By: Lucas Meyer
Ridley or Moore? Ridley or Moore? Moore! The two wide receivers will always be compared as long as they are both on their respective teams. With Torrey Smith out for a few weeks now, it’s given Moore and Curtis Samuel chances to show why both were drafted in the top rounds of the draft. Both guys are taking the opportunities and running with it, too. Samuel is still trying to figure out all the ins and outs of being a WR since he played a lot of RB in college and was hurt most of last year. Like Samuel, Moore still has a lot to learn with his routes and not always trying to get that extra yard.
Moore went for 157 yards and 1 TD on 7/8 catches. This was the best stat line for any rookie WR in Panthers history and the 82 yard catch was the longest catch since 2016. Moore averaged 22.4 yards per catch last Sunday and is averaging 15.8 yards per catch on the season which is 8th in the league. Cam also has a QB rating of 133.9 when he goes for Moore which is the 8th best in the league. He’s got a YAC of 7.2 per target which is 15th in the league. He’s only getting 1.28 yards of separation which he should be able to expand with experience. Since week 8 when he got more of the snap share (69%+) he’s gotten 283 yards on 17 receptions which calculates out to 16.65 yards per catch. I know that’s a lot of stats to take in but ultimately it shows why we took Moore over Ridley and it was because of his ability to make people miss and take a short pass and make it long and flip the field position.
With Torrey Smith likely to come back in the near future that sort of puts a damper on Moore’s opportunities. Or does it? When Smith is active I don’t think much changes with Moore. The person that will most likely be effected by it will be Funchess. The amount of opportunities that Funchess has had this year and still only ahead of Moore for receiving yards by 42 yards is awful. Moore has a catch rate of 76% compared to Funchess at 60%. Funchess is also leading the league in drops at 10 (1/game). I’m not saying Funchess doesn’t deserve a the playing time because he’s had some big time catches and can go up and high point the ball over a defender really well but his playing time should go down as Smith comes back. Our top 3 WR with the best catch percentage is Moore, Samuel, and Wright in that order. Those are the 3 that create the most problems when on the field.
The approach of not truly having a “number 1” WR is what we should do. You don’t need a clear cut WR 1 to win games or a super bowl. The Eagles showed that last year as they didn’t have a single WR/TE/RB with 1000 yards receiving or even 850 yards. It’s because Wentz and Foles were throwing to the open guy. Cam can do that as well and seems to shine when that’s what he does (2015, 2018). Run the ball and spread it out to the open guy and our offense could be a lot like the Eagles last year. In order to do that though Moore has to be on the field like he is now and Smith and Funchess can split the reps that Funchess is getting.
What do you think?
As always, KEEP POUNDING!
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