When facing a threat such as Fields, there is a question that arises: Do you spy him?
“I don’t believe there’s any cons,” admitted nickel Chau Smith-Wade. “I think that putting a spy on him just, you know, it disables his legs. We know what he can do with his legs, so we think that there’s more pros than cons.”
A “spy” indicates one defender whose entire assignment for the game is to keep an eye on and track the quarterback. If Fields drops back in the pocket, they can attempt a sack or track in case he scrambles. If he carries on a designed run, they should be the first there. As Smith-Wade indicated, there are a lot of positives.
The risk is then taking a defender away from the rest of the play. So, as the Panthers prepare for the Jets, how they decide to defend Fields could be an interesting layer to watch.
“It’s certainly going to be a priority this week to keep him in a pocket in those pass situations, get back on track, third down, and we know that, obviously, his ability to extend plays with his legs and make things happen with his legs is a big part of his game,” said Evero.
“So, we got to do a great job, whether we’re rushing four or five, spying, whatever we do, we got to do a great job of just having great awareness of the quarterback, rush lane integrity, eyes and vision on the quarterback, and those are going to be the biggest part of this game plan.”