Against the Giants, Cameron Artis-Payne carried the ball 14 times for 59 yards (4.2 ypc) and caught two passes on two targets for 34 yards. Since Jonathan Stewart is out with a foot injury, Artis-Payne should get the bulk of the carries. The Giants are ranked 19th against the run according to DVOA rankings, while the Falcons are 21st in the same category. In this breakdown, we will take a look at how he performed and how he may be used next week versus the Falcons.

Play 1

Situation: 1st and 10 at NYG 46

Description: (3:30 – 2nd) C.Artis-Payne left guard to NYG 37 for 9 yards (C.Taylor, C.Dahl)

The Panthers are in shotgun slot left near with Artis-Payne in the backfield.

The Giants counter with a 4-3 Under defensive front with #96 Bromley as the strongside 1-tech and #98 Cofield as the weakside 3-tech.

After the snap, RT#74 Remmers pulls across the formation to block Cofield, while Artis-Payne presses the line of scrimmage.

LB#53 Brinkley attacks the line of scrimmage based on Artis-Payne’s position.

The key to this play is left tackle #73 Michael Oher who down blocks Brinkley. This creates a hole in the weakside B-gap for Artis-Payne to sprint through.

This is just a beautifully designed play and executed well by the offensive line.

Artis-Payne shows an ability to be patient in the backfield, while trusting his offensive line form holes.

Play 2

Situation: 1st and 10 at CAR 36

Description: (12:38 – 4th) (Shotgun) C.Artis-Payne left tackle to NYG 38 for 26 yards (P.Amukamara). CAR-R.Kalil was injured during the play

This was Artis-Payne’s longest run on the day and it went for 26 yards to the left on a triple-option.

WR#10 Corey Brown runs an end-around from the outside left of the shotgun slot formation.

LT#73 Oher down blocks while the center and the left guard pull around him to lead block for Artis-Payne.

As seen in the overhead view below, the reason why Newton hands off the ball to Artis-Payne instead of keeping it himself is based on him counting the outside defenders. Newton sees two men and if there was 0 or 1 he would have kept it himself.

The key to this play like in Play 1 is the down block by Oher which creates the hole for Artis-Payne to run through.

is the down block by Oher which creates the hole for Artis-Payne to run through. Artis-Payne shows he can get to his top speed rather quickly, but he, unfortunately, just does not possess that elite second gear speed to make players miss.

Play 3

Situation: 1st and 10 at CAR 20

Description: (15:00 – 3rd) C.Artis-Payne left guard to CAR 20 for no gain (J.Casillas, J.Brinkley)

One of Artis-Payne’s biggest strengths coming out of college was his vision to see lanes. Unfortunately, it was his lack of vision on this run from singleback that eliminated a gain that might have been. Tight end #84 Ed Dickson pulls across the formation after the snap and holds the edge, but Artis-Payne picks the weakside B-gap instead.

In my opinion if Artis-Payne followed Dickson outside he had a chance at a bigger gain especially if Dickson reach blocked linebacker #53 Brinkley (circled in blue) in the secondary. I showed both views below so you can see that he did have space to the outside. Instead of a 0 yard gain, a 5-6 yard gain is not inconceivable.

Artis-Payne on the Goal Line

The Panthers used Artis-Payne in a goal line situation at the end of the first quarter. He didn’t score because the Giants shut the run down, but it’s encouraging to see that the Panthers’ offensive coordinator Mike Shula trusts him at least to give him an attempt in this specific situation. The Panthers scored two plays later with Cam Newton throwing a short touchdown pass to Ted Ginn Jr instead.

Artis-Payne in the Passing Game

There were concerns of Artis-Payne’s receiving ability coming out of Auburn. The skeptics didn’t like that he dropped passes and that he had small hands (8-1/2″). Against the Giants, the Panthers mainly used him as a checkdown receiver, when he was in on passing plays. He finished the game with two receptions on two targets for 34 yards.

The first pass was in the middle of the 3rd quarter. Out of the shotgun, Artis-Payne sprints to the flat underneath the Giants’ single-high safety man coverage with three underneath linebacker zones. Linebacker #55 JT Thomas is late getting to the sideline and consequently takes a poor angle tackle on Artis-Payne. The running back sheds the tackle and gets up the sideline for a 20 yard gain.

The second pass was a designed running back screen. Artis-Payne takes the ball up the middle of the field patiently following his blockers for a 14 yard gain.

Artis-Payne was in on some pass protection duties, but it was certainly limited. The Panthers have #43 Fozzy Whittaker to play their 3rd down back duties, so I expect Artis-Payne to be used as a first and second down runner versus the Falcons. Just like against the Giants, Artis-Payne probably won’t be the main goal line back as the Panthers have Mike Tolbert as well. If the Panthers get to a quick lead like they did in their last match versus the Falcons, Artis-Payne could see a large number of carries in the 3rd and 4th quarters to run the game clock down.

Artis-Payne showed patience to set up blocks and a natural ability to execute the running plays properly in Shula’s offense. The one major issue Artis-Payne has is his lack of elite speed and acceleration. Even though this is the case, he should be able to run the ball effectively against the Falcons with more carries.

Follow Samuel Gold on Twitter: @SamuelRGold.