One of the biggest statistical oddities about the 2018

Carolina Panthers is how opposing teams are scoring against them. To begin the season Youth Mario Addison Jersey , four of the first six touchdowns the Panthers defense gave up were on the ground. Since then, 20 of the last 22 touchdowns the Panthers have surrendered have been through the air. Let me say that again: 20 of the last 22 touchdowns scored against Carolina’s defense have been on passing plays. Through Week 10 the Panthers defense has given up 22 passing touchdowns, a mark that is second worst in the NFL and trails only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 23. Now, take a look at the Panthers opponent touchdown log from Pro Football Reference and tell me if you see anything interesting about which positions are finding pay dirt against Carolina’s defense:Pro Football ReferenceLook at how many tight ends populate this list! Opposing tight ends are putting up points against the Panthers at an alarming rate, and most of them who have scored are below-the-radar players. Here’s the list of tight ends have scored against the Panthers this year along with their total touchdowns this season: Austin Hooper (3), C.J. Uzomah (2), Vernon Davis (1), Dallas Goedert (3), Hayden Hurst (1), O.J. Howard twice (5), Vance McDonald (2), Jesse James (2), Jaylen Samuels (1). Only O.J. Howard has scored more than three touchdowns on the season, meaning the Panthers are giving up touchdowns to guys who are struggling to score against other teams. Of the 22 passing touchdowns Carolina’s defense has surrendered this year http://www.panthersauthorizedshops.com/authentic-devin-funchess-jersey , 10 have been to the opposing teams’ tight ends. While I don’t have specific data to support this, this ratio seems very high in a league where teams often split out four wide receivers and running backs are becoming increasingly involved in the passing game.The distances of tight end scores are pretty telling as well. Of the 10 touchdowns surrendered to tight ends this year, seven have come from within the 10 yard line. There are two main trends about the touchdowns the Panthers are giving up this year: First, they are getting killed by passing touchdowns (20 of the last 22 touchdowns surrendered). Second, they are giving up a seemingly high proportion of passing touchdowns to tight ends (10 of 23), especially inside the 10 yard line. This may be a statistical anomaly, or it could show a fundamental weakness in Carolina’s personnel or defensive schemes. The Panthers face the Detroit Lions this week and on paper it looks like Detroit’s tight end corps is a weakness. Michael Roberts leads the Lions tight ends with 84 receiving yards and he will miss the game due to injury. Luke Willson (75 receiving yards, 0 touchdowns) and Levine Toilolo (47 receiving yards, 0 touchdowns) will be Detroit’s primary tight end weapons. Neither Willson nor Toilolo have scored this season. If one of them finds pay dirt this weekend, the Panthers defense may have a serious problem on its hands. The good people at Pro Football Focus spend enormous amounts of time breaking down every player’s performance on every individual play throughout the season. In the end, players can then be given a final rating somewhere between zero (poor) and 100 (elite). If you want to learn more about their methodology, you can read PFF’s Player Grade overview.What I have always appreciated about PFF is that while no player evaluation system is perfect, at least PFF is consistent. Players are graded by the same criteria which enables them to be given one of seven grades based on their rating and position rank:EliteHigh QualityGoodAbove AverageAverageBelow AveragePoorBased on free, public information available at PFF’s Carolina Panthers page after Week 17 Shaq Thompson Jersey , here are the final 2018 ratings, grades, and position rankings for each of the Panthers starters and regular contributors on offense. (Note, I did the same write-up last year and here’s the link.)Grades and ranks after week 17, per PFFNamePosOverallGradePosition RankNamePosOverallGradePosition RankOffensive MVPs1 - Christian McCaffrey: 82.8 rating, No. 9 halfback. CMC had a historic year with 1,098 rushing yards (5.0 YPC) while hauling in 107 receptions for 867 yards, setting the new NFL record for receptions by a running back. Throw in his 13 touchdowns and it’s clear why McCaffrey is the Panthers PFF MVP. 2 - Taylor Moton: 76.1 rating, No. 15 offensive tackle. Moton was a revelation this year filling in for the injured Daryl Williams. After playing just 64 offensive snaps as a rookie in 2017, the former second round pick blossomed into a highly productive Hog Molly.3 - D.J. Moore: 72.6 rating, No. 38 wide receiver. After a slow start to the season with just two receptions over his first three games, Moore proved worthy of the Panthers 2018 first round pick. He finished the season with 55 receptions for 788 yards plus an additional 172 rushing yards on 13 attempts. His ability to force missed tackles was among the best in the NFL among wide receivers, per PFF.Offensive LVPs1 - Tyler Larsen: 52.6 rating, No. 61 guard. In PFF’s eye Larsen regressed significantly from his 2017 rating of 67.8. This wasn’t what the Panthers were hoping for when they signed him to a two-year Authentic C.J. Anderson Jersey , $4.4 million extension before the season. 2 - Ian Thomas: 54.0 rating, No. 59 tight end. This is one of those situations where the PFF grade doesn’t jive with reality. Thomas did struggle early in the season with blocking and route running, which is expected of a raw, fourth-round rookie (he looked lost in Week 5 against the Giants, for example), but he developed into a promising receiver after Greg Olsen’s injury. His 25 receptions over his final five games ranked fourth among all tight ends and the arrow is pointing way up on the quickly-developing rookie. 3 - Torrey Smith: 58.5 rating, No. 106 wide receiver: Man, what a disappointment. The Panthers traded for Smith before the season to mentor the young pups while providing Cam Newton with a smart, consistent, veteran target. Instead, the Panthers found themselves with a player with a $5.0 million cap hit who produced just 17 receptions for 190 yards on the season. Additional observationsNew additions to the offensive line: Marty Hurney deserves a gold star for signing Greg Van Roten (two years, $1.66 million) and Chris Clark (one year, $915,000). Getting “average” production from two career journeymen on dirt-cheap contracts isn’t an easy thing to do. While Clark had some terrible moments this year (which is to be expected of a Week 2 signee off the street) Youth Greg Van Roten Jersey , his 60.4 PFF grade was significantly better than Matt Kalil’s 50.4 rating in 2017. The solid wide receiver corps: Look at the sudden quality of the receiving corps! Moore, Curtis Samuel, and Devin Funchess were all graded “above average” while Jarius Wright was “average”. Moore and Samuel are just scratching the surface while Wright proved to be a clutch receiver on third down situations. Funchess is in flux as his rookie deal has expired and he has fallen out of favor a bit in Carolina, making it interesting to see if he returns next year or not.Again, what I appreciate about PFF is that so much of what happens in football cannot be measured by simple statistics. Their system isn’t perfect (none are), but at least it’s consistent.With that, props to Christian McCaffrey, Taylor Moton, and D.J. Moore – the Carolina Panthers 2018 PFF Offensive MVPs.