Panthers' offense looks to speed up pre-snap process this week
An NFL play clock provides 40 seconds between the end of one play and when the ball must be snapped for the next play. Teams approach the play clock differently, some choosing to snap the ball quickly, giving the defense little time to assess. Others work their way down into the clock, letting the quarterback take every second to dissect the defense and move playmakers around.
The key to the whole operation, though, lies in getting into a huddle (should a team do so), delivering the play, breaking the huddle, and lining up with time to spare.
On Sunday, in their Week 1 performance, the Panthers worked deep into the play clock nearly every snap. It was not intentional, Dave Canales admitted Monday.
"No, it's not," Canales said. "That's something that we want to get better at, so we'll be attacking that this week."
Canales, who is the primary play caller, spoke at times last season about getting the play call in quicker to his quarterback. After evaluating Sunday's game, the coach attributed the disconnect to a combination of not sending in the call quickly enough and Bryce Young not exiting the huddle promptly.
The result was the Panthers running a play on average every 26.68 seconds against the Jaguars, save the kneel-down drive at the end of the first half. That includes three drives when the Panthers went two-minute, no-huddle. Excluding those three drives, Carolina averaged a play every 32.6 seconds. For comparison, the Jaguars averaged a play every 27 seconds.
"We just got to keep pushing the whole group to make sure that we're replicating that (speed) and that's come to life in walk-through and practice," Canales said. "It creates more challenges, you know, we have the information we need to get the hots right, to get the protection right, but it's those critical five or six seconds—it doesn't seem like a lot of time, it's everything for us to be able to play at the line of scrimmage, get to the right looks and execute."