself been able to save the day?
When the Panthers took their first loss of the 2015 season visiting Atlanta, Julio had another very successful day, highlighted by a catch that Monday Night Countdown definitely could’ve featured on “You Got Mossed” as he leaped over Luke Kuechly and trotted into the endzone. But when looking at when Josh Norman was in coverage and liable for Julio’s yards, he managed a mere 80 yards, or an astounding 26.6% of what he covered last Sunday.
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Nobody truly knows if Dave Gettleman made the right choice in letting Josh Norman walk away from Charlotte after he pulled the Franchise Tag option away, making Norman a Free-Agent. Josh Norman was looking to be paid top-tier money, and Dave was unwilling to pay that price on a position he values less than others on the defensive side of the football.
Others might say that when you have a Pro-Bowl, top tier talent, you give them a contract and keep your core intact. But the NFL is a business, and decisions have to be made.
You just don’t always know if it was the right one or not. As Josh Norman said, “You get what you pay for” and the Panthers paid the price to the tune of a record breaking day for Julio Jones. We will stay tuned to find out if the Panthers’ strategy to rejuvenate the CB position through the NFL Draft will pay off as they seek to turn around their season.
In any case, Norman is a Washington Redskin for the foreseeable future, and something will need to be addressed to maintain the ferocious defense that Rivera has assembled over the past few years. We’ll see if another Superhero can emerge in the city of Charlotte.
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