Monday, July 29, 2013

5 things I liked at Panther camp

Luke Kuechly signs autographs for fans Tuesday in Spartanburg after practice.

After spending much of Monday and Tuesday watching the Panthers in Spartanburg, here are 5 things I liked and a couple I didn't:

1) Jerry West. A true sports legend, and a friend of Jerry Richardson?! Who knew? West showing up at Panther camp was a nice bolt from the blue.

2) Mike Mitchell. New safety had an interception of Cam Newton and knocked Joe Adams’ helmet off in a drill with a hit that was no more than three-quarter speed. I want to see him go full out.

3) Armanti Edwards. He made a sweet tiptoe catch in the end zone. Don’t know if he got both feet in or not – the defensive backs certainly disputed it – but since it’s Armanti, let’s say he did. (TUESDAY update: Edwards got a lot of first-team reps with Steve Smith taking the day off just for safety reasons, but dropped a very catchable pass in a game-type situation).

4) Steve Smith. On Monday, beat two defensive backs on a double move for a deep ball. As the DBs talked about what went wrong among themselves following Smith toasting them both, he jogged back beside them and wisecracked, “Yall discuss that…. later.”

5) Thomas Davis. Although he has tweaked his hamstring (uh-oh), I liked what he said about signing autographs after signing a bushel of them post-practice. “There’s going to come a day when nobody’s asking for your autograph,” Davis said. “So you need to take advantage of it right now.”

A couple I didn't like as well:

1. Cam Newton's Tuesday performance. Very average. A couple of interceptions, including one Captain Munnerlyn returned for a TD on a late sideline throw. A "good-thing-it-was-just-practice" sort of day.

2. David Gettis. Have yet to see much from a WR who occasionally tantalizes his potential, but he sure had a bad drop in team drills Monday.

6 comments:

Mike W said...

Injuries to 52 & 58 really concerning! Holding out hope it's just a couple of vets trying to stay healthy though.

Anonymous said...

I saw Sunday's practice and was impressed with D.J. Barner he was making some good cuts and making people miss, can't wait to see him on a screen pass out in the open.

Anonymous said...

Sportswriters... a guy dropped a pass in practice. Oh my, a receiver dropped a catchable ball..stop the presses. This over examination of the miniscule details of the grind that is practice always points to someone who never strapped it on.

Anonymous said...

Ha! You have to love the Appalachian State College grad chiming in as 'Anonymous at 1:27'. Armanti has been given more than enough credit for the little irrelevant things he supposedly does good (which are really just things you would expect from an average-at-best player), so don't get on Fowler for pointing out one of the (many) blunders he's experienced in this attempt gone bad at making him an NFL WR. Next...

Anonymous said...

Cam had a bad day too. Armanti can drop one now and then. Rivera said he earned his first team reps.

Chet said...

Great!