The Passing Game

In terms of Obada the pass rusher, let’s start with the sack:

While Obada does a good job of getting off the line here and is in good position when he makes initial contact, this play was really made by the hand usage that allowed him to turn the corner. When slowed down, it becomes clearer what Obada is doing here; striking initially with his inside arm to the frame of the blocker before swinging his right arm across to knock away the outside arm of the blocker. Crucially, he does this without turning his frame to face the blocker and so makes it harder for the tackle to get inside hand placement:

This is something that was highlighted as an issue in our breakdown of Obada against the Bengals, and the fact that this is something he has worked on and has now has had success with speaks to how much he has grown even over the past couple of months. Obada still needs to get more consistent with his hand timings, as while he does a better job of using his hands to shed the block on the following play, he does still show a tendency to be a bit late with his initial strike:

However, it is clear here that the blocker really commits to the initial impact here, making for earlier contact than usual. It is obviously easier to say when you have enough time to watch the play in slow motion several times and focus in on details, but if he recognizes blockers committing in this way in the future in attempts to knock him off balance, he may have more success going straight to the swim as the blocker has already committed themselves forward and is relying on the contact in order to regain their own balance – a swim move that doesn’t give them a firm contact point is likely to see the blocker falling forward, leaving Obada free to run to the quarterback.

There are always going to be plays where pass rushers aren’t able to get home, such as the following where the tackle does a good job of covering the edge but is unable to cut inside due to Love’s rushing angle:

But on the whole, as a pure edge rusher, Obada was very effective on Sunday, so much so that the Buccaneers even looked to double him – instead of Julius Peppers! – with a running back at one point:

Whenever you are able to force a double team as a pass rusher that is a success – here the running back does a good job of not committing outside too early, making it hard for Obada to know whether to try and cut inside the tackle or not. Obada also showcased a really nice inside swim move in this game, which he used to great effect:

If he can work this into his general edge rush, he will cause offensive tackles all sorts of problems. In order to do this while making the most of his speed rush, he’ll need to be able to use this swim while maintaining slightly lower pad level – but for a player who didn’t play college football and has just eight NFL games to his name, this is really very advanced technique work.

The other thing he has improved since the Bengals game is that he has gotten better at striking early and with straight arms, thereby making it harder to blockers to get into his frame, allowing him to release more easily. This allows him to control his blocker on this play:

And on this one, allows him to quickly stack and shed the blocker, giving him a clear path to the quarterback:

This is, again, something he needs to get more consistent at, along with his pad level – when he gets a bit too high and allows the guard to get the first strike in, he allows the blocker to largely negate his rush:

The pad level is a harder thing to fix, but by keeping his elbows in, it will likely make his arms naturally remain in front of his face – in so doing, it will make it easier for him to react to the hand movements of his blocker. However, it really cannot be overstated how impressive this is, not just the technique he is showing, but how quickly he has been able to develop it. Just two months ago, he looked like a hugely talented but quite raw edge rusher – while there are still ways he can improve, he already looks like a legitimate NFL defensive end. He even does some bonus stuff on screens and the like:

That’s a pretty good open-field tackle.

The Panthers pass rushers as a whole have struggled over the past couple of months, but with Rivera calling the plays and Washington focusing on the front four, this is something that hopefully should improve for the remaining month of the regular season – Obada should be one of the many beneficiaries of this. The talent was clear after the Bengals game, but what he showed against the Bucs was that his technique is improving – rapidly – and when that is combined with his talent, the Panthers find themselves with a legitimately good edge rusher. Going forward, Obada needs to show that he can do what he did against the Bucs on a consistent basis, both on a play-by-play and game-to-game basis.

At this point, it would be a shock to not see Obada as part of the defensive end rotation going forward, what the next few games brings will likely to determine how significant a part of that rotation he will play – not just for the next month, but perhaps for 2019 and the future.

All Clips Via NFL Game Pass.