TAKE CARE OF THE BALL
There's a difference between simple and easy.
The reason for many of the Panthers' struggles this year is reasonably uncomplicated — they give the ball away too often. Fixing it is a much more complicated issue, especially against a team that plays the way this week's opponent does.
"We're playing a Buffalo Bills team where they thrive off turnovers," offensive play-caller Jeff Nixon said this week. "When they win the turnover battle, they're tough to beat. When we win the turnover battle, we're tough to beat.
"So that's been a big emphasis this week is protecting the football, not beating ourselves, and giving us the best chance to pull out a win on Sunday."
Nixon is not wrong; the trends are clear. The Panthers are 5-1 when they win or tie the turnover margin in a game. When they turn it over more than they take it away, they're 0-7. The Bills are 6-0 when they win the turnover battle, and 1-6 when they tie or lose it.
Having the ball is one of the most basic tasks of a football team, and the Panthers are too far on the wrong side of it this year (minus-8). Getting that moving in the right direction is easier said than done. When Panthers head coach Matt Rhule was asked how to coach turnovers out of a team, he began by saying: "That's a really deep, long question."
"They come from a lot of different places, but the simple answer is execution, right?" he said. "Most turnovers come from the quarterback position, so you have to protect the quarterback from getting hit, because being affected in throwing the ball, . . . most of the turnovers we've gotten have come from us hitting the other teams quarterback and knocking the ball out. I think we have to continue to be better in the passing game.
"And then you have to avoid catastrophic mistakes. It's one thing to have giveaways; it's another thing to be falling to the ground, and trying to reach a ball out. We've had too many turnovers just on exchanges. Those things have to be continually improved upon.
"Improve technique, improve scheme, improve the way that you do things. I think our team recognizes how important it is; it's just making it the standard that you don't do it. But obviously, that hasn't happened yet, so we have to continue to work at it."
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December 18, 2021 at 10:11PM
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5 Things To Watch: Being careful with the ball - Panthers.com
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