Initial Impressions

[pantherclaw]

Kenny moore made a fantastic catch.

Jarret made a couple.

That's about all that I can say about the passing game.

Clausen looks like he belongs, but he also got away with several things he wouldn't be able to in the regular season.

Moore is still the clear starter.

Our oline needs to put in some work!

Sutton is doing all he can. Like seeing that.

Fiametta looks the part. He blocked well, and catches the ball well.

Defensive line did well. Would love to see hardy getting some time with brayton.

Brown played better than charles johnson tonight. That isn't saying much.

Conner played well. Lb group as a whole needs to step it up though.

Secondary was definately a mixed bag. some good, some bad.

Not bad for the first preseason game.

Hope our receivers show more in the next 2 games.

[SOJA]

Started off this game not certain what to expect. Learned a few things, but not a lot. Nothing special to celebrate, but no reasons to panic either.

Starting with the QB spot: A little off early, but Matt Moore still looked the best of the QBs out there. If not for some foibles by the O-Line, I think he'd have led a scoring drive before leaving for the night. Credit him for showing better pocket presence than Delhomme did last year, and the ball still comes out of his hands quick. Field confidence too. Watching him run the offense, you'd never know he had less than ten starts under his belt. He has the demeanor of a guy who's been in charge for a long time.

Clausen looked good overall, but needs to get some of his passes up a little higher. Those low line drives across the middle are interceptions waiting to happen in a regular season game. Reasons to be positive for sure, but anybody thinking he's ready to challenge for a starting job is overreacting big time.

Nothing really special to say about anyone else. Cantwell might be that guy who looks better in practice than in games. He holds on to the ball way too long and his decision making isn't up to snuff. I'd like to see more of Tony Pike to make a better judgment as to whether I'd keep him or Cantwell. Don't rule out the possibility that neither makes it and someone cut from another squad gets the number three job instead.

The O-Line looked rustier than the Tin Man in a rain storm, especially Chief Ugly Jordan Gross. Nobody did anything to distinguish themselves in the battle for the right guard spot either. Granted, we're missing a key starter and things are still a tad unsettled, but I'd prefer we'd have looked better overall.

Still, not terribly worried about the offense at this point, really. No, they didn't look like a juggernaut, but for preseason week one, missing some key guys (Smitty, Stewart, Otah) and playing a fairly solid defense, it wasn't that bad.

Greg Hardy needs some work with (and against) starters. If he can stay healthy, he has a really good shot to contribute this year. He and Tyler Brayton were the best of the defensive line. A couple nice plays from Ed Johnson and Derek Landri too. Even a good play from Nick Hayden (though that belly crawl afterward looked just...wrong).

A little concerned about Everette Brown, though. Yes he showed up a few times, but he's becoming the master of the near miss. Always being close to the play is good, but from time to time, you have to actually get there. Until he starts "getting there" more often, I'm going to be a bit worried

Charles Godfrey is still a mixed bag for me too. I'll reserve judgment for now, but I need to see more from him to feel confident come time for live ammo to start flying.

In a related note, Chris Gamble is more important to the Panther defense than he gets credit for.

Armanti Edwards gets an incomplete from me. A few good things, nothing glaringly bad, but nothing special either. Looks to me like his adjustment to the pros may take a little time, but that's not really unusual.

Note to David Gettis: That punt return gaffe is not a play you want on your highlight reel. Getting pushed around on Special Teams will get you in John Fox's doghouse...fast.

Brandon LaFell showed that he could block, and that he could run. All well and good, but he also needs to prove he can catch. Yes, a defender got a hand on the end zone pass to him, but a big receiver like LaFell needs to pluck those balls and pull them down.

Kudos to Tyrell Sutton. He's clearly taking up the mantle of Nick Goings on this team. Not as talented as those ahead of him, but he just takes the ball and runs hard.

I'd also like to see the Panthers find a way to keep Josh Vaughn, but I expect it'll only be on the Practice Squad, and I think someone will steal him.

Nice to see some good things out of Corvey Irvin. Also some positive impressions of Tony Fiammetta.

Eric Moore might beat Hilee Taylor for the last DE spot, not that I expect either of them to be active on gameday, regardless of who makes it.

Guys I was hoping to notice, but can't recall seeing that much of: Kenny Moore, Dan Connor, James Anderson, Wallace Wright, Geoff Schwartz.

Some other guys who really needed to do something to give the coaches a reason to keep them, but didn't do much: Dexter Jackson, C J Davis, Rob Petitti and David Gettis.

Jason Baker still kicks well (on punts and on tackles). Sadly, the Special Teams still look like Danny Crossman's coaching them, but it is still preseason. There were some good Special Team coaching options available this offseason. Unless we see some improvement soon, we may really regret not going after one of them.

Much as I wanna be a WVU homer, I don't see Mortty Ivy sticking this season.

Terry McAulay showed that refs can have preseason rust too. Some of his calls were off or didn't make sense, and some of the announcements made me go "huh?" :sosp:

And I'll close by saying that while I certainly have my critiques of Panther fans, at least we can say we didn't get featured on national TV cheering a five yard penalty against us

Great post Scot I agree with everything you said especially the Gamble, Fiammata, and Sutton comments. I and really agree with the Everrette Brown one. I'm starting to not only worry about his ability to take down qbs but also his ability to get there. Hardy and Norwood did much better tonight than he did.

[pantherclaw]

Edwards looks to be thinking too much.

Lots for the kid to adjust to.

He'll catch on.

[Baschski]

Everyone needs to stop overreacting about the LB situation. This was their first game action in this particular lineup, Beason's first time at WLB since his rookie year. Anderson actually played great in coverage for those who paid attention. Beason would have made some great plays but was held pretty badly a couple times. Meeks has worked wonders with this defense in the past so I'm willing to give him more than one f'ing preseason game to make it work.

Pass defense wasn't terrible--the screen passes were really what screwed us. The pass defense will step up a few notches when Gamble is back.

Pass rush showed A LOT of promise tonight. Who the hell expected Brayton to get two sacks in the first half? Hardy looked just as his reports from camp and he looks like he could seriously help our pass rush this year. Norwood also looked good.

Fiammetta played very well with the starters. D-Will showed that when we play our game we can run at will.

In regards to the offense, we have to keep in mind that the coaches passed the ball a lot more tonight than they will in the regular season. They're trying to iron out the passing game, determine what receivers to keep, to start, etc. It's no secret that our O-line is much better at run blocking than at pass blocking, so I wouldn't be too freaked out by their performance tonight. Once Stewart, Otah and Smith are back in the lineup we will be bulldozing D-lines and running the Double Trouble express down defense's throats like we always do.

[GRWatcher]

Kenny Moore was the one that made the catch down the middle from Clausen. I'd say that was a pretty good catch. There weren't too many of those.

The refs definitely gave the edge to the Ravens in this game.

[runFORRIT]

What stuck out most to play was the awareness and pocket presence of Clausen. For a rookie, he sure stood tall and put a zip on the ball while the pocket was collapsing. Several times he avoided contact or a big hit and still managed to get positive yardage. He looked flat out smart, seems to be adjusting to speed nicely.

Glad to see that Armanti wasn't responsible for any turnovers. The kid did look like he was nervous and over-thinking it some situations. Overall though, for his first game I see the light and once he becomes comfortable it could be history from there.

yes, suurr...

[pantherclaw]

The last holding penalty agaisnt gross was bs.

Also noticed the ravens line didn't get called on their holding.

[Guild]

Also, Armanti Edwards disappointed me in two ways. The first of which is something I believe can be coached out of him by the next game and that is the dancing feet on punt returns. The second was when he was thrown that quick pass similar to what we have thrown to Steve Smith in the past and he didn't make the first man miss while he was catching the ball in order to gain a chance to spring the play open. I hope that he can work hard and improve enough to be a real asset to the team by the start of the regular season.

[CatMan72]

Armanti looked stiff, I'm sure it was mostly nerves.

[pantherclaw]

That quick pass was also in the rain.

So I don't feel disappointed that edwards didn't try cutting on a dime.

[CatMan72]

Oh, and I want to thank that Raven's o-lineman for perpetuating the stereotype that white men can't jump... that was shameful.

[panthers55]

Clausen was 8 for 15 for 80 yards with one pick and one that should have been (pass to Moore)

Cantwell threw 6 of 17 in the rain for 68 yards with at least 4 drops.

Moore was 4 for 7 for 32 yards with 2 passes nullified with penalties.

Cantwell threw the best ball, Moore was second and Clausen throws a much uglier ball than I remember. He throws it almost sidearm at times and releases it low. I can imagine that when defenders figure it out and hold up their hands, there will be a bunch of batted passes. He did show good pocket presence and you can tell his experience runnng for his life at ND will pay off in the NFL. He did throw a good ball to Rosario.

Vaughn was surprising and Sutton looked very good. Fiametta made a good block or two and even caught 2 balls I believe. Not bad at all. The o line was awful, plain and simple.

The defensive secondary was pretty poor and Munnerlyn got pwned a few times. CJ Wilson made a few good plays. Beason looked out of place and didn't play well at all. Connor was pretty good in spots. It will take time to get things worked out.

Brayton hopefully isn't hurt and he looked the best of the D linemen. Glad we resigned him. Hardy is going to be a beast in a few years and will contribute right away.

Jarrett did put himself in the conversation again and Moore looked decent. Gettis and Edwards are projects and LaFell is going to be the number 2 if he can catch as well as he blocks. Wright had a good block or 2 as well.

Special teams were decent in the first half but not in the second. The announcer said the good thing was that most of the guys playing in the 4th quarter on special teams wouldnt make the roster. I hope he is wrong, I saw Brown, Rosario, Witherspoon, Hudson and several others out there looking pretty bad when they almost ran it all the way back.

Best news was that unless brayton was hurt, we got threw it with no serious injuries.

[God]

I just hope we don't go 0-4 again!

[outlaw4]

Best news was that unless brayton was hurt, we got threw it with no serious injuries.

Fowler reports a sprained ankle.

If that's the worst injury we get before Week 1, I'll consider that to be a success.