[HeathyT]

Thomas to the Panthers

Breaking News. Notre Dame Offensive Coordinator Heath Thomas has officially been named the new Offensive Coordinator for the Carolina Panthers, ending much speculation.

Adam Schefter - NFL Network


What does the the hiring of Thomas mean for the Panthers offence?

With the hiring of Heath Thomas as offensive coordinator for the Panthers, thinks are sure to be different on offence. As most Panther fans are learning more about Thomas, lets take a look at what the hiring of Thomas mean for the Panthers.

The Fit: John Fox is a defensive minded head coach, and will need someone to call plays on offence. Thomas doens't have the most experience as a play caller as Charlie Weis called most of the plays at Notre Dame, but Thomas is a very creative playcaller as we have seen in games against USC and Michigan. It seems like Thomas will have control of the offence, and this may seem like a good thing, but Thomas has a tendency to be over agressive with his play calling at times. John Fox will have to keep a leash so to speak.

Thomas is highly ambitious and will likely see this as a stepping stone to becoming a head coach somewhere in the NFL. Thomas may use the Panthers to show how he can turn around offenses, which makes some people think if he is succesful bring the offence back, will he be after John Fox's job?

Playcalling: From a playcalling standpoint, we might have to get used to an over agressive style of game management, Thomas comes from the school of Charlie Weis where there will be some questionable playcalls where this situation doesn't call for it, hopefully a strong coach like Fox will keep a young agressive coach like Thomas from making too many questionable calls.

As for the actual system the Panthers offence will probably look similar to the one if New England that was setup by Weis. Thomas does like to get an effective run game going as most deep passes come off play action. The standard passing will mostly be short/intermediate routes. The key is taking advantage a defences agressivness. When the defence gets over agressive they will look foolish when we run a screen, if they aren't respection the run, we will be pounding it inside, if they are agressive on the run we will go play action and throw it over the top of the defence.

Personnel:

QB: In Thomas' system the quarterback doens't need to make all the plays, and throw downfield often. The quarterback just needs to throw a lot of short/intermediate routes, and play action, not too much will be asked of the position, as the ball should be out fairly quickly. Thomas will likely setup an offence where the quarterback is comfortable.

Running Back: The running back position is fairly tricky, it will be hard to see where DeAngelo Williams fits into this system because he is different to the backs we usually see coming from the Thomas/Weis system. While the system isn't married to a ball control offence, it does rely on a solid running game to keep the linebackers honest. It is more suited for a smashmouth running style as opposed to an outside running attack. Expect Thomas to find a way for Williams to work in the system.

WR: At the wide receiver position Thomas seems to like sure-handed receivers. Typically he will have 1 big receiver complimented by a smaller possetion receiver with decent but not unbelievable speed. The Panthers sort of have this in Mushin Muhammad (although he is getting on in age) and Steve Smith. I believe that Smith will likely play in the slot as in Thomas' system the slot receiver should have speed (but not blazing), great hands and be a flawless route runner, which fits the mould of Smith quite well.

TE: At tight end Thomas is going to want guys who can roll out and cover short ground, which it doesn't seem that the Panthers have athletic enough TE's to do this well. However the TE must be able to block effecively in the run game (and something in the pass) so Jeff King and Dontae Rosario would do an alright job there.

Offensive Line: As far as protection. The system requires good blockers to keep the quarterback upright. However because the system relies on punishing defenders for being overagressive alot of blocking issues can be resolved through creative playcalling. The interior lineman must be well suited to run blocking.

Overall it should be interesting to see if Heath Thomas can bring the Panthers offence back to life this season.

Brian Strickland - Panthers.com