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Six things to consider if you're contemplating seppuku.

PhillyB

By PhillyB,
in Carolina Panthers

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PhillyB Grand Master

PhillyB

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...not just another rant-against-the-doom-and-gloomers! :D Here's a few things to think about that you - if you're on suicide watch over tonight's performance or any of the other preseason games:

1) Mistakes can be corrected. We saw it tonight: save for the touchdown run by Redman (who?) the tackling was spot on, against a very good pittsburgh offense. I think a lot of prior errors were visibly improved upon tonight... the defensive interior looked good, even great, at times. (Nick Hayden in the backfield... really?) Offense had some chokes due to turnovers, but all in all we moved the ball extremely well. More on this later.

Our much-maligned coaching staff has shown an acute ability to address and mask weaknesses, an affinity that's gained Fox much respect among his peers. Anyone remember the first couple of games of '08 and the absurd number of false starts? By week four we were fine, because the coaches made adjustments in practice. Remember when we played Atlanta in November and got stomped, and our offense was feared to have gained an identity as sluggish? We came out on fire against Green Bay the following week, because the coaches made adjustments in practice.

Tonight was another extension of those tendencies. Tackling has been an issue, and tonight was an improvement. You can tell Meeks placed an emphasis on it. The front four got a ton of pressure (at least compared to the first three games.) This is where great coaching staffs separate themselves from the rest - if there's a problem, it gets fixed. Tonight was a very encouraging step in the right direction. Against the defending Superbowl champs.

2) Preseason playcalls are different. The most obvious evidence here is week one against NYG... anyone who's ever watched Fox call a play knows if it was regular season he would've just kneeled that sucker and taken it into overtime... preseason garners a different mentality.

If a preseason game is worthless record-wise, you - as a coach - are going to use it to work out kinks and experiment with personnel. Tonight we threw a ton of passes out to Moore and Jarrett in the flats. Would they have actually called those in regular season? Possibly, but probably not. The more likely answer is a personnel decision. Both guys are fighting (we assume) for the number three receiver slot... this could've been a situation - catching passes in the flats - designed to see who could pull off the most YAC and give the coaches a better idea of who to go with, based on what they've already seen in an analysis of these guys (an analysis far more accurate than ones you or I make.)

Speculation here? Of course! Maybe the QB just read soft coverage a bunch of times and decided it was a good shot. But it's plausible, and I don't think anyone would deny the principle behind it. And if that's true, you can apply its effects to every single down, on every single drive of every single quarter of every single preseason game.

You get a vastly different outcome.

3) Steve Smith played two series in the entire preseason. Yep... two. Biggest playmaker. If you think one guy doesn't make that big of a difference to an offense, go watch replays of our games last year against the Saints, the Falcons, the Packers, the Cardinals, the Buccaneers, ...point made. Smitty can take over a game.

4) There are several poo-your-pants-awesome positives. Barnidge, anyone? The man is a monster. He's working with the first team, he's making receptions, he's getting open deep against hapless safties and linebackers. He's going to be one of Delhomme's favorite targets. Speaking of Delhomme... why hasn't anyone mentioned this guy's stats? He's thrown for over two hundred yards this preseason. That's a joke compared to the Bradys and the Mannings out there, but he's been efficient, mostly un-used (Triple Trouble was going to be my next point) and certainly far from the post-season disaster he was in January.

5) Jeremy Leman. He doesn't come close to deserving his own separate point, but he makes me spill my beer and yell when i watch games, so there you go.

6)...it IS still just the preseason! As much as it's pounded into the ground ad nauseum, there's truth to it. We can analyze the balls off of each game (as i'm doing now) all we want, but in the end, not one of us can be certain until we've had a few weeks of actual regular season play. We'll know a lot by week four... we'll have played hard-hitting 4-3 defense in Philly, a big-play offense and common opponent in Atlanta, and a talented 3-4 in Dallas. We'll have been tested on all fronts and then - and only then - will our identity as a team be known.

Here's to 4-0 by week five. :cheers2:

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KBRed Community Regular

KBRed

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4) There are several poo-your-pants-awesome positives. Barnidge, anyone? The man is a monster. He's working with the first team, he's making receptions, he's getting open deep against hapless safties and linebackers. He's going to be one of Delhomme's favorite targets. Speaking of Delhomme... why hasn't anyone mentioned this guy's stats? He's thrown for over two hundred yards this preseason. That's a joke compared to the Bradys and the Mannings out there, but he's been efficient, mostly un-used (Triple Trouble was going to be my next point) and certainly far from the post-season disaster he was in January.

5) Jeremy Leman. He doesn't come close to deserving his own separate point, but he makes me spill my beer and yell when i watch games, so there you go.

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KBRed Community Regular

KBRed

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Sorry, but I'm all out of kool-aid. You make some good points, but a good team should never look as bad as the Panthers did tonight, it was a joke.

Kool-Aid is cheap. Go get you some more of it...and some sugar. It's going to be a great season!!!!!!

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Panthers128 Newbie

Panthers128

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I'm really concerned about the talent on our defense. The offense has had a lot of issues partly because of poor play calling, and I think some of that is not that big a deal as there's less game planning and a bad play call in the preseason can be helpful as you don't want your qb seeing a blitz not picked up for the first time in the regular season. The defense has no reason to be missing so many tackles though, other than some injuries. Also our defensive tackles seem like a serious area of weakness.

The team deserves at least to play a full meaningful game before we pass judgement on them. It's going to be a long season.

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PhillyB Grand Master

PhillyB

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I didn't catch all of the games, and I didn't get a real good look at Leman. How is he looking out there?

Electrifying! He's no first-stringer by any means, but he's playing with an unbelievable amount of fire. He's got a nose for the ball and gives 110% on every play. He busted into the backfield a couple of times tonight and made some pretty big plays... par for the course.

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KBRed Community Regular

KBRed

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I didn't catch all of the games, and I didn't get a real good look Leman. I saw him make 1 or 2 awesome plays, and they were great stuff. How well did he do at other times?

He was literally all over the field. To be honest, I felt that he read the field better than a lot of players do. I would love to see a guy with such heart be on this team.

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