Examining the position groups' performances vs. the Pats

[Icege]

Woo... finally got to finish the whole thing and re-watch several plays. That was... uh... that was something.

Either way, on to the opinions!

QBs: Jack Plummer was bad. He left multiple plays on the field, made questionable decisions, was and failed to lead a scoring drive. Meanwhile, Jake Luton came off of the plane and converted a 4th down on the lone scoring drive for the Panthers. I don't think Plummer's stock can get much lower after that performance.

RBs: The lion's share of the carries went to Mike Boone who showed good effort as well as hustle both as a runner and on special teams. He had eight carries and had three catches on four targets. Jaden Shirden had a couple of good plays as well; stonewalling a CB blitz and a 7yd run on one of his four carries where he showed good vision and patience. He also had a catch on his only target for 10yds. Recently added Dillon Johnson only received two carries and one target.

TEs: The TE group didn't fair too bad. Ja'Tavion Sanders saw the field the most (24 snaps) and showed potential as a blocker. While he does have to refine his technique, it didn't look like he was as weak of a run blocker as suggested by his scouting report. Jordan Matthews had the second most snaps and arguably made the most out of them as he logged the third highest PFF grade on the team with a 87.7 overall grade. JMatt led the team with 38 receiving yards, having 28 of those come on what would be the longest play of the night for the Panther. Reports are that he's been impressing the coaching staff with his veteran leadership in the locker room and performance on the field during practice. Jacob Hollister had himself a pair of catches as and QB-turned-TE Feleipe Franks hauled in the one target he got for a short 4yd gain.

WRs: While the TEs did fairly well, the WRs... not so much. Terrace Marshall Jr and Jonathan Mingo had back-to-back drops that would have moved the chains and kept the offense on the field longer. The rain was coming down, but as young guys trying to secure their positions on the roster they have to make those catches. Mingo also had a carry on a reverse as did Ihmir Smith-Marsette who had an issue on the exchange that led to a fumble. ISM was the most featured non-RB on the offense ith six targets that he caught four on. One of those targets was a brutal drop on 3rd & 7 just before the lone field goal the Panthers were able to score. Another he took a hard hit in the back after making the catch and was quickly called off of the field by the coaching staff much to his frustration. Fan favorite Jalen Coker saw a few targets as well, but on one play he slipped and the pass was almost picked off.

OL: Oof... Joe Person listed Yosh Nijman as somebody who benefitted from last night and he didn't even play the game. That was how bad the play of the back-up OTs were against the Patriots. It's hard for me to imagine any of these guys being on the 53 with Nijman waiting to come back and the versatility of Brady Christensen to play all five spots on the line. With Cade Mays also having experience playing RT in college, the Panthers could look to see if he too can play all of the positions on the OL. Despite each of them having penalties, BC and Mays played well. They got push in the run game and did well in protection. Mays lost a rep on one pass play, but he was manhandling some guys.I saw him with at least two pancakes in the run game and one in the passing game. While there were a couple of reps where he looked like he was still thinking, Chandler Zavala also did well. There were still some hiccups in pass blocking for him and more than a couple of plays where he got pushed back, but there were also plays where he showed good awareness and didn't get beat. PFF thought highly of his performance, giving him the best grade for the OL with a grade of 84.2 overall (78.1 pass blocking, 81.6 run blocking). If he continues to perform as he did last night, Zavala could still make the final roster as OL9. Mays unfortunately hurt his shoulder and as soon as Andrew Raym came in he gave up a sack, but Raym finished strong afterwards and was mentioned by Canales in his post game presser (yes, there was one for those that were worried that there wasn't). Ricky Lee was the third member of the OL along with BC & Zavala to play 100% of the snaps last night. It sounded like they had planned to move some guys around but the injury to Mays' shoulder caused that to change as they only came into the game with seven OL dressed. In his post game presser, Canales mentioned that Nash Jensen had stayed behind with his wife for the birth of their child. Coach said that was very important and that they wanted to show their support.

Offense Overall: That was not pretty. The defense came out looking like a professional football team while the offense could only muster a field goal drive with the game well out of reach. There was incredibly vanilla play calling with no motion, but it's still important to see players win match-ups. Hoping to see Dave Canales and company challenge the team in practice leading up to the joint session with the Jets where we'll get a sneak peek at the results of their response.

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DL: The big uglies on the defensive line didn't fair too bad. The backups looked decent against the run and at times were able to collapse the pocket. Nick Thurman and TJ Smith both had positive plays, the former a TFL and the latter a sack. Third stringer Ulumoo Ale showed good power when he came on the field late in the game, collapsing the pocket and absorbing double teams. Unfortunately, 6th-round pick Jaden Crumedy hurt his ankle and didn't return. That's not good for a late round draft pick in a competitive position group. Hoping that he's able to bounce back quick and get back to competing.

EDGE: Only a few players were able to get to the QB in this game, but they also did a solid job in setting the edge against the run. DJ Johnson had two plays where he flashed; one where he disintegrated a blocker on the edge and collapsed it all the way into the run lane and another where him and Derrick McLendon met at the QB (which McLendon was credited for). McLendon also showed extra effort on the final kneel downs, treating them like extra reps. That's what the coaching staff has been preaching and I'm sure that caught their eye. Luiji Vilain had himself a nice TFL and showed good enough hustle to log the second highest PFF grade on the team (89.9). The highest grade, however, went to Eku Leota who made an impact on the field both on defense and on special teams with 3 TKLs, 2 TFLs, and a QB hit. On a night where there was a spot to win, Leota definitely made the most of it. Finally, K'Lavon Chaisson showed good burst off the line on the few snaps he had.

LBs: We got to see what Canales meant when he talked about Trevin Wallace. There were plays where he looked fast and strong in pursuit and there were others where he looked like he was still processing such as the early TD run where he was the clean up on the RB and dumped him into the end zone. Trevin is one of the players that would benefit most from getting as many preseason snaps as possible. Claudin Cherelus somehow posted the fourth highest PFF grade (84.6) on the team with one tackle and UConn UDFA Jackson Mitchell flashed as well in the late game, constantly being around the ball and pressuring the QB. This group appeared deeper than I initially gave it credit for and it will be very interesting seeing who ends up sticking around.

DBs:  They weren't exactly playing against Tom Brady, but the secondary held the Patriots to under 200yds passing and had guys making plays. New #2 CB Dane Jackson showed good open field tackling and D'Shawn Robinson did the same while also racking up a couple of PBUs. D'Shawn did give up a play to Boutte and had a couple of other reps where he got put on his behind but overall he showed promise. Dicaprio Bootle appeared in the second half and stringed together consecutive plays with an open field tackle and a PBU. Alex Cooke not being listed in the top 5 PFF grades is criminal. The man showed solid open field tackling and good closing speed on defense as well as special teams. Backup safety Clayton Isbell also popped up a few times towards the end of the game, while Demani Richardson started appearing around the ball more on defense after getting tossed one-handed by a Pats player on a punt return. Rookie Chau Smith-Wade had a chance to make a play on ST but allowed the ball to get into the end zone for a touchback but later had a good rep in coverage. Jammie Robinson looked fast coming off of the edge on nickel blitzes and had a secure open field tackle. While he got beat on a go route, Lamar Jackson was able to recover and break the pass up and made a few tackles himself. He's another player that has been getting some buzz lately, so the more he continues to show up the better. Last, and unfortunately least, Willie Drew drew an illegal contact penalty and then just a few plays later gave up go route for a Patriots' TD. I don't see him being on the roster for long.

Defense Overall: I'm going to be a man apart when Ejiro Evero leaves to become a head coach. The unit came to play and the guys responded for the most part. More than a couple of guys flashed on the defense as well and are likely going to get more opportunities as a result of what they were able to put on tape last night.

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P: They put poor Johnny Hekker to work. 10 punts for 464yds with a long of 58. I hope that wasn't a taste of things to come... again.

K: Apparently, the plan was for the players to alternate halves and Eddie Pineiro drew the first half but since the Pats kicked off and the Panthers' offense was inept he never saw the field. Harrison Mevis, on the other hand, got to score the only points that the team could scrounge. I don't see this game playing any influence on the current kicker battle.

Special Teams Overall: The new kickoff rule is fun! I appreciate how much safer it is for the players while still allowing strategy and big play potential. Special Teams though played very well outside of two punt returns that got away from them. Alex Cooke and Eku Leota especially looked good here while D'Shawn Robinson also showed potential as a backup returner.

Edited August 9 by Icege

[TheSpecialJuan]

Looking forward to reading this, terrific post 

[Basbear]

Great summary!