O-line will have hands full against 3-4 defense

By Darin Gantt - daringantt@carolina.rr.com

CHARLOTTE -- It's still just seven guys.

But for the Carolina Panthers, Monday's game at Dallas presents a new challenge, as they have to adjust to playing against a 3-4 defense for the first time this season. The Cowboys are the first of five opponents this year — along with New England, Miami, Arizona and the New York Jets — that run some version of the three-lineman, four-linebacker set, and that takes some getting used to.

It would be one thing if the offense was clicking, but it has operated in fits and starts all summer. They know they have to be on point Monday night, and having to adjust to new schemes presents one more challenge.

“With a 3-4 defense, they use so many looks, so sometimes they catch you thinking, and you can't think in this game,” guard Keydrick Vincent said. “The key is just that you have to identify the front, and then make sure you make the right decisions, as fast as they do.

“We've just got to get up there, break out of the huddle quick and make sure we're on the same page quick, so we can play fast like the defense.”

In many ways, that's easier said than done.

All week, the Panthers blockers have talked about identification and communication as the keys to moving the ball against the Cowboys.

Granted, those were the same two factors that led to their opening-week disaster against Philadelphia, which runs a 4-3 set but confused the Panthers with variations all day.

The burden for the two keys falls mostly on third-year center Ryan Kalil, who stepped up to admit his portion of the blame after the opener, when rush lanes were few and blitzers came through clear to hit quarterback Jake Delhomme.

“Communication is key,” Kalil said. “That's the thing about our position. No offense to a defensive linemen, but for them, when all else fails, you just run to the ball. For us, communication, where we're going and technique is everything. It makes the biggest difference in the world. That's something I take a lot of pride in, understanding what the game plan is every week, and going over and over until it's second nature. The more you know it, the faster you can get out the calls and communicate what you need to do and the faster you can play.

“A lot of times where you have problems is if we're hesitant, speaking for myself, hesitant in calls and try to read on the run. That's where you have problems. You can't be as explosive in the run game or as clean in pass protection as you want to be when you aren't playing fast with that thought process.”

The good news for the Panthers is that the 3-4 set is, by nature, easier to run against since you've replaced a big body inside with a smaller, quicker one. For a physical line like the Panthers', they'll take the mismatch if they can get it.

That rule, however, is a dated bit of conventional wisdom. Last year, two of the top five run defenses in the league (Pittsburgh and Baltimore) ran the 3-4, so it's not an absolute truth.

“People in Pittsburgh say that?” offensive coordinator Jeff Davidson said with a laugh. “It's funny, I've heard people say that, but I don't believe that's the case at all. ... I don't buy into it, to be honest with you.”

Proponents of the 3-4 admit it's a scheme designed with disrupting the passing game in mind, since trading a 300-pound lineman for a linebacker gives you better chances in both pass coverage and rush. But the Cowboys run a variant of the scheme, as they'll show many 4-3 looks with 6-foot-4, 262-pound outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware.

“It is a very mobile defense where you have four linebackers that can run to the football,” said Cowboys coach Wade Phillips. “And it can give you some good matchups on guys in pass rush and pass protection.

“Usually it's just so much harder to find seven or eight defensive linemen. They are hard to find and hard to pay if you find enough of them.”

The set provides one other obvious challenge for the Panthers' inside-out running game.