In a recent Bucky Brooks article highlighting the revamp of the Panthers' offensive attack here is an interesting tidbit:
In most offenses, the quarterback has the opportunity to drop the ball off to running backs or slot receivers on a number of screens, swings and quicks to boost his completion rate and attack the underneath area of coverage. Studying the numbers from last season, I noticed that the Panthers only targeted running backs on 13 percent of their pass attempts. This is well below the league average (19 percent) and significantly behind prolific offensive teams like New England and New Orleans (24 percent) in passing production to running backs.
Carolina's coaching staff must've been paying close attention to those numbers. And everyone saw the Falcons and Patriots battle it out in Super Bowl LI largely on the strength of their running backs making plays as dual-threats from the backfield. In fact, Shula recently cited the Patriots' approach when explaining that he wanted to give Newton more easy completions in the game plan.
"In the Super Bowl, how many passes do you think Tom Brady threw to his backs? Mostly completed, right?" Shula said to The MMQB's Peter King. "So maybe, sometimes, it turns into just a 4-yard gain. But I'll take a 4-yard gain. ... They're glorified runs sometimes, but they work and it doesn't matter what you call them."
For the record, Brady completed 15 of 19 passes for 112 yards (7.5 yards per completion) to running backs James White and Dion Lewis in the Super Bowl on the way to directing a historic come-from-behind win. With McCaffrey and Samuel possessing similar traits as multidimensional backs/receivers, the Panthers have the ability to create mismatches in the passing game, particularly when these guys are positioned out wide or in the slot in spread or empty formations.
I wonder what was the percentage for the Bucs? This probably explains why the team is eager to see Martin, Rodgers and McNichols (maybe even Sims) come back healthy for Wiston and the offense. A lot has been said about the running game but lack of RB's catching passes out of the backfield is also something to think about.
