Panthers Defense vs Philly Defense: Talent in individuality vs talent in Unit

Serious break away from my usual humorous self here.

I got to thinking about how sometimes the best defenses are "no name" defenses, which basically means that most or all of the players are not immediately recognizable. None of them particularly stand out as a "playmaker" or a "ballhawk" or a "tackling machine". For the most part, defenses like these can only be run and coached by a very smart, seasoned, adept defensive coordinator. Dick LeBeau, Monte Kiffin, and Jim Johnson (Eagles) come to mind here. These systems are built to use players as a collective unit, instead of pretty much "featuring" defensive players. Maake Kemoeatu was brought in Carolina to play the interior line alongside Kris Jenkins. This move was made to free up Dan Morgan (MLB) to make plays, and did help Jon Beason accumulate some nice production when he was plugged in the middle.

John Fox has this "supposed" defensive genius moniker commonly applied to him. Why? Your best defensive coordinators can just plug in players and get the production out of them. Fox has not proven he could do that. He never achieved consistent top defense like these guys have, for the most part. Going down the line of current starters and players who do get significant snaps, from the order in which they were drafted by the Panthers if we did draft them:

Julius Peppers (2nd overall; 2002)
Thomas Davis (14th overall; 2005)
Jon Beason (25th overall; 2007)
Chris Gamble (28th overall; 2004)

Then on to 2nd rounders
Ken Lucas (top FA pickup; drafted 2nd round by Seahawks, 2002)
Richard Marshall (2nd round 2006)

First rounders drafted on other teams
Damione Lewis (Rams 2001)
Tyler Brayton (Raiders 2003)

Other notable cogs
Maake Kemoeatu
Na'il Diggs
Charles Godfrey
Chris Harris
Charles Johnson

From the looks of it, this defense, to me, is stacked with talent. And if we could get someone that can bring out the full potential from these guys, and make them produce as a unit, believe me, we could end up letting them all go to FA and bringing in later round draft picks to start like some of these teams are doing. To other people, however, they can find 3 or 4 pieces of this defense to improve. DE needs 2 additions, DT needs 4 additions, we need to get a new SLB, we need to drop Lucas and get Asomugha, etc, etc. WE could throw 80% of cap space towards the defense, and it still might not be as consistent or as good as some of the more consistent defenses out there.

Lets compare and contrast, shall we? I'll use the Eagles depth chart to compare starters with the Panthers'.

LE
Tyler Brayton (1st rd drft pck; Raiders)
Juqua Parker (Undrafted; Titans)

RE
Julius Peppers (2nd ovr pck)
Trent Cole (5th rd pick)

LDT
Maake Kemoeatu (undrafted; Ravens)
Mike Patterson (1st rd pck)

RDT
Damione Lewis (1st rd pck; Rams)
Brodrick Bunkley (1st rd pck)

Linebackers
Jon Beason (1st rd pck)
Thomas Davis (1st rd pck)
Na'il Diggs (4th rd pck; Packers)

Stewart Bradley (rd 3 pck)
Akeem Jordan (undrafted)
Chris Gocong (rd 3 pck)

Secondary
Ken Lucas (2nd rd pck; Seahawks)
Chris Gamble (1st rd pck)
Chris Harris (6th rd pck; Bears)
Charles Godfrey (3rd rd pck)

Asante Samuel (4th rd pck; Pats)
Sheldon Brown (2nd rd pck)
Quintin Mikell (undrafted)
Brian Dawkins (2nd rd pck)

Carolina signs more high profile free agents, spend higher picks and more money on their defense, but they can't develop talent nearly as well as Philadelphia does, while it can be argued that Carolina invests in raw talent, it certainly didn't pay off this season when they finished 18th overall and Philly finished 3rd. Compare Beason to any Eagles LBer and he looks like a world beater. Julius Peppers gets to the QB way more often than Trent Cole. Individual comparisons would suggest that the Panthers have the more productive talent and more return in investment, but as a unit, they fail. In spite of the interceptions, the sacks, the high tackle totals, they give up a lot of yards, because it's the system they're in. Philly runs a system that works. Philly gets way more value than we do, and they spend more cash on the offense, look at all the 1st day picks they've dedicated there.

And then people think that criticism of Fox isn't justified, criticism of Trgovac isn't justified. Yet the call these guys "defensive geniuses". Well if they are such geniuses why do they need people that can walk on water, hurdle over high fences, and have the ability to roam and cover large areas to field top defense? A real defensive genius is one that can manipulate and craft gameplans to make even no name players produce.

And people wonder why I suggest McDermott as an option for defensive coordinator everytime I get the chance. Hell I'll even take a linebackers coach from there.

When you have a system where players make plays as a unit, you'll likely get more satisfaction and more return than "read and react" that relies on the athleticism and fitness of our players to compensate for the fact that they may not be put in the best position to minimize yardage gains on the defense. Lucas has been in the league for 8 years and he's getting old, according to Panther fans. Well what's slowing Dawkins down? He's been in the league for much longer and he is still making plays.

Carolina's only way of fielding top defense is for Fox to get a guy that can craft dominant gameplans and leave the defense to him, and McDermott's not the only one out there. NOT blowing your entire first day on a defensive end that will probably get decent stats but never improve the defense as a UNIT while hiring an incompetent coordinator to just say "ok just drop back in zone on passing downs and read and react". You'll never be consistent, and you'll always get burned badly every other game.