The Good and The Bad . . .

[Bama Panther]

I haven't posted much since the changeover, but I still read the posts. I felt that I would put my two cents in on last night's game.

The Good

First, where did the first half offense come from? I realize the Panthers offense has been really good over the last month or so, but wow!!! Three touchdowns on three drives against a very formidable defense in their house was a great display of how far the Panthers offense has come. That, to me, shows that the Panthers are capable of imposing their will on anyone when they are allowed to (more on this later).

Second, the pass protection, and run blocking for that matter, was phenomenal. Even without Vincent, the O-line held off the Giants famed pass rush and opened up some nice running lanes for Williams and Stewart. That has to be encouraging, even with the success of the running game over the last half of the season.

Third, Jake is not as nerve racking as he has been in the pass. I find myself much more comfortable with Jake's decision-making, and I don't think to myself "Oh no, oh no, oh no" every time he stands antsy in the pocket before making a deep throw. While Jake still makes his mistakes from time to time, he has greatly increased his pocket presence and ability to overcome the pressure of a situation.

The Bad

I think it is pretty obvious that our defense has to find its swagger. They were gashed last night, and it seems that Kemo is a much bigger (no pun intended) piece than many believed. Regardless of his absence, the writing has been on the wall since the bye week. Something is not right with the Panthers run defense, and it was taken advantage of last night.

The secondary continues to allow easy completions. I have long disagreed with the 7-12 yard cushion that our starting CBs give, and I, for the life of me, cannot understand why it is given on every play. Sure, it has its advantages, but you must mix things up. Allowing the receivers to get a free release creates a vulnerability, and Eli took advantage of it last night.

The offense must take advantage of opposing teams stacking the box. During the second half, the Giants, on many occassions, went 8, and even 9, men in the box. The Panthers, other than the pass to Moose, did not make them change. Stretching the field in that situation, even if just to make the Giants think about it, could have given the Panthers a better chance of running the ball.

Finally, I can't help but the think the Panthers got too conservative in the second half. The first three drives, as mentioned, were amazing. The Panthers were doing whatever they wanted to, and while I know the other team practices to, you don't go from complete domination to three-and-outs based solely on the other team stepping it up. There was a point when the Panthers turned it down a notch, and it showed. Of course, Fox is a good coach, and he guided the team to past playoff glory. However, his conservatism showed last night. It wasn't terrible, but the team played to not lose, instead of playing to win, when they could have taken full control of the game.

Anyways, I have full confidence that they will beat New Orleans Sunday. They have shown, over the last month, the ability to play with anyone. I think things will be different between the Panthers and Giants come January.

[frash.exe]

The defense on the road,....... it's awful.

45, 31, 34 points in the last 3 road contests. Of course you're going to lose two of those matches when you give up that much, which means it's not going to benefit us if we go in as a wildcard instead of a 2nd seed, especially now that we're getting a little banged up. We need to go into New Orleans and tear down the Saints because 11-5 is not going to win this division this year and the Falcons WILL kick the Rams ass.

[gotsmart?]

our d did not adjust, and continued to leave gaps over pursue when the ran out of the offset or shotgun. ward made us look foolish, and some changes need to be made, sometimes, u just need to put a game away, not go for the conservative win

[CanadianCat]

great post - i totally agree

[frash.exe]

On the upside though, Pass Pro was excellent, even missing one starter. They didn't get anywhere near Delhomme.

[gotsmart?]

On the upside though, Pass Pro was excellent, even missing one starter. They didn't get anywhere near Delhomme.

offensively, we were amazing. and i know ,:beatdeadhorse5:, but we started to play too conservative in the second half, ran too much, and did not give smith an opportunity to do what he is best at, give us a short field to run in. we had the ball in OT, and shoulda given it to smith, got us close and possibly tried another kick.

[frash.exe]

I would've loved to see some Smith in the slot. We killed them that way in the playoffs in 05.

[megadeth078]

we should be blaming our offense more. We knew what our defense brings to the table and we knew it wasn't going to be pretty. Our offense was doing a good job scoring more points to make up for the bad defense play, but all of a sudden they figured they've scored enough and relied on their defense. Something you shouldn't do.

So, to recap:

Defense = fail for playing like fail

Offense = fail for relying on our defense for jack sh*t

That's all I gotta say about that.

[ckad79]

The good? Our run game came out strong the first half. The bad? Our offense couldn't move the ball enough in the 4th quarter when it counted and keep the clock going. Even when the Giants ran out of timeouts, we couldn't get a first down to save our life!!! On top of that, our run defense was awful just about the entire game and our secondary was garbage the whole thing too! I mean, why can't we have a corner back who will smash a guy's head off when they catch the ball... and try to force them to pop it loose? Lucas just sits there, watches a receiver catch the ball and then runs up and hugs them. He's such a douche.

Still, in the end we had a chance to win it on a Kasey kick. He missed it... a kicked he might have made, had it not been brought back on that holding call.

When Kasey missed that kick, I knew it was over. I could just feel it... it was like the train had officially run out of coal and the momentum shifted to the Giants.

This year--- I dunno. I think we miss that "Sam Mills" factor about us this season... that feeling that something bigger is behind us... driving us to success. I have yet to see any last second miracle wins, the ball bouncing our way, etc. In '03, going into the playoffs, you just felt like something BIG was going to happen. The block field goal in Tampa, the overtime win in Indy, the great end in New Orleans... and who could forget the Rams win in double overtime? You just felt like, even outside of Charlotte... the Panthers were doing something special. I don't feel it about this year's club. Amazing at home and giving the home team every chance to beat us on the road. That team was magical... this team just isn't.

We aren't solid on the road and being a wild card team for us is a joke. I would rather stay home and get a draftpick. I can't see us getting past round 1. We needed the #1 seed. It's a shame because as crappy as we were in many aspects last night, we had a shot with Kasey's kick.

Oh well, I will say this... I can't believe the NFL doesn't give the Panthers more games on national TV! I mean, seriously, if you want drama the Panthers will provide it. The Rams playoff game, the Super Bowl, this last game. I mean, come on... Fox & our defense will give every team every chance to beat us and make for a great game. We wouldn't be the Panthers if blew teams out.

[Bama Panther]

The good? Our run game came out strong the first half. The bad? Our offense couldn't move the ball enough in the 4th quarter when it counted and keep the clock going. Even when the Giants ran out of timeouts, we couldn't get a first down to save our life!!! On top of that, our run defense was awful just about the entire game and our secondary was garbage the whole thing too! I mean, why can't we have a corner back who will smash a guy's head off when they catch the ball... and try to force them to pop it loose? Lucas just sits there, watches a receiver catch the ball and then runs up and hugs them. He's such a douche.

Still, in the end we had a chance to win it on a Kasey kick. He missed it... a kicked he might have made, had it not been brought back on that holding call.

When Kasey missed that kick, I knew it was over. I could just feel it... it was like the train had officially run out of coal and the momentum shifted to the Giants.

This year--- I dunno. I think we miss that "Sam Mills" factor about us this season... that feeling that something bigger is behind us... driving us to success. I have yet to see any last second miracle wins, the ball bouncing our way, etc. In '03, going into the playoffs, you just felt like something BIG was going to happen. The block field goal in Tampa, the overtime win in Indy, the great end in New Orleans... and who could forget the Rams win in double overtime? You just felt like, even outside of Charlotte... the Panthers were doing something special. I don't feel it about this year's club. Amazing at home and giving the home team every chance to beat us on the road. That team was magical... this team just isn't.

We aren't solid on the road and being a wild card team for us is a joke. I would rather stay home and get a draftpick. I can't see us getting past round 1. We needed the #1 seed. It's a shame because as crappy as we were in many aspects last night, we had a shot with Kasey's kick.

Oh well, I will say this... I can't believe the NFL doesn't give the Panthers more games on national TV! I mean, seriously, if you want drama the Panthers will provide it. The Rams playoff game, the Super Bowl, this last game. I mean, come on... Fox & our defense will give every team every chance to beat us and make for a great game. We wouldn't be the Panthers if blew teams out.

I don't mean any offense by this, but I think that something bigger behind the team is a cop out. Championship teams don't need that stuff. They play great because they know they're great, ala the Patriots of past years. That is where the Panthers need to be.

[ckad79]

I don't mean any offense by this, but I think that something bigger behind the team is a cop out. Championship teams don't need that stuff. They play great because they know they're great, ala the Patriots of past years. That is where the Panthers need to be.

You don't think the team stepped up because of Sam Mills? I don't believe in guardian angels or anything of that bulls*** either. I don't believe Sam Mills was watching from heaven, making teams miss field goals. haha BUT I do believe that people can get behind something and never give up hope because of something like somebody's death and being inspired by that person's life and what he stood for, etc, even if life's bleakest hours. I don't think this year's team has that about it... that is all. Just my two cents.

Again, I only hope I'm wrong.

[Bama Panther]

You don't think the team stepped up because of Sam Mills? I don't believe in guardian angels or anything of that bulls*** either. I don't believe Sam Mills was watching from heaven, making teams miss field goals. haha BUT I do believe that people can get behind something and never give up hope because of something like somebody's death and being inspired by that person's life and what he stood for, etc, even if life's bleakest hours. I don't think this year's team has that about it... that is all. Just my two cents.

Again, I only hope I'm wrong.

I don't mean that people can't get behind things like that. I am just saying that great teams don't need those things.

[beastson]

Till we go back to man to man bump and run and playing aggressive on defense, I will like our chances of going to the Superbowl

Till then, the team is going to have to go all out pffensively. We can put up points against any D IMO. And we can't be conservative against any teams from now on

[ladypanther]

Good post Bama. 1st half...offense played to win. 2nd half...they played not to lose.

Don't know what the D was doing....same thing it has been doing for years.

Tough thing is that we were so close....