Bruce Irvin is in his first season with the Panthers, but the defensive end is experiencing some familiar feelings.
Irvin was part of the Seahawks team that won Super Bowl XLVIII on the back of an overwhelming defense. That defense included a front seven that made life tough on opposing quarterbacks, which was not the case for the Panthers defense in 2018.
Irvin believes things will be different this season. He said the Panthers defense “kind of compares” to the one that Seattle employed this season.
“That team went eight deep up front,” Irvin said, via the Charlotte Observer. “We had four really good guys, and then four more went in and there was no drop-off. So that’s kind of the feeling I’m getting here. We had a lot of dudes. Everybody communicated. That’s the kind of vibe it is here.”
The Panthers are integrating several new faces up front as Irvin, Brian Burns and Gerald McCoy are all new to the team and set for major roles this season. Carolina will need all of them to hit the ground running to even come close to the kind of success Seattle had back then.