Some quick postgame thoughts on the Panthers' 17-12 exhibition-game loss to Baltimore on a very rainy Thursday night:
Three things I didn't like:
1. Armanti Edwards catching the ball. He had his hands on three balls that ultimately hit the ground, and his patterns didn't look very crisp to me, either. As a returner, he fared better, but Armanti (as he would tell you) has a loooong way to go as a receiver.
2. 14 offensive possessions, 0 offensive touchdowns. Lots of reasons for this one -- starting with the fact the Ravens play very good defense and blitz a lot -- but still.
3. First-team pass defense. Joe Flacco sliced the Panthers apart (8-for-12, 120 yards, one TD) in limited time. He mostly worked short -- the Panthers really need some work defending the screen pass -- but also hit the 30-yard long ball to Mark Clayton over Carolina's Captain Munnerlyn.
Two things I did like:
1. The pass rush. Greg Hardy, Tyler Brayton, Eric Moore... and on and on. The Panthers had six sacks and were constantly around the quarterback, and for one game at least, no one missed Julius Peppers.
2. The rushing game. The Panthers had 142 yards on 26 carries -- usually winning numbers. The one huge negative was the fumble at the 1 from Tyrell Sutton.
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9 years ago
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50 comments:
I find it interesting that after all the press coverage, nothing about the quarterback situation is mentioned. Still, I'd like to add that Jimmy Clausen looked surprisingly calm and controlled in moving the ball around, and that interception was not all his fault. He should be a strong back-up. Cantwell looked like the third string quarterback he should be. He did not take advantage of creating some energy in the offense on that two minute drill at the end of the game. Although Moore may have seemed a little shaky, he was playing against a very good Baltimore 1st team defense and he should settle down as he adjusts into the starting role. Pike is obviously not even in the conversation at this point. Overall, the team looked like it has a lot of potential but we have got to eliminate the rookie mistakes! The running backs and receivers need to learn how to hold on to the ball and special teams seemed vaguely reminiscent of last year, giving up a lot of yardage and not producing much either. Hopefully we can fix some of these problems and be ready to surprise all the doubters this season!!
i think armanti did well considering the rain...i know you're gonna say he's supposed to be able to catch the ball in any conditions BUT..1 drop he was about to get popped and you see pro-bowl recievers make that drop all the time...another drop on the quick smoke pass was a different story. but i have seen moose drop those on a dry warm sunny day.
Moore leaves with Fox at the end of the season....There was one star QB for us...and his name was Clausen...put him with the first team and see!
loving the play of hardy, I really think if he can stay healthy we got the elite DE to replace peppers. Edwards looked alright at WR to have not played since high school. Needs to watch 89 for some moves though.
I didn't like any wide receiver catching the ball...Clausen must have had the best 7-15 I've ever seen considering the coverage from ESPN.
Calm down folks!! brayton looked good. But the rest played against backups and 3rd stringers... And don;t gloss over Grosses horrible play. That guy was beating him to death
Scott, Flacco worked them short, mid and deep. The TD was 30 yards for heaven sake. The secondary looked exceptionally week or Flacco is going to have a monster year.
Clausen did look calm. Gruden has to stop having those coaches camps. Hardy and the RBs looked great.
I agree, Armanti looked very shaky. He didn't have the natural ability and instinct that I thought he would have. A project indeed.
We gave up a second round pick in 2011 for a athletic QB that has never player WR or returned kicks. I don't see the return on investment coming anytime soon if at all.
Scott, what about LaFell? Armanti had a better game than him or Jarret IMO.
Armanti will be fine, a couple of passes thrown to him were late, he was double teamed on a play, and it was extremely wet. I am not saying he will not be a work in progress but this kid can play some football. That was his first game EVER playing WR or Punt Returner. You can't expect a Steve Smith performance on the kid's first game. Trust me, he will take his performance to heart and get it right. He is learning and I bet by the end of the season he will have scored multiple times and everyone will be screaming his name. Go get them Armanti!
Joe Flacco was clearly the best player on the field last night. Lets hope Jimmy Clausen learned something from him. Jaworski even went as far as to throw around that Flacco may be an MVP candidate in his third year.
Clausen has the potential to be another Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez... He needs the time and the reps with the ones to show it.
Scott,
The TD to Clayton was pretty clear interference from most camera angles. Just before the ball arrives, Clayton pushes Munnerlyn out to create space. The ref was right there, no clue why it wasn't called.
I was very surprised at how BAD all special team units were!It seamed like an off-season goal with money spent was to shore up leaky special teams. Way to many missed assignments and bad tackling.
I think its obvious Armanti was another local hire to fill a few more seats much like the Kenny Moore experiment last year.
Clausen looked the best and It was obvious to see Matt Moore is back to throwing the high-school floaters.
Is it to late to find 2 more linebackers to play with Beason that can read a play before the ten yards is already gained?
At least the new referee position did accomplish something last night as it proved that no matter where they are on the field, the refs are STILL blind when our defense is getting held. Who DIDN't see Beason get absolutely mugged right in front of the ref with NO flag? Do they substitute 2nd and 3rd string refs in the pre-season? Maybe if they had to compete for their jobs the way the players do each year it would be different? Probably not...
Wants vs. Expectations - We all WANT Armanti to be great immediately. But do we really EXPECT him to be Day 1? He's got the talent, speed, toughness, and determination. He simply lacks the experience as a WR/PR/KR. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Imagine if we had drafted LaFell and were trying to convert him to a QB! What would you be saying about his performance this morning?? Come on everyone, step back from the ledge for crying out loud!
I agree with all... BAD defensive secondary, BAD offensive line, BAD refereeing, BAD coverage on ESPN... BAD weather... Let's hope this at least gets more watchable by September. Ugghh....
I thought Jimmy Clausen looked incredibly poised for a rookie. He made some obvious rookie mistakes but he also threw the ball right on the money (unlike a certain previous Panther QB). I think this kid is the future franchise QB that the Panthers have needed for years.
Armanti Edwards looked very slow. I thought he was suppose to have some speed.
Well, well, well. I have to say that we continue to forget about the play of Kenny Moore. He made a great catch off a deflection that coach Gruden and Ron Jaworski (who never gives anyone credit) both motr three times talked about the catch and could have had another both Clausen pressured missed him throwing short and outside. Kenny continues to be consistent in catching the ball, blocking, and route running. #81 making his summer coach and friend Ricky Proelh proud. I also have to give Jarrett a shout-out on catching the ball- his blocking still being discussed.
Keep making plays Kenny.
DAMN.
While being critical to the reality of the situation is good, this is going way overboard after just ONE preseason game.
Its truthfully WAYYYYY to early to judge this act yet. Give it a at least 2 more games and by the 4th game if the bugs are not worked out then you can bellache whine and bitch like hell all you like.
Remember all the other teams are going thru the same exact situation and winning preseasons is not exactly the main goal here and really irrelevant and meaningless.
Lets the coaches do their jobs since they are making millions plus the pressure is on them not you. They are not stupid. They can see with their eyes.
Give it time. WAYYYY to early to bitch and whine yet.
Jimmy Clausen WILL be our starter...no later than next season. Tremendous POISE in the pocket. His Notre Dame experience showed. Can we please block for all the QB's???
Instead of people making excuses for Delhomme, now we're going to have all the App State homers making excuses for Edwards. What a WASTED 3rd round pick!!
Isaiah said: Most judgments need reserved for next week and especially week 3 when they game plan and the starter play a full half to 3 quarters. Edwards looked leg tired, as he and Fox commented during camp as a QB he didn't run every play, now they have him WR, PR, KR so he's run all camp. When he gets his legs back he will be good PR - he showed glimpses last night and more importantly caught the ball and made good decisions. He's a slot guy this year to, didn't see him there once all night, Panthers holding that formation (3 wr, 4 wr) for now. Special teams did look scary bad overall! When Gamble gets back, secondary will obviously improve. but yeah LB's did not look good versus screens, and Beason has a learning curve which hope he gets by week one. Gross has always had a history of false starts, he's got to quit that crap, no place for it with a veteran - has he lost a step with the leg? or was this a fluke? Looking forward to next pre-season game vs another highly touted team with a week to get better from this live game tape, should give us a better indication of where we are heading, hopefully to 10 wins and playoffs!
Armanti was far less than spectacular. I would reason that he was thinking too much out there. Someone needs to compile a DVD or three of Steve Smith highlights for him to study.
The Panthers are the third youngest team in the NFL. Of course there are going to be some kinks in the beginning. Give it until the first regular season game before everyone starts dogging on Edwards and Moore. Moore showed great leadership last year, and he's a great improvement from Delhomme. Clausen will be the starter by next year, however. Until then, I am going to sit back and enjoy watching our young team mature into a playoff contender this year.
Matt Moore threw some nice balls too, that were negated by Jordan Gross holding calls. So, when Moore had time he threw strikes. Kenny Moore looked good also. He should have been starting, because Wallace Wright didn't impress me at all.
Hardy is an impact rusher and looked extremely good. Edwards looked solid on punt returns and will grow as a receiver. Clawson looked polished. On the touchdown pass, Captain was pushed off in clear view of an imcompetent official. Sutton is an outstanding utility back. We've got a ways to go, but temper that with the knowledge that Baltimore is a very good football team.
People are being way too quick in judging whether or not the Edwards pick was wasted or not.
Does anyone remember the great Steve Smith's first year with the Panthers? How much productivity did he provide at WR? Look it up... it may suprise you.
Clausen looked pretty good for his first NFL start. However, the checkdowns remind me a lot of Brady Quinn. Dump off passes are great sometimes, but you have to stretch the field.
Did anyone notice how Gruden and Jaworski ripped Panthers' management? Richardson has put Fox in a very tough position -- not renewing his contract while dismissing and not replacing very talented players. If Fox manages to pull out a winning season, you can be sure he'll be laughing as he signs with another team for megabucks next year.
Also, it's a great relief to see two quarterbacks who are calm under pressure and who make sound judgements. I loved Jake, but I don't miss the drama. My bet: Clausen will be the starting quarterback for the season opener.
I have bashed this guy for two years so I need to give him praise when he plays well.... I actually thought jarrett had a good game....made a couple of nice catches that were called back bc holding calls..
All the announcers talked about b4 the game was how good the Ravens are & how bad the Panthers are. I think considering how good the Ravens are, the Panthers young team was great. Brayton got through their first string 2 times within 5 minutes for 2 sacks. The Panthers also had to play against the refs who were biased in their penalty calling. Remember the pass interference call they picked the flag up & said no penalty? If there was no penalty they should explain why the ref threw the flag & why the call was reversed. The replay clearly showed the hold on the play. On the play the Ravens qb ran in the draw play, a good prediction by Gruden btw, you could see the Ravens player # 69 holding a defender with both arms then grabbing his jersey when the defender broke from the hold. I am glad they played a team like the Ravens, that are predicted to do well this season, it gives our team that much more experience in real nfl game time. Next week will be against another team that is predicted to go far this season, the Jets. This is going to be a good test for the Panthers offense. I think they did well considering everything & are going to get better & better each game.
Clausen......Enough said.
MrBenz - looks to me like the entire outfit at ESPN has some inexplicable hatred for all things Carolina, except for Jon Gruden. The pregame show was 1 minute Panthers, 15 minutes Ravens and 14 minutes Saints. I guess Gruden continues to be our cheerleader because we made his life so bloody miserable his last 6 years with the Bucs.
There was one major alarm for me last night - the linebackers. It was painful to watch LeRon McClain, the slowest man on Earth, take screen passes for 20 yards again and again. All 3 looked completely lost.
Fortunately there is time to fix it.
Did I see D. Jarrett make a couple catches? Even if the big one was called back, he caught it behind him!
Go Dolphins!
Oh wow. Clausen did do well, but it was against 2nd and 3rd string defenders. Lets see how Clausen does, before saying he is the future, probably going to start by mid season etc, etc. Clausen threw passes that was in the money, but he also threw those passes that should have been pick as well. Especially that Kennth M catch. The penalties on the Oline didn't help Moore very much, considering he hit both Jarret with a good pass in stride.
Lets see how Clausen does against opposing 1st team defenders. Before saying he is the future, etc etc. Especially when the going gets tough. Our fair weather fan base will change their opionins how Clausen is over hype, hes a bust.
It is funny how someone can say "Lets see how Clausen does against opposing 1st team defenders. Before saying he is the future" then in the next sentence say he is a bust. What a dummy.
It funny how people call someone or each other a dummy. Nobody didn't say Clausen is a bust. Clearly that person was using facts, based on your fair wheather fan base. Talking about how some of our players even suck, overrated, or overpaid. He was saying when the goings get tough, our negative fans would consider Clausen as a bust, or being overhype. So i wouldn't call nobody a dummy. Oh and that person is right, none of us don't know who the face of the franchise is until they prove themselves. But its funny how Clausen if the future. Finally i would love to see how Clausen performs against opposing 1st team defenses.
I think Gruden is poised to take over the Panthers next year.
ESPN is obv more hip on Balimore but that is no prob since you must earn respect not demand it and CPs have no star power and looking like a bottom feeder outfit.
Every season you climb the hill again and try to prove you are worthy. Thats the nature of the beast and Baltimore has a longgggg tradition plus won the Super Bowl in 2000 and tech still claim the Colts too.
They did forget Richardson played WR in the NFL for Baltimore.
Right now the CPs are predicted to be a cellar dweller.
No star power? What about Todd Carter? Bigtime star at the smoothie store.
Jordan Gross is now the most overrated player on the team. I know he is coming off an injury. But he has never been as good as advertised. He hasn't been as consistent as Travelle Wharton over the years and continues to get too many false starts and holding penalties. If we wouldn't have given him the huge contract we could have kept Peppers.
And clearly we did miss Peppers when the Ravens kept running screens on Everette Brown. He's too short. They threw the ball right over him and when he realized it he didn't have the elite speed to chase it down from behind like Peppers always did.
@ Kenneth. Seriously Gross overrated? Gross only had 1 bad season, in which was last year. Due to Jake D inability to get rid of the ball much quicker. I bet along you and every whiny fan would complain if they had let go Jordan G. You would consider the Panther FO as dummies of getting rid of their best LT they ever had, who is one of the best in the league. Peppers didn't want to be in Carolina, how hard is that to undrstand. So you guess Peppers is worth $20 million for this up coming year. Who plays when he feels like playing, we lacked depth last year because Pep took 14% of the team salary cap. Limiting them to let go good quality back ups. Its a possiblity if they had resign Pep. Beason, Davis, Williams, Marshall, Kalil would be let go. Peppers is being paid QB money. Everrette B was consistently getting pressure, the QB just got rid of the ball a second quicker.
At Appalachian, Edwards was a quarterback, and a damn good one at that. But the wise ones in the Panthers changed his position to receiver then we would have 5 now. I'm just sayin'. 2 Championships at Appalachian can't be all bad with Armanti Edwards at quarterback.
Anonymous 8-14 @ 2:47pm
You are one of those fans who will get a rude awakening this season. Pep didn't want to be here because of fans like you who couldn't see how much better our defense is with a player of his caliber on the field, and took him for granted. So what if he took some plays off. Do you work as hard as you possibly can every moment of the day when you're at your job? There were too many of you who didn't want to see Peppers get that huge contract. But no one complains that Gross got a big contract. Just look at the first preseason game. None of the offensive coordinators in the league would have ran 3 or 4 consecutive screen plays if Peppers was on that side of the field. No one is afraid of Everette Brown!
And yes! Gross is overreted. He regularly has troubles with the better defensive ends, even an aging John Abraham. But blinded fans like yourself thought it was so important to give him the big bucks. He is just a solid player. He's not great! We have other solid offensive linemen on the team. If you recall when he got hurt last year our line didn't drop any production. We moved Travelle Wharton over to his spot and kept rolling. Elite players like Peppers don't grow on trees. They may come around once every 35 years. We're still trying to replace Kris Jenkins inside!
LMFAO, blinded fans like myself? It's pretty obvious he didn't want to be here. Did Carolina offer him the highest paid defensive player in the history of football of 7 year $85 million with $45 million in gurantee? Clearly they did. He said he didn't deserve the money. They have been trying to sign him longterm since 2007. Im not one of those fans who didn't hate Peppers, i like Peppers. Teams was constanly running on his side or throwing screen passes on his side. So what are you talking about? Gross is one of the best LT in the game. Our Oline improve once they had change QB's, who throws the ball very quickly. You know, something Jake D couldn't do. Also could avoid a sack by escaping pressure. Its wasn't a Gross fault, i bet if he left fans like you and many others would bitch about letting go another good player. 31 other teams don't have a Peppers, but they are doing well without him. Not saying he is a bad player, he isn't worth no damn $20 million for this upcoming year. So you rather keep him and see Beason, Williams, Kalil, Davis,Moore, Marshall having to look for new teams? Because Peppers would take about 20% of the team salary cap, leaving them to sign maybe 1 or 2 and let the 3 guys go. Lmao when has John A dominated Gross? Which game has you been watchin, the guys has only giving up 33-36.5 sacks in a 8year career span, but i guess thats average to you.
Jared Allen is less athletic than Peppers. But he has a non stop motor of proving doubters wrong of being a 4th round pick. Before going to the Vikings, what help did Allen have in 07? None, but he still led the lead with 15.5 sacks in 07 to Peppers 2.5 sacks. He deserves what is giving to him each year and thats $12-13 million a year. I find it funny how people believe Peppers is worth $20 million for this up coming year. Thats QB money. Since Gross is overrated because he got paid. Are you going to say when Beason, Davis, Williams, and Kalil are overrated as well? They don't deserve the money they will be getting.
Pep sounds like some pet gerbil or house dog nickname and way too affectionate for this traitor who raped fans for a million bucks a game last year while performing another lackluster lazy halfass half hearted job.
Hard to believe for every single 60minutes of football JR paid this clown 16,666.66 cents a minute although there are technically only 7 minutes of actual active play time between whistles in each game so that would bump it up to 142,857.14 per real minute.
Not a bad heist for a bandit.
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