OVER THE NEXT week, we’ll be taking a closer look at both the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos and their strengths and weaknesses across offence, defence and special teams in the run up to Super Bowl 50.
Today, we deal with the Carolina Panthers special teams unit.
You can read the rest of the series here.
What they do well
Hands team
If there’s a weakness in the Carolina Panthers’ Super Bowl bid, it is on their special teams. While it has improved somewhat from last year, it still ranks as one of the least effective units in the NFL.
Indeed, it was much easier to find areas that could cost them the game than it was to find a reason the Panthers could trust their special teams to win the Vince Lombardi trophy.
One play that helped them to this stage was Thomas Davis’ sure hands above when he was called upon to recover an onside kick as the Seattle Seahawks attempted to mount a comeback during the NFC Divisional Round.
Davis’, of course, goes into the game with a broken arm but, with the likes of Greg Olsen there as back-up, Carolina will feel confident of recovering any onside kick attempt.
What they could do better
Kick-off returns
The Carolina Panthers are one of just three teams in the NFL to have an average kick-off return of less than 20 yards. Indeed, their average of just 18.5 yards per kick-off return attempt is the worst in the league according to ESPN.
Only the Buffalo Bills (32 yards) had a shorter ‘longest’ kick-off return than the Panthers long of 33 yards. But, if Panthers fans have a reason to be concerned about their own ability to return kick-offs, they could lose sleep over their defence of kick-offs.
Carolina were one of just six teams to give up a kick-off return touchdown this season and even when they’re not giving up scores like above, they allow opponents return the football an average of 26.6 yards, the fifth worst total in the league this season.
What they need to avoid
Missing field goals
Missed field goals are a big concern for Carolina. Only San Francisco (75.7%) and Miami (72.4%) could claim a worse record than Gano’s 76.9% conversion rate on field goals during the regular season.
Gano certainly has the leg, he was four of five on field goal attempts over 50 yards during the regular season, but it’s his habit of being blocked on shorter kicks — he was one of just five kickers to miss a kick between 20-29 yards this year — that is the real worry.
The problem with Gano is that his kicks sometimes come out too low, as evidenced by these two blocks, the second of which resulted in the first ever blocked extra point to be returned for two points.
The Panthers will hope, in what could be a close game, that Gano’s trajectory doesn’t come back to haunt them on Sunday.
