Baltimore Sun scouts the Panthers

[ChucktownK]

No prob, we got the Road Runner back there.

[SCP]

You're not at the HR Derby?

[Brandon]

Roughly ten sentences, eight of which merely state info one could find by googling, doesn't really fit my definition of a scouting report.

(granted, this comes from someone for whom ten sentences might be an opening paragraph)

That probably took less than five minutes to write, including the typing and the thinking (if you can call it that).

Is 6-10 a possibility? Sure, but does anybody seriously believe the author of that piece took a good hard look at the Panthers and came to his conclusions based on serious and careful consideration? Or does it seem more likely his editor said "write up a couple quick paragraphs on the Panthers" and the author said "sure, let me look up some info" :sosp:

Exactly. I want that guy's job if he can turn in consistently poor pieces like that and do little to no actual work and still get paid.

[panthers55]

In the end the defense will determine what kind of season we will have. If we can keep teams under 20 points we should be in the game. The problem for us will be trying to contain high offensive teams so we don't get into a shoot-out. Plus not giving points away on defensive turnovers will be a key. Baltimore won't be easy by any means but they surely aren't unbeatable either. One negative for us will be that Baltimore will have extra time (10 days) to prepare as they play a Thursday night game against Atlanta the week before.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

In the end the defense will determine what kind of season we will have. If we can keep teams under 20 points we should be in the game. The problem for us will be trying to contain high offensive teams so we don't get into a shoot-out. Plus not giving points away on defensive turnovers will be a key. Baltimore won't be easy by any means but they surely aren't unbeatable either. One negative for us will be that Baltimore will have extra time (10 days) to prepare as they play a Thursday night game against Atlanta the week before.

This entire assessment is dependant upon the idea that our offense can't handle a shootout.

So, who is failing in your premonitions......the QB or the recievers? Personally, I'd be more pessimistic of the reciever play than that of the QB's.

[panthers55]

This entire assessment is dependant upon the idea that our offense can't handle a shootout.

So, who is failing in your premonitions......the QB or the recievers? Personally, I'd be more pessimistic of the reciever play than that of the QB's.

I don't claim any prescience here, But look at our offense under Fox. We have had 2 years where we scored more than 22 points a game. The best was 2008 where we scored 25 points a game. We aren't built for shootouts. Jake was very good in the fourth quarter. At this point none of our present quarterbacks have shown any ability to score at will or in the fourth quarter. I really don't think one area is at fault. Most likely play calling is the issue. We don't really have quick scoring capacity.

[marcopolo]

Id actually be more concerned about Ray Rice. He single handly destroyed the patriots in the playoffs last year. Flacco only had 10 attempt the whole game. It could very well be the same way for us if our defensive line is as bad as everyone says.

[SCP]

That may change this year. Seems most of the OTAs were focused on the passing game. Maybe because the lack of experience at QB/WR or maybe because Fox is going to let the offense open up a little more this year.

[ItsNotGonnaBeAlright]

I don't claim any prescience here, But look at our offense under Fox. We have had 2 years where we scored more than 22 points a game. The best was 2008 where we scored 25 points a game. We aren't built for shootouts. Jake was very good in the fourth quarter. At this point none of our present quarterbacks have shown any ability to score at will or in the fourth quarter. I really don't think one area is at fault. Most likely play calling is the issue. We don't really have quick scoring capacity.

Valid point, but it brings us back to the issue of controlling the clock. Jake put us in the posistion of needing to be good in the fourth quarter more often than not, either through playcalling or through poor execution. Now that he's gone, it become even more an issue of being able to execute the called plays and in that regard I trust the recievers less than any posistion on offense. If we have no problems there, then there is no reason why we can't compete through a shootout this year. I know that this is also dependant upon decent quarterback play, but like I said, I think reciever is the weak link this year.

Long story short, I trust whatever starting quarterback we have this year more than I trusted Jake the last few years. With that in mind, if we have good play at reciever, then we should be able to rely on the running game in order to slow down the pace of a game and not have to worry about a shoot out. If all of that happens, then when we do find ourselves in a shootout we should be able to remain competetive no matter what. Playcalling may have been the issue in the past, but we can't make the judgement call on that for this year because of the changes in personel.

/drunken late night ramble

[panthers55]

Valid point, but it brings us back to the issue of controlling the clock. Jake put us in the posistion of needing to be good in the fourth quarter more often than not, either through playcalling or through poor execution. Now that he's gone, it become even more an issue of being able to execute the called plays and in that regard I trust the recievers less than any posistion on offense. If we have no problems there, then there is no reason why we can't compete through a shootout this year. I know that this is also dependant upon decent quarterback play, but like I said, I think reciever is the weak link this year.

Long story short, I trust whatever starting quarterback we have this year more than I trusted Jake the last few years. With that in mind, if we have good play at reciever, then we should be able to rely on the running game in order to slow down the pace of a game and not have to worry about a shoot out. If all of that happens, then when we do find ourselves in a shootout we should be able to remain competetive no matter what. Playcalling may have been the issue in the past, but we can't make the judgement call on that for this year because of the changes in personel.

/drunken late night ramble

First of all people forget too easily that our most high scoring offense under Fox was 2008 when Jake was our quarterback. We averaged over 25 points a game. The only time we averaged higher was in 1999 under Beuerlein (26.4) Jake also engineered at least 5 come from behind victories that year in the fourth quarter. So the idea that our present quarterbacks will be better than Jake in 2008 suggests that they will be the most prolific ever under Fox which may be a tall order.

Secondly teams that have quick scoring capacity like New Orleans for example often lose the time of possession battle but still win the game. It isn't just controlling the clock but controlling the clock and then scoring points at the end of drives. And who knows if we can consistently do that this year.

The key to controlling the clock is also getting off the field on defense and giving your team the ball in an advantageous position. That gives you more opportunities on offense and limits your opponents opportunities as well. Teams that routinely have to go only 30 yards to score are infinitely more successful than those who have to go the whole field.

Moore did well last year when he didn't have to score points. I have no idea whether he can come in and win a game in the fourth quarter. As for the receivers, outside of Smith, when have we had very many weapons? I think this bunch will be as good as last year's bunch or even 2008. It isn't as if the ball is set very high.

[pantherj]

A lot of sports writers simply aren't qualified to evaluate any of our new starters. To compound the problem, many writers didn't watch any of our games (beyond highlights that they don't remember) last season, so there knowledge of Matt Moore's ability is lower than that of a normal Panther fan. To make up for their general lack of knowledge and interest in the Panthers, they simply look at how much we're spending on our team this season. They know that the Bucs have been bad for the past few seasons due to a cheap budget, so they assume that the same will happen to the Panthers. Pathetic analysis from yet another hack.

Here is the truth. Yes, we're on a tight budget this season, but that doesn't mean we're going to have a losing season. As a fan, I have no idea how our D-line will perform. We simply don't know. I do know that Fox knows defensive linemen, and how to build a defense. We have very good talent at the Safety and CB positions. This is a fact based on their past perfomances. We'll have a top 5 LB Jon Beason imo, and Dan Connor had a great career in college, so that might translate to the pros. It might not. We all know we have a great run blocking O-line. This isn't something that is in question, but you'd never know it from sports writers trying to slam our team. Pass blocking, our O-line needs to improve, but they are far from terrible. We all know what we have at the RB position, and even many sports recognize their talent, so you know they're amazing. Steve Smith will draw double and triple teams, and beyond that, only the coaching staff knows what we have. Even Jarret is a question mark due mostly to his inabilty to learn our system. Matt Moore has had more good games than bad ones imo. He can make all the throws we need him to make in our system, and he reads the field extremely fast, and generally made the right decisions with the ball. Our special teams sucked last year. Our FBs and TEs are nothing to right home about. Now you're up to date. Enough from these terrible sports writers.

[ChucktownK]

People, media, etc. seem to forget the games where our RBs absolutely embarrassed more than a few Defenses with very little passing help from our QB.

[SorthNarolina]

People, media, etc. seem to forget the games where our RBs absolutely embarrassed more than a few Defenses with very little passing help from our QB.

Probably because of all the games where the run game was stuffed without any help from the QB.

[Mother Grabber]

Did I mention that body paint is one of the coolest inventions ever?