Between The Lines: Carolina's Line Keeps Jake Delhomme Clean

Every week we look at some aspect of line play around the league with our Between The Lines feature.

As the playoffs get closer and closer, the Panthers may supplant the Plaxico Burress-less Giants as the NFC's No. 1 seed. If they do, a lot of the credit will go to an offense that can run (with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart) and pass.

But an even bigger reason the Panthers are 6-1 over the past seven games is because they have finally gotten their starting offensive line playing together.

Early in the season, injuries wrecked the Panthers' line. First guard Travelle Wharton missed two games with a knee injury. Tackle Jordan Gross missed a game with a concussion. Then ankle injuries sidelined tackle Jeff Otah (four games) and center Ryan Kalil (four games). Because of all the injuries, right guard Keydrick Vincent is the only lineman to start all 14 games this season, and three different Panthers' substitutes have started a total of 11 games this year.
But over the past five weeks, the starting five have all been healthy. And not coincidentally, Carolina is 4-1 over that stretch. Against the Bucs two weeks ago, Otah showed what he could do, as he consistently got to the second level, blocking linebackers to create massive holes for Williams and Stewart. The Panthers ran through Tampa Bay's defense for nearly 300 yards. After watching that, the Broncos decided to make sure that DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart didn't beat them. They almost succeeded at that, but in doing so, Jake Delhomme and Steve Smith picked the Broncos apart.

Broncos defensive coordinator Bob Slowick realized that he didn't have a whole lot of options to slow down the Panthers' running game. His defensive line is filled with speedy pass rushers who aren't good at the point of attack, and his linebackers aren't particularly physical.

We can all agree that the Denver's defense is awful. And there's plenty of blame to go around. If you blame Slowick, there is a lot to criticize. He's shuffled from one scheme to another, trying to find anything that works. The Broncos have switched back-and-forth between the 4-3 and 3-4 defenses, before pulling out all the stops with a 4-4 defense against the Panthers to try to shut down the two-headed monster of Williams and Stewart.

HOW THEY'VE DONE
Name	Sacks	Penalties
Jeff Otah	4 1/2	6
Jordan Gross	3	8
Geoff Hangartner	3	0
Keydrick Vincent	3	3
Travelle Wharton	1 1/2	2
Jake Delhomme	2	--
Jonathan Stewart	1	--
DeAngelo Williams	1	--
Ryan Kalil	0	2

If you want to give Slowick the benefit of the doubt, you have to credit him with trying to find something that will work. If you don't, you can blame him for keeping the defense from ever getting comfortable in one scheme.

But it is clear that the Broncos felt they had no good alternatives. They stuck with the plan to slow down the Panthers' running game, even if Steve Smith's huge first quarter forced the Broncos to junk the 4-4 for much of the second half. But their concerns about the running game and the weaknesses of their secondary meant that Slowick played very conservative pass defense all night. By my count, the Broncos sent five men on a pass rush once -- one blitz in 26 pass attempts.

And with Pro Bowl left tackle Gross and promising rookie right tackle Otah, a four-man rush just wasn't going to get it done for the Broncos. Delhomme was hurried once and never sacked. And with time to sit back and pick out his receivers, Delhomme was able to carve up the Broncos' secondary.

The crazy thing is that the Broncos' approach did largely work as intended. By focusing almost entirely on shutting down the Panthers running game, Denver was able to slow down Carolina on the ground. Williams busted a 56-yard run for a touchdown thanks to a missed Broncos tackle, but otherwise, Carolina was held to 84 yards on 27 carries.

To get a better sense of the Panthers' line's strengths and weaknesses I went back and logged all 19 sacks the Panthers have given up this year. In the end, four of them can't be blamed in any way on the offensive line. Delhomme didn't see a cornerback blitz coming on one costly play against the Vikings (Antoine Winfield sacked Delhomme, scooped up the ball and returned it for a touchdown), and a seven-man blitz by the Falcons left the line with more blitzers than blockers. Also, both Stewart and Williams failed to pick up blitzers once. That leaves only 15 sacks allowed by the offensive line this year, which is a very credible performance, especially when you consider that the Panthers have had to replace Gross, Otah, Wharton and Kalil at different times this season.

What jumps out is that with Gross and Otah, the Panthers do a good job of giving Delhomme time. Gross had problems with Vikings defensive end Jared Allen (one sack and a holding call) in Week Three, and he also gave up a sack to Alex Brown in Week Two, but since those two rough weeks in the first three weeks of the season, he's given up one sack -- a bull rush by Chauncey Davis tripped him up in Week 11. If there's one thing that Gross needs to watch, it's his tendency to pick up yellow laundry. Thanks to the difficulty of facing Allen in the loud dome at Minnesota, Gross recorded two false starts and a holding penalty that week. For the season he has five false starts, two holds and an unnecessary roughness penalty, which ranks him among the more penalized linemen in the league.

For a rookie, Otah has been very good. He's already a punishing run blocker, but he's also showed he can hold his own in pass blocking. Green Bay defensive end Aaron Kampman roughed him up for two sacks, Shaun Philips beat him for half a sack in the first game of the season, he was unable to stick with Bears defensive tackle Israel Idonijie on a stunt in Week Two, and he and Kevin Carter recorded a sack on a play that was really Delhomme's fault -- he rolled outside, right to where Otah was steering Carter. Otah also has been flagged for five false starts and one hold, although four of those penalties came in the first three weeks of the season. For a rookie who's started 10 games, that's a very credible performance.

Inside, fill-in Geoff Hangartner seemed over his head at times, but with Keydrick Vincent, Ryan Kalil and Travelle Wharton, the Panthers have a very solid interior. Kalil has been especially solid, as he's allowed no sacks and committed only two penalties this season. In run blocking, he doesn't look spectacular, but he is solid.

As a group now that the Panthers front five are healthy, they have quickly jelled into a very solid group. While Gross is a Pro Bowler, he's not the kind of dominant left tackle who simply eliminates a good defensive end. But Gross and Otah are very solid run blockers and able to more than hold their own in pass blocking. With a pair of very talented backs and Steve Smith, that's enough to give the Panthers a chance to compete with anybody come playoff time.