To get more pressure on third down, Panthers eyeing improvement on first and second

The numbers through four games confirm Evero’s thesis. They’re not doing badly on third-and-longs; they’re just not creating enough of them.

Panthers opponents are averaging 5.9 yards to go on third down this season, which is 29th in the league.

They’ve only created 14 plays of third-and-7 or longer, which is 31st in the league. They’ve had 19 plays of third-and-1-through-3 (fourth-most in the league) and 20 of third-and-4-through-6 (second-most).

So, to Evero’s point, if they created more third-and-long chances, the ones more favorable to pass-rushers, the pass-rushers ought to improve.

“That’s been our whole thing all year long,” veteran outside linebacker Jadeveon Clowney said. “Just trying to figure out a way to stay out of third-and-3 or less, third-and-4 or less. And I think that’s the difference between the great defenses and the OK. It’s hard for guys to go third-and-7-plus in this league. Third-and-3, you’ve got plays for it. It’s hard to draw plays with third-and-7-plus, and you got to figure out a way to get them in this situation where it’s now third-and-3; that’s all you’ve got to do.”

Clowney was brought here to make impact plays against the run and pass. His ability to set edges in the run game separates him from a lot of pure pass-rushers, but he had 9.5 sacks last year, so he can clearly do it. He’s had moments of pressure this season, but the ones that get away still bother him. He went into intricate detail about last week’s struggles to get to Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, with a particular near-miss in his mind.

On that third-and-5 play in the early fourth quarter, Clowney was pressuring when safety Xavier Woods got an interception. After that play, the Bengals only threw one more pass the rest of the day as they tried to bleed the clock. Clowney was being blocked by rookie tackle Amarius Mims (6-foot-8, 340 pounds), the first-rounder making his first career start. But on that play, Clowney shot inside and had hands on Burrow before he escaped.