Mailbag: Where’s CJ Anderson? Where do Panthers have an advantage against Eagles?

After a disappointing 23-17 loss to Washington last Sunday, the Carolina Panthers (3-2) are hoping to rebound.

But it’ll be a tough test, because they’re heading to Philadelphia to take on the defending Super Bowl Champion Eagles (3-3).

Naturally, you have questions about Sunday’s 1 p.m. matchup. I picked the best five inquiries I received on Twitter this week. Let’s get after it.

Question from @Sideline_Hero20: Will the Panthers come out on Sunday and throw the ball early, or will they force the run game on another stingy defense?

Answer: Head coach Ron Rivera always believes in establishing the run to set up the pass. And last week, the Panthers got into a pickle early after three turnovers forced them to play from behind, which meant scrapping the original game plan of trying to get a complementary run-pass rhythm going.

But there’s a lot of opportunity to attack this Philadelphia secondary, which has been re-shuffled because of injuries. The Eagles are particularly vulnerable in the nickel, because Sidney Jones has a hamstring injury and safety Avonte Maddox has had to fill in. Carolina might have the opportunity to set up the quick passes out of the slot and underneath that have worked well with Christian McCaffrey. Another possibly fortuitous matchup here is with tight end Greg Olsen, who is expected to have another full workload on Sunday.

Question from @mikeginclt: Is this defense missing Star (Lotulelei)?

Answer: I think defensive tackle Dontari Poe, who replaced Lotulelei on the interior this fall, has been an excellent addition to the Panthers’ defense.

Lotulelei has appeared to have a fantastic start to his career in Buffalo, but that doesn’t mean Poe has not been doing his job as a space-eater who can occupy blocks well and penetrate. I’d like to see a little more of his explosive playmaking ability.

There’s an adjustment period when any new player enters a system such as Carolina’s defensive front. Every player needs to complement the other and work in sync, because a front seven is supposed to be both fluid and disruptive. The Panthers also have a new defensive line coach in Brady Hoke, after defensive coordinator Eric Washington coached the unit for seven years.

Because Carolina plays a single-gap run defense, everybody in the front seven has one gap assignment on every snap, which varies from play to play as the defensive calls are made to counter the offense. So when it comes to the Panthers’ inconsistent run defense, which currently ranks No. 15 in the league with 102.4 yards allowed per game, everybody has work to do.

Question from @junior_fl1: Why isn’t CJ (Anderson) playing more? Do you think he’ll play more this week?

Answer: There are a couple of ways to look at Anderson’s limited role in Carolina’s offense.

The first is incredulously. Anderson was a 1,000-yard rusher last season in Denver. So why not use him more? He has played just 31 of a possible 332 offensive snaps, about 9 percent.

The other way to view it might be more realistic, though. We all assumed lead running back Christian McCaffrey and Anderson would be more of a tandem, similar to how McCaffrey was used in complement to veteran Jonathan Stewart last year.

But if we’ve learned anything about this Panthers offense through the first five weeks, it’s that a major part of it runs through McCaffrey both as a runner and a receiver. So is it possible that Anderson is simply in the role of a backup? Coaches won’t expand much on this point, saying instead that they play the players they play based on scheme and fit.

Either way, I love the situational play design opportunities with Anderson in the personnel grouping alongside McCaffrey. Against Cincinnati, the Panthers ran a gorgeous play out of “21 ponies”, during which McCaffrey was a decoy to shift the defense and Anderson got the ball and scored. I’d like to see more of that same creativity throughout the game.

But more of those opportunities present themselves when a team hasn’t gotten itself into a 17-point, three-turnover hole.

Question from @CarPan423: Why do you think our vertical game hasn’t developed this year (weapons, offensive line, quarterback Cam Newton’s arm)? We know in order to have a real shot in January, we need to stretch the field. What needs to be done to make it happen?

Answer: Great question, and one I got into detail on this week. Newton has completed one pass in 14 deep (20-plus yards) attempts. Over the last seven seasons, he’s averaged 22 deep completions per season. So he’s pretty far behind that rate, although his yards per attempt (6.8) is about on par with his career average (7.0). He’s also completing 65.9 percent of his passes.

But the deep ball is an important facet of the game.

First, I don’t buy into the theory that anything is wrong with Newton’s arm.

But I think the issues going deep are a little bit of everything else, all at different times. Sometimes Newton is simply missing the throw or the read of the player. A lot of times in the past, the deep receiver was his first read. In coordinator Norv Turner’s offense, there’s an emphasis on checkdown opportunities, and they seem to be where Newton is looking earlier in his progressions.

Sometimes the receivers haven’t been open. Torrey Smith said the deep receiver needs to make sure he gets what’s called a “clean release” off the line of scrimmage, meaning he doesn’t get jammed up at the snap by a defensive player and can create early separation.

And the Panthers have had to get really creative with their protections and quick passing game since both starting left and right tackles went on injured reserve. So that’s been a factor, too.

Teams also played the Panthers early in the season in a way that took away more deep options, as they tried to keep everything in front of them (hello, Atlanta in Week 2). That meant more underneath balls, particularly to McCaffrey.

So it’s a little bit of everything. That’s not exactly reassuring, but there’s also no reason to think that Newton can’t connect on more of these as the season continues. Hurling the deep ball keeps defenses accountable and stretches them backward a bit. That sets up the intermediate and checkdown passes. And that brings us right back to where we started.

Question from @Andy_Spicer: Do you classify hot dogs as sandwiches, or as a standalone food item?

Answer: A hot dog is a hot dog. This national debate is tearing us apart.