Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams is having the breakout season team fans have been waiting for since 2003, the year Stephen Davis gained 1,444 yards as Carolina advanced to Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Williams has accumulated 782 yards on 153 carries and has scored six touchdowns, and he owns a 5.1 yards per carry average this season.
Just for comparison, consensus elite RB Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings has carried 225 times for 1,100 yards and seven touchdowns in 2008. AP has a 4.9 yards- per-carry average. Theoretically, if Williams had as many carries as Peterson, he would have 48 yards more than Peterson, in addition to several more touchdowns.
But Williams doesn't get as many carries as other starting running backs because he's in a platoon with rookie Jonathan Stewart. The pair forms a two-headed rushing monster.
Nevertheless, Williams is getting better every week.
At the beginning of the year, Williams was turning in poor performances against better run defenses.
He combined for 85 yards against the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, three teams well known for their stifling run defenses. Yes, I know—the Bears' run defense is terrible now. But there were unusual circumstances that made running on them tough in that game. And I'm not just saying that to make Williams look better.
But he was also tearing up porous run defenses, running for a combined 383 yards and five touchdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and Detroit Lions.
A key attribute to Williams' success is the offensive line.
In Week Two against the Bears, star Panthers receiver Steve Smith was serving the second game of a two-week suspension (we all know what for, but everything has been fine for a long time, so I won't go into that). That made it much easier for the Bears to stack eight in the box and focus almost entirely on stopping the run.
In addition, Panthers starting left guard Travelle Wharton didn't play that week because of a knee injury.
Essentially, the Panthers were missing a starter pivotal to the success of their running game as well as a notable figure in their passing game, which allowed a then-dominant run defense to stack the line of scrimmage, making it nearly impossible for an elusive back like Williams to have a respectable game.
As a result, he gained only 31 yards on 11 carries in the first half and was spelled by backup Jonathan Stewart at the beginning of the second half.
In Week Three against the Vikings, Carolina faced one of the NFL's most daunting rush defenses with Wharton out once again. Sure, it didn't help that Wharton sat out the game. But the real kicker was that the Vikings were 0-2 at that point and in real danger of dropping so far down that they would be playing catch-up the rest of the season if they were going to have a shot at making the playoffs.
Thus, Minnesota came out with a fire that only a team trying to save their season would have. Needless to say that that extra competitiveness and adrenaline only made their defense better, namely their run defense.
Carolina's offensive line got severely overmatched and couldn't open any holes for Williams to run through, and nobody could have successfully juked five defenders rapidly converging in wave. So Williams only picked up 27 yards on 10 carries.
In Week Six against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-2), the Panthers (4-1) were pitted against another of the league's top defenses. The Bucs were fired up and hell-bent on getting a share of the NFC South lead. The Panthers came out as flat and out-of-sync as Tampa Bay came out ready to go and on the same page.
Plus, three of the Panthers' starting offensive linemen—C Ryan Kalil, LT Jordan Gross, and RT Jeff Otah missed the game with injuries. And Panthers QB Jake Delhomme had a terrible game, as he threw three interceptions, which meant that the passing game was nonexistent, allowing the Bucs to stack eight in the box like the Bears had done.
Combine myriad offensive line injuries, a terrible passing game, and a highly determined, top defense waiting on edge in every pre-snap count to clobber him, it's understandable that Williams only had 27 yards on 11 carries.
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