Carolina Panthers’ HC not sure fast-paced offenses are worth it
By Mike Dyce
The Philadelphia Eagles unveiled Chip Kelly’s new up-tempo offense on Monday Night Football against the Washington Redskins. It seemed to work early in the game when the Eagles dominated the ball. The New England Patriots have been known to run a hurry-up offense as well.
As the NFL trends towards more up tempo offenses, Carolina Panthers head coach Ron Rivera isn’t sure that it is worth it.
“I’m not quite sure what the real, true benefit is other than having a few more plays,” Rivera said Thursday, per The Charlotte Observer. “People say, ‘Well, you get 75, 80 plays going faster.’ You also can go 1-2-3 and out faster and put the other team back on the field faster. So which is it?”
The risk is that by speeding things up you could make a mistake and turn the ball over, which will cause your tired defense to go back on the field.
“There’s some stretches if you go out there and you go too fast and make a mistake, and all of a sudden your defense is back out there. Now your defense is getting worn down. Is that a good thing, too?”
The Panthers certainly could fit the mold of the teams that run these up-tempo offenses with their offensive weapons. Cam Newton could thrive in an offense where he is allowed to be more creative like the other mobile quarterbacks in the league. Instead the Panthers seem determined to remain conservative.