The Panthers’ victory against the Patriots on Sunday was many things: unexpected, promising and, most relevant to this article, meticulous. It was not a performance dominated by long touchdowns and break-out runs but rather by a pair of teams methodically moving the ball down the field, albeit with occasional stumbles.

For the Panthers, this meant completing a season-high thirteen passes of between five and fifteen yards; more than in the 49ers and Saints games combined. This might seem like an arbitrary cut-off but it can be used as a way to demonstrate how effective a team’s short passing attack is which is important because while long passes are effective at generating touchdowns on an individual basis, consistent offensive production is highly reliant on the ability to consistently move the chains. This article looks to explore how the Panthers’s short passing attack was able to be so successful, and how it could continue to improve going forward.

Schemed Open

A major part of the argument for short passing in the NFL is the potential for yards after the catch, and no play type is a better example of this than screens. These plays run the risk of being blown-up due to the lack of available reads, but are very effective at getting the ball in the hands of the team’s play-makers.

On this play, the Panthers look to stretch the Patriots to the sidelines and then run a tunnel screen back inside to Shepherd. Plays like this test both a defense’s discipline in terms of assignments and their ability to make tackles in open space. On the following play, the Panthers use a play-action fake to generate the breakdown in defensive assignment before throwing the ball to McCaffrey as he breaks to the flat.

When they work well, these plays can be hugely effective as they pick up good yardage without having to risk longer throws. The downside is that they are heavily dependent on facing either a blitz or zone coverage, something which the quarterback is tasked with identifying pre-snap. This is a typical solution to attempt to scheme certain players the ball, but the lack of reads built into most screen plays and the shift in the offensive line generally makes them the most vulnerable to negative plays.

Another way in which the Panthers used play-design to generate plays on Sunday was their use of short play-action passes. The Panthers have struggled with play action plays early in the season, largely due their focus on using it to generate deeper plays down the field. While this did still happen a couple of times on Sunday, resulting in at least one sack; they also used it as a means of opening up underneath routes. On the following two plays, the Panthers use a run fake to draw the linebackers down and so open up the space behind them.

On the first play this is done by running Benjamin on a crosser behind the linebackers who are drawn down by the hard run fake. On the second, it is actually the prospect of Cam running with the ball on the bootleg that forces the outside linebacker down allowing the short catch and run by Dickson. Again, these plays are quite dependent on correctly recognizing the defense pre-snap, but when paired with an effective running game; as seen on Sunday; then they can be yet another effective way of generating consistent passing yardage.

Twist and Shout

The ‘twist’ route concept was described in detail in an earlier piece, and was used effectively in several variant forms by the Panthers on Sunday. In brief, this concept works by running a running back swing route to the open side of the field, with the outside receiver running an inside route, typically a slant. This concept works by allowing the quarterback to read the outside linebacker and the outside corner and is effective against both man, zone, and blitz coverages. On the first two plays, the Panthers use the running back to draw the linebacker out to the flat and then throw the ball to the space he has vacated:

On the next play, however, they run the receiver flatter and so effectively use him as a pick for the running back. The key with plays like this is the speed with which the ball comes out, as delays allow for the inside defender to close on the swing route and limit its effectiveness. This was unfortunately the case on a couple of variant plays the Panthers ran on Sunday. On the second play, for example, the first read in clearly further down the field, and by the time Newton moves off it the short window is much smaller.

This, however, does not mean that such plays are hugely flawed, but rather that the read orders might be wrong. Despite this, the Panthers still showed how this route concept can be used effectively and should continue to be a major part of the of the Panthers’ offense going forwards.

Content With Small Gains

Devin Funchess had one of the best games of his career against the Patriots on Sunday, and a major part of this was Cam’s willingness to target him repeatedly on short routes against man coverage. Funchess is an excellent route runner for his size and is able to generate quick separation, especially against off-coverage. On the following three plays, Funchess is lined up against a man who is off the line of scrimmage and Funchess is able to use a quick outwards break to allow for the short reception.

These plays might not look hugely flashy, and in many ways they aren’t, but they are extremely hard to defend and, as exemplified in the final clip above, allow for real run-after-the-catch potential. The other way in which the Panthers were able to move the chains consistently with short passes was by looking to target McCaffrey both out of the backfield and from the slot. In the first play, McCaffrey is simply lined up against the linebacker inside and is able to easily get open for the first down.

On this next play, the Panthers line McCaffrey up in the slot and get the ball in his hands against zone, allowing for run after the catch. Plays like this are effective in themselves, but by forcing defenses to consistently defend the pass in a disciplined manner, the offense is able to force opposing defenses into mental errors, as was the case on Sunday. On of the best examples of this was on Funchess’ first touchdown.

By motioning Funchess across the formation, the Panthers force the Patriots to look to pass him from one defender to another. While this doesn’t often go wrong, the more a defense is forced to do so the more likely they are to commit such an error. None of these reasons alone are what allowed the Panthers to defeat the Patriots on Sunday, but in summation they force a defense to operate on the back foot and when combined with an effective running game are an extremely effective way of generating consistent offense. At his best Newton can make thirty yard passes look routine, but plays like this allow the Panthers to win even when he is not at his best.