OnePantherPlace: The Game Notes

[Tbe]

14 minutes ago, ellis said:

Jerry Hughes ripped a hole into Carolina’s offensive line in Spartanburg: two straight days of practices, and the o-line was absolutely overwhelmed by McDermott’s defense. Sometimes, your talent level is just not good enough. I can put some of that on coaching, sure. Everybody had a hand in it. 

Anyway, from that moment, I’ve been very skeptical about this team’s ability to move the ball. We chronicled that quite frequently during camp. Team look like world-beaters in light padded drills. Once they got punched in the mouth, not so much.

 

 

Do you think the team realized that the panthers d line wasn’t as good as they thought because the oline was actually just terrible? 

[ellis]

Hard to say.

And I’m not saying there is an ironclad direct correlation to Buffalo and what’s going on now, but they’ve played 8 terrible quarters of football since those two practices. 

I think the team will be just fine. But just fine doesn’t mean 13-3. There are some problem areas, and those may end up costing the team some wins. 

It’s OK not to win any preseason games. But it’s not OK to be this terrible at it.

[Seltzer]

11 minutes ago, ellis said:

It’s OK not to win any preseason games. But it’s not OK to be this terrible at it.

Yep... the team has just looked unprepared, undisciplined, and unable to compete, primarily on offense.

These issues can be worked on, but like Olsen said, it is hard to think they can just flip a switch and look significantly better.

2 weeks is not long when they haven't been able to address it in the last 4, especially with Cam not at 100% for at least some of this time.

It is extremely disappointing, because there was so much positive coming out of camp the 1st couple of weeks.  It seems to point to the team just lacking physicality

[philit99]

29 yards. Twenty nine yards. That’s embarrassing. 29 damn yards at the half.

[ellis]

The word is Olsen was pretty grim in the locker room. I don’t think it’s just about Cam’s injury, either. This ain’t his first rodeo: he knows bad football when he sees it. 

[philit99]

Just now, ellis said:

The word is Olsen was pretty grim in the locker room. I don’t think it’s just about Cam’s injury, either. This ain’t his first rodeo: he knows bad football when he sees it. 

That’s disappointing. This season is our last shot for so many, including Olsen, I believe he hangs it up after this one.

[ellis]

To be fair, 90% of what in Norv runs in terms of the misdirection pass game, hasn’t sniffed the preseason. 

 

 

[ellis]

Re: Buffalo in Spartanburg. 

 

 

[Seltzer]

7 minutes ago, ellis said:

The word is Olsen was pretty grim in the locker room. I don’t think it’s just about Cam’s injury, either. This ain’t his first rodeo: he knows bad football when he sees it. 

And that's part of what is so frustrating... Take Cam out of the picture just for a 2nd, b/c he had an otherworldly year in 2015... this team on paper has every bit as much talent outside of Cam as the 2015 team did IMHO, maybe more.

I am in general a Rivera backer, but it is unsettling how bad and uninspired most of the team has looked, and the offensive line play looks like 5 guys just thrown out there who have never taken a snap together.

This team should not look this bad under any circumstance, preseason or not...

Just bad fundamental football... I'll be honest, I'm not ready to throw in the towel by any means, but these last 2 preseason outings have been ultra deflating.

It really does give you the defeatist feel of the team that lost 7 straight last year.

[gmonjimbo]

Appreciate the insight Ellis. I'm concerned about the team's mentality. The Panthers used to be one of the more physical teams in the NFL, but they have lost their edge. This team wont win more than 7 games if the trenches on both sides of the ball dont pick up their game. The intensity is not there. 

[Seltzer]

7 minutes ago, gmonjimbo said:

Appreciate the insight Ellis. I'm concerned about the team's mentality. The Panthers used to be one of the more physical teams in the NFL, but they have lost their edge. This team wont win more than 7 games if the trenches on both sides of the ball dont pick up their game. The intensity is not there. 

I remember in 2015 hearing the Inside the NFL guys state they heard teams sometimes needed an extra day off to recover from how physical the Panthers were.  This preseason we have looked like a finesse team on offense who is ready to curl and hide when we get smacked in the mouth

[Toomers]

   Great article. And I’m glad someone else has realized that the switch to the 3-4 is.not the fix-all people think. As you said, we don’t have the proper personnel and are wasting our top talent. Luke getting free releases from OGs is not going to work. 

[ellis]

Thank you. Just to be clear, this is my brother Ross providing the analysis. (Though we basically agree on most points)

I have a weekend piece coming up. Also have Ep4 of the OnePantherPodcast dropping on Monday. 

[ellis]

3 hours ago, gmonjimbo said:

Appreciate the insight Ellis. I'm concerned about the team's mentality. The Panthers used to be one of the more physical teams in the NFL, but they have lost their edge. This team wont win more than 7 games if the trenches on both sides of the ball dont pick up their game. The intensity is not there. 

Yeah, I’m concerned about the physicality. I think it’ll be fine long-term, but once again, they were pushed around pretty good by Buffalo in Spartanburg.