P-55 Fan Fest analysis

[CRA]

Cantwell threw it to a spot. Problem with Jarrett is that you never know if it was a bad throw or whether Jarrett ran a wrong route and didn't show up where he should have been. By now that shouldn't be in question. I really had high hopes for Jarrett. I have his signed jersey. But then again I liked Taye Biddle, so what can I say.

I was being sarcastic saying he can't catch but he really did nothing to convince me to start him Thursday night. If I had to pick the 2 best guys in the drills and scrimmage, I would pick Rosario and Wright, not Moore or Jarrett.

I'm thinking Fox will start him Thursday. Fox is big on putting the older guys up first. Wouldn't be shocked if Clausen is 3rd up the first game. Just to show Cantwell a nod of repsect for hanging in camp.....after that, all bets are probably off and whoever Fox is liking best will be ahead next game.

[GRWatcher]

I can not believe that not one "report from fan fest" mentioned the fumble recovered by Tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best action of the day! :party:

I saw nothing from our offense that, well, I saw nothing. But I'll reserve judgement until the 3rd preseason game. I was disappointed that Pike didn't get much time at all on the field. Maybe, what, 3-4 plays and most were running plays. I did want to see more of him. Cantwell had the most time.

Defense impressed but I'll still wait until the 3rd preseason game.

Now, I was impressed with the drum line. Plenty of energy there. Something for us ladies to look at.

We were in the east endzone. There were a ton of kids in front waiting for autographs and they all looked disappointed when it was done. We had only 3 players come by and I wouldn't be surprised if all 3 weren't on the roster in September. That was a let down.

[panthers55]

I can not believe that not one "report from fan fest" mentioned the fumble recovered by Tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Best action of the day! :party:

I saw nothing from our offense that, well, I saw nothing. But I'll reserve judgement until the 3rd preseason game. I was disappointed that Pike didn't get much time at all on the field. Maybe, what, 3-4 plays and most were running plays. I did want to see more of him. Cantwell had the most time.

Defense impressed but I'll still wait until the 3rd preseason game.

Now, I was impressed with the drum line. Plenty of energy there. Something for us ladies to look at.

We were in the east endzone. There were a ton of kids in front waiting for autographs and they all looked disappointed when it was done. We had only 3 players come by and I wouldn't be surprised if all 3 weren't on the roster in September. That was a let down.

I forgot all about Tank recovering the fumble. The funny part was he took the ball and starting running with it. Ran over a couple of folks. LOL You could tell he doesn't get to touch it much. He got his whole 10 seconds of glory.

[GRWatcher]

I forgot all about Tank recovering the fumble. The funny part was he took the ball and starting running with it. Ran over a couple of folks. LOL You could tell he doesn't get to touch it much. He got his whole 10 seconds of glory.

Yep lol I believe he will make the most of every chance he gets.

[Woodie]

First of all the weather was fairly good- not too hot and some breeze.

With that done lets get to football.

They started out with one on one drills- Edwards is good when no one is defending him. Jarrett can't catch even when wide open. Wallace Wright will make the team as a Special teamer and as a receiver. Moore has good hands but isn't that fast.

All the quarterbacks looked good in drills.

Then on 7-7 drills, Moore and Cantwell looked the best. Clausen doesn't have a strong arm and checks down too much. Pike holds the ball and doesn't know where to go. Moore was decisive and threw a good ball. Cantwell is the only guy who can throw an out pattern and make sure the ball gets there before it can be picked.

On special teams drills- Kasay hit a 47 yarder with plenty of room to spare. Carter won't be kicking field goals. Half of his kicks were low line drives that would have been blocked and weren't good anyway. They didn't do any kickoffs so I can't tell you who is going to win the job but Carter better do that well or there is no way he sticks.

On receiving punts it was tough to say what will happen. Edwards started out followed by Munnerlyn and Moore. Since they blew it dead before the kicking team reached the returner, all i can say it that they all caught the ball and baker can still kick it.

Then we had 11 on 11 drills. Cantwell started out with the second offense against the first defense. Lets talk about the defense. Brayton was at RDE, Landri was at RT, Leonard was at LDT, and C J was at LDE. They played a 4-3 over/ under and both Landri and Leonard got push up the middle. With 3 of our 4 regular backs out, the running game was poor, and the best play by a running back was a catch of Clausen's scramble by Josh Vaughn who actually looked like a beast on that play. Problem was they couldn't run and the defense blitzed more than I can remember them doing last year. That was really what I sensed. The defense recognized plays right away and sat on the play or blitzed almost as if they knew what was coming. I suspect they did. It won't be as easy Thursday night when they face an unfamiliar offense. With guys they don't see every day in practice. Of course the defense was ahead of the offense. They knew what was happening as it unfolded since they had been practicing against those same plays for the past 2 weeks. The defense built some continuity while the offense didn't. They shuffled in receivers on just about every third snap making it hard to follow the action let alone develop some continuity in the passing game. Something they won't have to worry about when they play with established starters and Smitty comes back. The tight ends all caught a ball in the scrimmage with the best guy in drills and the scrimmage being Rosario. He caught the ball in traffic and held on with some nifty moves.

The receivers had a tough day with Jarrett, Moore, and Edwards contributing little. On that bomb Moore just couldn't catch up with the ball because he lacks the extra gear of the man he replaced on the starters, Steve Smith. He tried his best but showed why he isn't a number 1 receiver. He isn't special yet. A special guy makes that catch hence the moniker.

Quarterbacks- The best guy of the day was Cantwell. He looked good in spurts against the first defense considering he was running the second offense. Sure he wasn't great but c'mon, that was better than Matt Moore not looking that good against the second defense. The starting line got regularly beat by stunts and blitzes. They pressured Moore into a few poor throws.

I don't agree with what you said about Clausen. He really didn't check down in the 7 on 7's at all. He had a called pass to the RB in the flat as well as another pass of about 5-10 yards, and he also threw a beautiful pass to Gettis, who was well covered, about 20 yards downfield (very nice catch by Gettis, by the way). And in the scrimmage, he constantly had pressure in his face and nobody was open downfield. But all of his passes had good zip and provided no indication that he doesn't have a strong arm.

I think three plays hurt Moore. Two were on passes that shouldn't have been thrown (and Wilson should have intercepted both), and one was the bomb that went right through K. Moore's hands. Other than that, he was fine. And other than the fumble and a bad decision that he was lucky wasn't intercepted, Cantwell was ok, but nothing special (not a knock, but like the others, he took what was given, which wasn't much).

Overall, I think all of the QB's were fairly pedestrian. But IMO, it was more a result of the OL giving them little time and the WR's struggling to get open. I don't think any one of them did anything to either help or hurt their stock. Of course I am not including Pike in any QB talk since he is pretty much a non factor at this point, and a likely PS candidate (or IR, if they can find an excuse).

I believe a lot of people think that Cantwell was with the second unit because he came out first in the scrimmage, but as I said in another thread, the rotation went Cantwell, Clausen, then Moore. So, to me that implies that they went with a reverse order of position, particularly since Clausen was the first QB after Moore to come in on 7 on 7's. Of course that's just speculation, but we should know for certain on Thursday night.

They knew what was happening as it unfolded since they had been practicing against those same plays for the past 2 weeks.

I think this is a big factor that is easy to forget. These guys know each other very well by now, and know what to expect.

With special teams, I am starting to think Carter won't make the team, and Baker will handle kick-offs this year. We have so many guys that should get roster spots that they cannot afford to give one to a KO specialist unless he is booming it every time. And from what I have heard, he tends to kick a lot of line drives, and from warmups, I didn't see him hit any into the end zone (although that may be due to him just warming up).

[panthers55]

I don't agree with what you said about Clausen. He really didn't check down in the 7 on 7's at all. He had a called pass to the RB in the flat as well as another pass of about 5-10 yards, and he also threw a beautiful pass to Gettis, who was well covered, about 20 yards downfield (very nice catch by Gettis, by the way). And in the scrimmage, he constantly had pressure in his face and nobody was open downfield. But all of his passes had good zip and provided no indication that he doesn't have a strong arm.

I think three plays hurt Moore. Two were on passes that shouldn't have been thrown (and Wilson should have intercepted both), and one was the bomb that went right through K. Moore's hands. Other than that, he was fine. And other than the fumble and a bad decision that he was lucky wasn't intercepted, Cantwell was ok, but nothing special (not a knock, but like the others, he took what was given, which wasn't much).

Overall, I think all of the QB's were fairly pedestrian. But IMO, it was more a result of the OL giving them little time and the WR's struggling to get open. I don't think any one of them did anything to either help or hurt their stock. Of course I am not including Pike in any QB talk since he is pretty much a non factor at this point, and a likely PS candidate (or IR, if they can find an excuse).

I believe a lot of people think that Cantwell was with the second unit because he came out first in the scrimmage, but as I said in another thread, the rotation went Cantwell, Clausen, then Moore. So, to me that implies that they went with a reverse order of position, particularly since Clausen was the first QB after Moore to come in on 7 on 7's. Of course that's just speculation, but we should know for certain on Thursday night.

I think this is a big factor that is easy to forget. These guys know each other very well by now, and know what to expect.

With special teams, I am starting to think Carter won't make the team, and Baker will handle kick-offs this year. We have so many guys that should get roster spots that they cannot afford to give one to a KO specialist unless he is booming it every time. And from what I have heard, he tends to kick a lot of line drives, and from warmups, I didn't see him hit any into the end zone (although that may be due to him just warming up).

Gantt has his observations in the Observer this morning. Funny how great minds think alike, His analysis is very similar to mine.

Excerpts:

Tank Tyler, Tyler Brayton and Louis Leonard all showed some burst. Johnson moved his man and Norwood might have gotten a sack if they were live.

Jimmy Clausen's pass to Vaughan was negated by a holding penalty. The most competent passing of the day was by Hunter Cantwell. He hit passes to two tight ends, King and Barnidge. He did fumble as well.

Seems like usual, I am right about who played well and who didn't. As I said neither Moore or Clausen looked that good. And yes Clausen did check down quite a bit in drills and during the scrimmage. He doesn't have the confidence th heave it long at this point. Moore's day was hurt by Kenny Moore not catching that pass.

For what it is worth, Clausen played with the third string offense against the third string defense and still didn't look all that good outside of the one scramble. His second scramble came on a play that was already called dead because he would have been sacked. It wasn't bad for a rookie but surely wasn't impressive. And when 7 of your 9 passes go for 10 yards or less that is what checking down is to a safety value receiver or back running an underneath route. Don't understand why people want to say he did all that great. He is a rookie and is fine for where he is right now. Checkdowns aren't bad either unless you do it all the time and defenders sit on the underneath routes.

As I said earlier the fact that Moore couldn't throw well against the second string defense and would have thrown 2 picks, wasn't fine otherwise. It was pretty bad actually. The only guy who looked decent was Cantwell and that was against the first defense. Of course he would be ahead of Clausen at this point, he already has a year in the system. And practice experience makes a huge difference.

Moore's issues were really a lack of blocking against the second defense, and that is not good either. Hardy, Tyler, and Brown got consistent pressure on Moore which is partly what precipitated the poor throws. Add that to the fact that neither Kenny Moore or Jarrett looked good as receivers and it didn't help at all. Frankly Moore would have been better off with the second offense yesterday. They had better route running than the starters.

[C47]

Gantt has his observations in the Observer this morning. Funny how great minds think alike, His analysis is very similar to mine.

[panthers55]

The fact that you among some other don't recognize that Gantt knows more about this team and has access that others don't is the funny part. It speak volumes about who doesn't have a clue, and it isn't Gantt or me:D.

[Miaoww]

Gantt's not a particularly good judge of talent.

[C47]

The fact that you among some other don't recognize that Gantt knows more about this team and has access that others don't is the funny part. It speak volumes about who doesn't have a clue, and it isn't Gantt or me:D.

Says you right....

[panthers55]

Gantt's not a particularly good judge of talent.

He isn't necessarily good about predicting who will or who won't make the team or be a star but he does a good job of talking with folks and getting their perpsective. If he feels that Cantwell did the best, for example, that is likely the perception of the Panthers as well at this point.

[panthers55]

Says you right....

Seriously? I have no desire to return to third grade. Why do you??

Gantt is the Panthers beat writer and pretty much his full time job. If you start listening to him you will pick up a lot of what the Panthers think. He talks to everyone and has access to the FO except perhaps Richardson.

[C47]

Seriously? I have no desire to return to third grade. Why do you??

Gantt is the Panthers beat writer and pretty much his full time job. If you start listening to him you will pick up a lot of what the Panthers think. He talks to everyone and has access to the FO except perhaps Richardson.

Gantt's opinions are full of his own personal bias as well.....

[Zod]

Don't put much stock into 7 on 7 drills as far as QBs go. They are more for route running than anything. QBs are told to let all the routes develop before throwing the ball so that all the WRs are on tape and their routes can be scrutinized.