Initial Impressions

[Mr. Scot]

How about some love for Ed Johnson, he was getting some good pressure up the middle.

Brian Baker was on him constantly at minicamp, but give him credit for some decent play tonight.

[Seamonk]

on the first one I thought it was tipped by the defender's hand but it was hard to tell. The defender clearly was in front of Moore and wiffed on the INT. As for the second one, the receiver defintely fell but Clausen had no zip on the ball and looked at the receiver the whole time. The goal on an out is to throw it where either your guy gets it or no one does. Clausen clearly didn't throw it very well at all.

BTW, Did you defend Jake when he threw picks last year when the receiver fell down or is this the double standard at work. Just asking....

Clausen had an awkward delivery a couple times, sort of side armed that caused the ball to drift low. I thought the defender tapped it, hit moore's hands, and then he juggled and recaught. On his INT, I'll give him a pass since it's preseason and it was pretty wet. First game in NFL speed and it's raining..

[panthers55]

There's no question that Clausen looked the best of the QB's tonight. No, he's not going to take Moore's starting job, but he was the best guy out there tonight. He threw a couple ugly balls, but that could easily be because of the rainy conditions. Keep in mind how horribly the O-line played for Clausen...he had defenders in his face or running free at him almost every down. His receivers also did a horrible job of getting open for him. Despite all of this, he was very poised and confident in the pocket and made some great plays. Yes, it was against 2nd string defenders...but he was also being protected by a 2nd string line and throwing to 2nd string players.

He moved the ball the best but didn't look the best at all. His passes were sidearm, low and ugly at times. The problem with throwing checkdowns all day is that the whole point in a vertical passing game is to keep the safety out of the box and extend the field to exploit matchups. Dumping off the ball all day to the checkdown reminded my of David Carr part 2. It will keep 9 in the box and hurt the running game once folks figure out he can't throw it very far down the field. His style right now isn't the best one for us. Fortunately this is the first game and he looked pretty good as a rookie. But mistaking that peformance for good quarterback play defies what we are attempting to do on offense. He needs to read the whole field and throw it downfield. But he has time to work on that.

[Sawyer]

look at the circumstances before you make a judgement about players or plays. Some of you are drama queens

[panthers55]

Clausen had an awkward delivery a couple times, sort of side armed that caused the ball to drift low. I thought the defender tapped it, hit moore's hands, and then he juggled and recaught. On his INT, I'll give him a pass since it's preseason and it was pretty wet. First game in NFL speed and it's raining..

Exactly, no need to read anything into it good or bad at this point.

[panthers55]

look at the circumstances before you make a judgement about players or plays. Some of you are drama queens

And you are a 10 post newbie who needs to read more and criticize less.

[Pox 08]

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

Come on, that pick he did have was the fault of a wr slipping and falling as the ball was going right to him.

-edit- I do agree that the one he threw in traffic should have been intercepted. I think every qb has throws like that though at one time or another. The miracle ones that should have been picked off but due to blunders on the defense, wasn't.

[Evil Hurney]

Terrance Cody looked to throw our guys around like they were high schoolers. The guy stopped our running back cold by just extending an arm.

[panthers55]

Come on, that pick he did have was the fault of a wr slipping and falling as the ball was going right to him.

When you throw an out you always have to worry about the receiver falling or the defender jumping it because it becomes a pick 6. You throw the ball low and to the outside so your guy gets it or nobody does. Clausen threw it poorly and didn't look off the defender at all. Something he will see with film work.

[JawnyBlaze]

Yea, honestly I don't think the INT would have happend if the WR didn't fall down. It wasn't the greatest pass, it might not have been caught, but it wouldn't have been intercepted either. The tip catch by Moore was a very good catch, but it was an ok pass too. Perfect would have been leading Moore a little more, but I didn't think it was a bad pass. Some of Clausen's passes were a little wobbly, but I think for now we can chalk that up to rain and nerves in his first game. He looked poised as hell, but you know his brain had to be running in overdrive trying to make sure he didn't mess up. After that catch, I thought Moore was going to separate himself in the WR race, but he didn't do anything in the game other than that catch. Unless he does a lot more, he won't catch LaFell or Jarrett in the WR depth chart in my opinion.

[Mr. Scot]

The problem with throwing checkdowns all day is that the whole point in a vertical passing game is to keep the safety out of the box and extend the field to exploit matchups. Dumping off the ball all day to the checkdown reminded my of David Carr part 2. It will keep 9 in the box and hurt the running game once folks figure out he can't throw it very far down the field.

This is an important point.

Checkdowns make for good stats (a big reason why so many WCO quarterbacks are overrated) but that doesn't tell the whole story.

The Panthers are a "Ground Chuck" offense (i.e. ground it, ground it, chuck it) and those great runs don't happen without a true deep threat in the passing game. Right now, Moore is way more credible as a deep ball thrower than Clausen.

[Sloth]

This is an important point.

Checkdowns make for good stats (a big reason why so many WCO quarterbacks are overrated) but that doesn't tell the whole story.

The Panthers are a "Ground Chuck" offense (i.e. ground it, ground it, chuck it) and those great runs don't happen without a true deep threat in the passing game. Right now, Moore is way more credible as a deep ball thrower than Clausen.

Put Moore in with the C and protection issues Clausen had and I think he'd have looked similar.

[JawnyBlaze]

Definitely agreed on the points of WCO QBs and our offense, but I think we'll just have to see when Clausen gets a chance to throw to our real WR whether or not he can be a chucker. He had no deep threats on the field today. I'm not trying to sound overly supportive of Clausen, I think Moore will and should be the starter this year, but I think Clausen has shown a good attitude on the team so far and a good game today. I'm optimistic about him. Let's wait and see him try to throw a deep ball to Smitty before we say Moore is better at it (just because he's the only one we've seen do it)

This is an important point.

Checkdowns make for good stats (a big reason why so many WCO quarterbacks are overrated) but that doesn't tell the whole story.

The Panthers are a "Ground Chuck" offense (i.e. ground it, ground it, chuck it) and those great runs don't happen without a true deep threat in the passing game. Right now, Moore is way more credible as a deep ball thrower than Clausen.

[panthers55]

Definitely agreed on the points of WCO QBs and our offense, but I think we'll just have to see when Clausen gets a chance to throw to our real WR whether or not he can be a chucker. He had no deep threats on the field today. I'm not trying to sound overly supportive of Clausen, I think Moore will and should be the starter this year, but I think Clausen has shown a good attitude on the team so far and a good game today. I'm optimistic about him. Let's wait and see him try to throw a deep ball to Smitty before we say Moore is better at it (just because he's the only one we've seen do it)

It wouldn't matter who he throws it to. He doesn't have the arm mechanics to throw it deep. Even when he throws a 15 yard pass he has to wind up to throw it with any speed. I wonder if his foot injury last year may have changed his throwing motion, because it surely looks fundamentally weak right now. He definitely doesn't have the perfect throwing motion he was supposed to have a few years ago.