Thursday, September 3, 2009

A nasty night for Panther starters

Some thoughts on the Carolina-Pittsburgh preseason game as the Panthers' exhibition season limps to a merciful close:

-- It was really nasty for Carolina -- especially when the starters were in the game. The Panther offensive and defensive regulars each played two series apiece before retiring for the night in the team’s final preseason game against Pittsburgh. It was a close call as to which one was worse. Here’s a brief review.

-- Panthers offense: Two series and one total first down. One dropped pass (by Muhsin Muhammad). One third-and-1 run that lost two yards. One sack of Jake Delhomme. One tipped Delhomme pass at the line. One first down (a pass to Muhammad). No touches for Steve Smith.

Panthers defense: Two series. One excellent three-and-out (while facing Ben Roethlisberger in his only action – he threw one pass before leaving). One horrid touchdown allowed.

On the TD, the Carolina D allowed Pittsburgh’s third-string running back Isaac Redman to roll right through five attempted tackles for a 10-yard scoring run. Among the men who missed or bounced off Redman: safety Chris Harris and defensive end Julius Peppers. And bear in mind, that was Pittsburgh's second-team offense out there blocking, too.

On that desultory note, the Panther defense was done for the night. It was 14-0, Pittsburgh, when the last Panther starter left the field. In other words, it was par for the course during this Carolina preseason.

-- Pittsburgh’s other early touchdown came courtesy of an 80-yard punt return by the Steelers’ Stefan Logan. Logan completed that run only 100 seconds into the game and was greeted by an onslaught of Terrible Towels – at least one third of the fans in attendance seemed to be for the Steelers. They all were having a good time, at least, on a gorgeous night for football.

-- Again, Panther rookie Mike Goodson looked very good at times but his fumbling problems continued – he lost one inside the Pittsburgh 5 in the second quarter.

-- The best individual play made by any Panther in the first half was a beautiful one-handed catch by tight end Dante Rosario that would have resulted in about a 25-yard gain. Sadly, it was nullified by an illegal motion penalty on Kenneth Moore.

-- Funny moment during the coin toss. Because of the referee’s open mike, you could hear the Panthers win the toss and take the ball, followed by a Steeler shouting playfully: “We didn’t want it anyway!”

16 comments:

FIRE-FOX!! said...

I left the game with time left in the second quarter. As I stated last week, this team has given up on Fox and his garbage that he spews every week. He is a goner by late November, and I do not care what they did last year. That was in spite of FOx, not as a result of him. Panthers this year 4-12 at best.

Phil said...

Gotta love all those die-hard panthers fans...

Anonymous said...

Peppers. Isn't he the guy they forked over all that cash for? And the highlight of his game was missing a tackle? Is the game over yet? Oops, what game?

Anonymous said...

Preseason = who cares. Let's see how the starters do for 4 quarters. This Panthers team will be fine, trust me.

Anonymous said...

Fire Fox,
You absolutely disgust me. Left in the 2nd quarter. You wimp, you weak weak little man. You know what, don't even go to the games. Save your money, save your energy. Go find something else to do. You are a total loser. Left in the 2nd Quarter?? Come on.

Stewart said...

1. Why take the starters out after showing absolutely nothing for an entire month?

2. I like Coach Fox, but at some point, it would be nice for him to look like he cares on the sideline....and please don't say "it is what it is" after the game. You owe us more.

3. Preseason is preseason. That is, until your first team everything is this horrific. No one cares what Cantwell does in the 4th. Everyone cares how Delhomme does in the 1st.

4. Goodson is a stud; however, why is he being penciled in as the kick returner? I have yet to see him get past the 25 and everyone is acting as though we have that position "locked up."

Anonymous said...

All will be good come the real games. If I was a starter for this team, i wouldn't be trying to tackle either. Fraid I might get injured.

If we aren't .500 this year, its not fox's fault tergo walked out and left us scrambling for a d coordinator.

anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Prediction....0-3 to start the season and Jake leaves the Dallas game hurt...

Anonymous said...

KENNY MOORE IS THE GREATTTTTTEST. THANK GOD HE GOT TO PLAY. THIS KID WILL BE A STAR THIS SEASON, JUST WATCH. CHARLOTTE'S OWN BOY.

Anonymous said...

KENNNNYYYYYY #81

Anonymous said...

KENNNNYYYYYY #81KENNNNYYYYYY #81KENNNNYYYYYY #81KENNNNYYYYYY #81KENNNNYYYYYY #81KENNNNYYYYYY #81KENNNNYYYYYY #81KENNNNYYYYYY #81

Steve said...

Wow... I'll be interesting to watch the Panthers go into the regular season looking just like that awful playoff game. John Fox is far to conservative. Jake is extremely inconsistent. And through it all, the team seems to be lost in that mix...

Tarheel Soldier said...

Trgo didn't walk out, he was allowed to leave before he was fired. All the fans that kept asking for his head on a silver platter are getting exactly what they asked for. This Meeks defense is terrible so far. I hope he gets the real plays to work because the base SUX!!!

The entire team played horribly tonight. I know the Steelers are a damn good team, but so are we. I just hope this situation gets cleared up before next Sunday or Philly is gonna kill us!

Tarheel Soldier said...

I'm still a die hard Panthers fan and I have faith in Fox. I just hope he canwhip these guys into warriors before the 1st game. So far, they look really bad. I know it's just preseason, but our number 1s haven't done ANYTHING! We'll see how things look when Smitty, JStew, Beaston, Godfrey, and Davis get on the field for 4 Qtrs next Sunday. We haven't played a preseason game with all the starters yet, so maybe that'll be the difference.

Anonymous said...

I gotta say, I can't imaging how they are just going to turn it on come next week. If I was betting, I'd predict Philly to HAMMER us. And if this is any indication of how inspired they will be all year... that Cowher specualation bus will be running at full speed by the 4th game as this schedule is not easy. We could easily start out 0-3 and be almost done before the race starts.

Wonder how Cowher would like not having a #1 next year to even help start the rebuilding? And it could be a very good pick, Hope Everette Brown is worth it. OK, so who's the next coaching candidate? :)