Welcome once again to the Hog Molly Report, where winning in the trenches is all that matters. Before we begin, we open with the reciting of our usual motto:

“Big men allow you to compete. We're certainly going to look at the big hog mollies.”

In the spirit of Mr. Gettleman’s words, and the philosophy of building a team from the inside out, my goal will be to watch the hog mollies each game during the season, and give them a grade based on their performance. This week we will look at the very strange win over the New Orleans Saints and see where the Hoagie Wranglers excelled, and how they can improve on some short-comings.

Offensive Hog Mollies

*Season average in parentheses

Week 11 Yards per carry: 1.9 (3.8, T-23rd NFL)

Third down conversions: 7 out of 17, 41% (41%, 12th NFL)

Sacks given up: 2 (25, T-23rd NFL)

Rating: INCOMPLETE

We are getting to a point of great sadness with this offensive line. There are so many injuries and moving pieces, it just isn’t fair to dog them with a bad grade. Any time you end up playing a 3rd string center, who isn’t really a center, for an entire half of football because your starting center re-injures his shoulder and your backup is already hurt... i have a hard time piling on. Of course your YPC average is gonna suck, of course your QB is gonna be under duress, and of course the offense will stagnate.

With that in mind, I’m just going to exempt them from the assignment, and we’ll move on with our lives.

Defensive Hog Mollies

Yards per carry allowed: 4.3 (3.5, 2nd NFL)

3rd Down Conversions allowed: 4 out of 13, 31% (37%, 6th NFL)

Sacks: 3 total with 3 from DL (30, T-3rd NFL)

Rating: 5 out of 5 Hog Bog Bruisers

The week to week YPC totals keep creeping up, but this unit remains one of the best in football at stopping the run, and the pressure with four down linemen is definitely improving. We could still stand for more consistent pressures and hurries, as it seems like we either get there or don’t at all with nothing in between... but compared to where we were, that is outstanding. We only allowed the New Orleans Saints to score 20 points, missing several key players in the second half, and with a backup punter controlling field position.

This week is going to be a huge test though, as the defense as a whole is going to probably be missing some key players. Probably a given that we will be without Luke Kuechly, and it is likely we will be missing Leonard Johnson who has been outstanding in the defensive backfield since his return, and our sack Leader, Mario Addison.

Kelvin Benjamin

3 receptions, 56 yards, 0 touchdowns, ~3 quarters played

Rating: 4 out of 5 Clutch Pig Pickers

Its another pedestrian stat line for KB13, but he did only play for about three quarters of football. More importantly, he made the game icing catch that gave the Panthers a new set of downs very late in the fourth quarter... something he failed to secure the week prior. We have not seen the dominant Newton to KB connection we did in his first year really emerge this season, but that is without question due to the protection issues and injuries up front. Cam simply doesn’t have time to make a good throw.

Hog Molly of the Week: Vernon Butler

Mario Addison definitely deserves a mention for his two sacks, but it is time to give the rookie his due in this section. The stat line doesn’t show it, as often is the case with interior linemen, but Big Vern had some decent impact in limited snaps on Thursday Night. The most important by far was the blocked field goal before halftime, which ultimately resulted in a potential 10 point swing (assuming a made field goal and less a touchdown for the Panthers). Vernon Butler fully showed why the front office fell in love with his pure athleticism in the draft by jumping up and getting a big paw on that football, allowing Luke Kuechly the opportunity to turn it into a touchdown (or Ted Ginn, rather).