Here we go -- the traditional "5 things I liked" postgame blog about Carolina's 16-6 win over Tampa Bay.
1. Panthers' red-zone defense. LB Jon Beason was outstanding, with two interceptions right at the goal line just when it looked like Tampa Bay was about to score. But he wasn't alone -- the Panthers picked rookie QB Josh Freeman off five times. Five! I thought only Jake Delhomme ever threw five picks per game in this stadium.
2. Matt Moore. Not asked to do a whole lot more than manage the game, Moore did that effectively (14-for-20, 161 yards, 1 interception, 0 TDs). Coach John Fox termed Moore's overall effort "pretty good," and that was about right. Fox also said there was a "good" chance Moore will start again next week at New England, which will be a whole lot tougher foe and venue than 1-11 Tampa Bay.
3. Jonathan Stewart. Without the injured DeAngelo Williams, the rushing attack was no longer "Double Trouble," but it was still a lot of trouble for Tampa Bay. Stewart ran for 120 yards on 26 carries -- much more than his usual workload -- and scored Carolina's only TD. The offensive line helped out, but Stewart got a lot of those yards after contact.
4. Jason Baker. Carolina's punter boomed a bunch of them and ended up with a net of 45.6 on five punts, helping to win the field-position battle.
5. True football fans. Kudos to everyone showed up on a cold December day when it was only 43 degrees and the opponent was the woeful Bucs. The scalpers took a beating on this one -- if I saw one person with a fistful of tickets desperately trying to unload them 30 minutes before kickoff, I saw 50. There were probably 25,000 no-shows if the Panthers gave us an actual turnstile count. But that still leaves close to 50,000 true football fans who showed up, and if you were one of those, I salute you.
We're moving!
9 years ago
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30 comments:
didn't warner throw five picks?
He said in this stadium. That game was at Arizona
Agree with all of those ...cept I would have given a shout out to Kasay, so here goes lol...
CONGRATS to KASAY on #400 today ....
#1 should be Josh Freeman. He won the game for the Panthers.
Still more in the house than the woeful attendance at the ACC Championship game in Tampa
not really fair to put that loss all on Freeman - he got them into scoring position too, made some great throws and escaped pressure well.
Something I would add for a like...the long ball. The one to Smitty was a good throw, meaning it went OVER the coverage and in a place where Smitty could make a play/catch on it. And on top of that, the long out pattern to Mooooooose....the fact that when he made his cut that the ball was zipping into his hands instead of 5 yards over his head was nice to see.
Moore did well in this one, not spectacular, but then again this team doesn't need spectacular. They just need someone who is consistent, can make a few of the big throws for some big plays, and doesn't make horrible decisions. Handing off is handing off...be it Jake or Moore. But, the difference today was evident on the long pass plays - with that added element, I like our chances to hold our own against just about anyone. So the remaining games will hopefully show if Moore can not only improve and hit a few more of those longer pass plays but if he can be consistent.
I will admit, seeing the long ball to Smitty today I thought - good grief, how long has it been since we've seen that? Man, it felt good.
How about props to the O line that, while banged up, protected Moore and launched Stewart?
Some things I didn't like:
1) The muffed punt. Another one? Really? You won't put Kenny Moore out there yet Gamble makes the same mistake. Props to Beason for bailing us out on that one, but a better team would have made us pay for that kind of mistake.
2) The refs. Slow, bad or missed calls...just all around "D" league guys. I guess that is expected in a game between two losing teams, but man...is that the best they could find? Bryant's "catch" on the sideline - not so much. If you don't give Smitty the TD last week, Bryant doesn't get that call with the bobble either. And the spot on the run for a 1st down...awful. Caddy got no where near where they spotted that ball and it literally gave the Bucs a first down. Calling a forward pass a fumble...etc, etc, you get the idea.
3) Do we ever game plan for Antonio Bryant? Seems like every game I watch that guy is killing us.
4) Special teams coverage. I know we pick on it every week, but will they ever fix it? We were bailed out on a penalty...but man, too much good field position given up on kick off returns.
Yes the refs were terrible today. It seemed like the entire game they were clueless.
Man Beason is a STUD.
5 Things I liked about the panthers Win ! 1 M&M ( Matt Moore )
2 M&M
3 M&M
4 M&M
5 M&M
January 4th will be a day of celebration for panthers fans when Richardson kicks Fox out to the curb.
3rd and 10- Draw Play. 3rd and 1- pass play with a newbie QB.
I have to start taking anti-hypertensives when watching Fox coach.
I dont know why my comment disappeared, i posted about how the interception wasnt really Moores fault causde it was tipped & it wasnt over or under thrown. I would like for my posts to be here thats how i scroll to catch up on new posts dang it!!! I agree the officiating was awful, both the play reviews were wrong in my opinion. I would like to see Moore continue the season, & Fox still coach next season.
The one big thing about the game that I didn't like is that we waited until now to put in a quaterback that at least gives us a chance to win. Say what you want about Ron Meeks and Julius Peppers but the defense has been the strength of this team all year even with devasting injury after devasting injury.
Curtis, I didn't see your reply to my comments during the week until Saturday. When you get a chance go back to the "That's Better Tiger" BLOG and read what I posted about Jake Delhomme yesterday.
Before I get ripped. I do know how to spell devastating. I was just in a hurry.
good win. moore was decent, the long passes to smitty and moose were especially good. Let's see how he does for rest of the season, but i believe we still need to bring in another qb, either from the draft or the free agency. how many pick do we have next year? i hope evertte improves dramtically, so far i can't say he was worth the first round pick.
we def need to get a new receiver and put moose in a ricky proehl type of role...he should have caught the long one today.
needs for next year...qb, receiver, kickoff/punt return, def end (if peppers leaves). i'm thinking next year hoover leaves and maybe kasay. fiamata takes over hoover's spot and we can have rasario play fb and receiver...which would leave barnidge and king for the TE spot.
a couple of questions...
y is dan connor not playing, seems like the last 2 yrs, all we heard was what a steal he was and how great he is, but even w/ some injuries at the lb position, he has not played.
whatever happened to mike goodson, he was supposed to be a steal too, but now he seems to have disappeared.
also where's kenny moore?
what do you guys think about next year? is the OC not good enough or is fox holding him back? seems like that was the case w/ henning. if fox is fired, i wonder if the OC goes w/ him. or of fox stays, then does the OC still get fired? i think our offensive play calling has been horrible, i just don't know who is more responsible for it...fox not letting him call the plays he wants, him not coming up w/ good plays, or our situation at qb prevents them from calling the right plays?
Hey Kenneth...went back to read your comment. Look, I realize Jake has been awful this year and didn't exactly have a great season last year (with the glaring example of the playoff game). But, you basically said that he's never been that good or consistent since he took over for an "equal talent" in Rodney Peete. That's just not the case.
Consider this...in 2003, Jake was 13th ranked QB in the NFL, 12th TDs, 7th INTs...2004 he was 12th ranked, 5th TDs (better than Brady), 9th in INTs...2005 he was 12th ranked, 4th TDs, 5th INTs...2006 12th ranked again, 17 TDs, 23rd INTs...2007 he was hurt.
Then in 2008 Jake dropped to his lowest overall ranking as a starter to 18th, 17 TDs, 11th INTs.
2009 we all painfully know he is the 33rd ranked, 26th TDs, 3rd INTs.
All of that is to say, you just can't blanket statement say "Jake has never been good"...or that "he's always been awful." Those stats don't lie. Smitty leading the league in yards, TDs, and catches in one season doesn't lie...someone had to get him the ball, and had to get it to him a lot.
One final consideration...in 2002 with your boy Rodney - he ranked 22nd in the league (behind the likes of Jim Miller, Jon Kitna, Aaron Brooks, etc.), 22nd TDs, 15th in TDs.
So, you are just wrong when you say this "racist city" was happy to see Rodney come out and were so "blinded" by our joy of having a white QB that we failed to notice he "wasn't any better than Rodney". That is just flat out false.
Look at those numbers, and tell me that Jake wasn't a huge improvement over what we had the previous year with Rodney. It's just a fact. Black, white, indian - we wouldn't of cared who it was once we saw that improvment in the position.
And that brings us to where we are today. Just as Rodney had passed his prime, perhaps Jake has passed his prime. His numbers from this year look much like Rodney's did. But it took years to get here...Jake has not always been this bad. You, like many folks, just choose to remember him that way.
Drove from DC to see it. The cats made the the 7 hour trip worth it. Despite our record I'll do it again in 2 weeks.
DC Panthers Fan said...
Drove from DC to see it. The cats made the 7 hour trip worth it. Despite our record I'll do it again in 2 weeks.
December 6, 2009 9:28 PM
Gotta love a good road trip when it turns into a "W"..
Nice page as well DC Fan...
Kenneth said...
Before I get ripped. I do know how to spell devastating. I was just in a hurry.
December 6, 2009 8:08 PM
Kenneth I wouldnt have hit you with spell check only because people on this blog know of my affection as some call it (cough Mr. Scott) for Pep...Go Firebirds...(that suffered a 33-32 triple OT loss Friday Night in a Regional playoff game).
However as I have said earlier on here, loved his sack, and stop on 3rd and goal, but....I have seen many people question BEASON on here, and today HE ROCKED BANK OF AMERICA STADIUM...
Doing the happy dance all week...Enjoy yours everyone!!!
The Tampa Bay Bucs are a total laughable joke who have reverted in time to 1977 when they went fully defeated.
Stop crowing so stupidly about slipping past a totally pathetic sorry 1-10 team due to 5 interceptions of the non-senational rookie and the terrible new joke of a coach they have. The Bucs QB who played at a weak KSU and left his Jr yr is way to large and cumbersome to be in that position at 6'6" 260l bs. He needs to be a DE.
Moore did nothing and this wasnt even a test.
The Panthers playing Butler or Independence would have been more of a test than the Disneyworld kiddie play pirate team.
TOTALLY A JOKE !!!
To anonymous @ 7:53...
The 1977 Bucs "went fully defeated"...I'm not sure by that poorly worded phrase, but I assume you are referring to a season in which they did not win a game. However, by your own admission, the Bucs this year have won a game. Soooo...what's your point again?
What does "senational" mean?
So your analysis of this Bucs rookie QB - who by the way threw some pretty "senational" passes yesterday with the exception of the red zone - is that he is too (notice this is spelled with two O's) large to play QB? Really? That's brilliant - you must be a scout. Tell me, how would you have rated guys like Ben Roethlisberger (6'5", 250) or Joe Flacco (6'6", 240)? Guess they are "to" big too, eh?
If you truly think playing any game in the NFL is not a test for a guy starting in only his 4th game, then the only "joke" around here is your ability to understand the NFL. There are no 'gimmes' in the NFL - just ask the Steelers who lost to the Raiders yesterday.
Hey Jennifer, I was thinking the same thing yesterday when watching the game about Beason. All the foolish rants about "trade him away" or "he was a horrible draft pick" or "Connor should be playing Beason's position". As if the guy being a monster last year and going to the pro bowl wasn't enough, maybe yesterday was enough to point out to those posters that yes, Beason is a BEAST on the field.
Only 2 modern day NFL defeated teams. 1976 were Bucs at 0-14 and 2008 Lions 0-16.
The only undefeated NFL team in the modern age was the 1972 Dolphins at 17-0.
QBs must be quick and mobile. Jumbo sized QBs are not mobile and ineffective. Thats why they invented DE or DT.
The NFL norm for QB is 6' ft 2"-4" and 210-230 max. There are very rare exceptions. Freeman is not one of them.
Tampa is 1-11. They will prob finsh 1-15 and give the Panthers company. Weinke got the blame for the 1-15 season in 2001 and lost his job forever.
He was 6'4" 230 lbs and a Heisman winner but not mobile enough.
Curtis Anon that youre bantering with is probably our Steeler fan thats what lost 4 games in a row?
And frankly us Panther fans can CROW anytime we wont to...Funny how so many excuses are made for the other team when we win one, but by golly let us lose it and the same standards dont apply...
Whatever...crowing and dancing as much as I like....thank you very much!!
So there...!!!
Here are 5 things I liked about the Panthers' win: Beason had 2 picks, Godfrey had 1 pick, Gamble had 1 pick, and Harris had 1 pick.
Curtis,
I don't have all the stats in front of me and it's not worth it to even look them up like you did. I'll take your word on the quaterback rankings. But I know that Delhomme has never been a good decision maker, or an accurate passer. Even Stevie Wonder can see that. Also, you have got to agree that Jake has benefitted from having Steve and Moose out jump defenders for those moon passes and come back for other passes that were thrown short during those years that you provided stats for. You suggested that I needed to remove my head from my --- a few days ago. I'm not going to tell you the same, but you can't actually believe that Steve Smith had good numbers over the years because Jake was throwing him the ball. Come on man! If anything Smitty helped Jake's numbers.
Jennifer,
Appreciate the fact that you wouldn't have junped on me for a spelling mistake. But somebody would have. Also, I'm a big fan of # 90 myself. He and Smitty are simply the two best players we've had.
To be clear Kenneth, my comment about getting your head out had to do with you saying that Charlotte is a racist city and the only reason we liked Jake was because he was white. And, basically you said we didn't want Rodney as a QB because he was black. Sorry, but that is just stupid.
No point in debating about Jake...to me and many others, he had some great years here. You can say he was lucky to have the players around him that he did (and I agree they were players that at times bailed him out). But, if you are going to lay the blame for our woes this year on Jake, you simply have to give him credit for the years in which we played well and did things like go to the Super Bowl. You can't have one without the other.
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