If there has been one constant about the Carolina Panthers under the leadership of general manager David Gettleman, it has been an obsession with size, specifically an over-abundance of it at every position on the field. Gettleman believes that football is a big man’s game, and that ultimately you can coach everything else, but you can only grow so big and so strong until you hit the limits of your genetics. He has said as such many times on many separate occasions:

“Big men allow you to compete. We're certainly going to look at the big hog mollies.” — Gettleman before his first draft as Panthers GM

“If you’re not strong on either side of the line with the big guys, it’s going to bite you. It’s going to cost you. That was the one thing I knew we (The Panthers) had to do.” — Gettleman talking to Sports Illustrated prior to Super Bowl 50 "You can't coach 6-5, 240, with a 34 inch arm length, and 10 inch hands."

— Gettleman, after drafting Kelvin Benjamin

In the spirit of Mr. Gettleman, 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 “loss” to the Denver Broncos, and see where we went right, and where we went wrong.

Offensive Hogmollies

Yards per carry: 4.9 (5th NFL)

Third down conversions: 9 out of 15 (3rd NFL)

Sacks given up: 3 (T-22nd)

Running plays less than 3 yards (not including sacks): 3

Rating: 4 out of 5 Bacon Bangers

For the most part, the offensive line did a great job in run blocking, where the Panthers ended up rushing for 157 yards (2nd in the NFL). Both Jonathan Stewart and Cam Newton had success on the ground, and the line only allowed three negative plays. In fact, until the final drive of the game, the Panthers kept the sack total to just a single sack. The Denver Broncos are a team that are going to get pressure no matter what you do, and even though the overall sack number is fairly low for having played them, they did have a sizeable number of QB hurries, hits, and knockdowns. We have talked at length about the illegal hits to Cam Newton, no reason to re-hash it here.

On an individual level, the interior line play was solid with Andrew Norwell, Ryan Kalil, and Trai Turner playing a fairly clean game with just a couple penalties excepted. The problems, as expected, were on the edge where Von Miller and Demarcus Ware again wreaked some havoc, though less than in the Super Bowl. Compared to his last contest, and certainly given his opposition, Mike Remmers did a decent job on the whole.

Defensive Hogmollies

Yards per carry allowed: 5.1 (T-29th NFL)

3rd Down Conversions allowed: 5 out of 10 (T-21st NFL)

Sacks: 2 (T-12th NFL)

Running plays less than 3 yards: 11

Rating: 2 out of 5 Pork Pounders

All things considered, fans expected more from the Carolina Panthers defense facing a fresh quarterback in Trevor Siemian and an average running back in C.J. Anderson. The Panthers allowed the Broncos to run all over them for one of the worst YPA averages in football for week 1, and a total of 148 yards given up. Though the Panthers did make a stand on several running plays for short or no gains, they often gave up runs in large chunks of 10+ yards. Some of this can be attributed to poor run support by the corners and safeties, but some can be blamed on poor edge contain as well.

Two sacks is simply not good enough for this defense, especially given the passer they faced. Vernon Butler did notch his first career sack, but other than that no lineman was able to grab a hold of the QB, though Charles Johnson did force one fumble. Overall, sub-par is what we all saw, and the defense will need to turn it up a bit if we want to go back to the postseason.

Kelvin Benjamin

6 receptions, 91 yards, 1 touchdown

Rating: 5 out of 5 Swine Snatchers

Honorary Hogmolly Kelvin Benjamin had a great first game back, showcasing why he is such a tough cover against one of the better (although dirtiest) secondaries in football. His touchdown catch was the perfect example of what such a big target can do for you, as he effectively screened off the defenders and made the catch look routine.

Hogmolly of the Week: Mike Remmers

As touched on above, Remmers did about as good a job as you could against Von Miller, holding him to 3 tackles and a single sack, though he did give up a few hurries. Hopefully he can carry that momentum forward into the 49ers game and keep Cam Newton’s jersey nice and clean.