Initial Impressions

[panthers55]

Since this is basically a Clausen thread (as it should be because it was the story of the night), I find it funny reading some of the critics backpedal.

Does anyone else remember Mark Sanchez's PICK SIX when he opened up as QB against the Ravens in pre-season last year? Clausen's performance against Baltimore tonight was night and day different. Now granted they have some health issues in the defensive backfield, but you can't watch tonight's game and not be super excited about this kid. For as controversial as he has been, to be reading almost universal praise is pretty telling.

I know for some of you there is nothing that Clausen could ever do to unseat Matt Moore, but can we at least put to rest the "Hunter Cantwell is the real backup" nonsense?

Clausen had a 41 passer rating. Yeah he did really great. I am really excited. LOL

[Guild]

No one got a lot of separation, really, which is why I didn't really deduct that from him.

At least that is what it seemed like (no separation when it counted).

Especially later on in the game.

[cdandi1]

Clausen had a 41 passer rating. Yeah he did really great. I am really excited. LOL

you're the type of negative nancy this guy is talking about. Clausen's pick wasn't his fault..so you can toss the qb rating out of the picture. And, in our offense, you can get away with not making mistakes (aka checkdowns)..just like matt moore did last year. Toss in the occasional deep ball, and you can be a successfull panthers qb. And the idea that clausen can't throw a deep ball is yet to be determined. He barely had time to look down field, and the receivers wern't doing him any favors. You give Clausen our 1st string Oline (which wasn't present tonight), and smitty w/ double trouble i think he can be successfull; this will be especially true when he studies behind matt moore all year. Clausen def impressed tonight, like him or not. ftw

[Seamonk]

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

As he did, the last two preseasons...

[panthers55]

you're the type of negative nancy this guy is talking about. Clausen's pick wasn't his fault..so you can toss the qb rating out of the picture. And, in our offense, you can get away with not making mistakes (aka checkdowns)..just like matt moore did last year. Toss in the occasional deep ball, and you can be a successfull panthers qb. And the idea that clausen can't throw a deep ball is yet to be determined. He barely had time to look down field, and the receivers wern't doing him any favors. You give Clausen our 1st string Oline (which wasn't present tonight), and smitty w/ double trouble i think he can be successfull; this will be especially true when he studies behind matt moore all year. Clausen def impressed tonight, like him or not. ftw

The fact is that I watched Clausen in practice, at Fan Fest and tonight and guess what. He has no deep ball. When he tried to throw it deep he floats the ball and telegraphs it with a long set up. He can develop it and I am sure they will work on it.

I have no problem where Clausen is at this point and wouldn't expect him to be any place else right now. His poise in the pocket and presence is actually advanced.

What you called being negative is just reality. He is where he is as Fox would say. My response is simply to those who said he looked the best and want him to challenge for the starting role. He did look impressive for a rookie but that is it. For a starting quarterback, he didn't look good at all. That is all I have said all along. I want him to sit behind Moore and learn the position. This time next year things might be very different.

[Pox 08]

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.

It happens. He's a rookie in his first preseason game. I thought he showed better pocket awareness than Moore did. You can't over analyze it too much though, 'it is what it is'.

[DickolausJ]

I'll try and not overlap what Mr. Scott said but no promises.

First of all the rain was coming down hard and expectantly sloppy back ups looked even sloppier.

Did our team wear the wrong cleats?! Because we were slipping way more than Baltimore.

Despite Munnerlyn giving up that TD he did prevent one earlier that was destined to Boldin in the endzone. Even on the TD he was in perfect coverage until he slipped at the last moment. I was cool with him but you could tell Baltimore was definatly testing him with Gamble out.

CJ Wilson made a great break up but also got beat on another 3rd down. He just looks to lanky to be a major factor as a DB in the NFL. Can't turn them hips fast enough. He reminds me of Ken Lucas a little.

Dwayne Jarret looked like the best WR to me but the zone coverage on most of his completions looked sloppy in general. It was interesting watching a depleted secondary cover a bunch of rookie WRs.

Lafelle looked physical in limited action. Gettis needs to learn when to break on his routes and Armanti looked like a player learning a new position but I was happy with him. Kenny Moore had the best catch of the game. I don't think Wallace Wright caught anything but he looked good and physical.

Armanti looked tentative returning kicks, he needs to learn to pick his gap and shoot it. Then again the Baltimore players didn't have too much trouble getting off their blocks.

Our special teams is my biggest concern in general. We almost never made the first tackle, blocked poorly, and on that play were their returner broke 7 tackles it looked like our guys just didn't want it. I hope Foxy chews some guys out for it.

I hope Tyler Bratyon doesn't have any lingering issues because he looked by far our best D-lineman.

Everette Brown needs to stop spinning so godamn much. He had one good pressure against the first teamers but was underwhelming overall.

Greg Hardy needs some work with the 1st team defense. He was just absolutely blowing up the poor guy who had to block him. He just looked to good to be playing against a 2nd or 3rd team O-Line man.

I know Ditka shot down our D-lineman during the countdown show but after this game I think its our linebackers who need the work. Davis, we miss you buddy. Connor doesn't get sideline to sideline nearly as quickly as Beason and Beason looked underwhelming at the weakside, he was held on one play though. I thought Mortty Ivy played well.

Moore should have known that Blitz was coming on 3 & 10. He didn't adjust and then got rid of the ball a little to fast. Him and the co-ordinaters have to work that out.

Jimmy needs a little arc over his ball but made some clutch throws and showed good decision making.

Once Hunter came in it was raining so hard and our O-line looked so makeshift that I didn't hold too much against him. He can't hold on to the ball nearly so long though. Had an absolute bullet to Armanti that was broken up.

Looks like we are trying to hide Pike, but I'm not sure how that is going to go down.

Overall I feel way better about this team then last year.

Sutton looked like the player of the game. Also mad props to Fiametta.

[JawnyBlaze]

I say game ball goes to Hardy But Sutton would be #2 choice.

Sutton looked like the player of the game.

[Miaoww]

I don't think it'll catch on as a nickname

(worked better for the Seahawks and Rams back when they had Chuck Knox as a head coach)

Still, it's a pretty appropriate description of our offensive philosophy. Despite changing OCs, we still build around basic principles taken from Don Coryell. I'll grant that we don't use as many multi-receiver sets as an "Air Coryell" type offense might, but the basic idea (power running combined with deep passing) is the same.

In the past we have relied on a deep strike passing game tied with a power running game.

I'd argue it'd be more effective if we had an efficient QB back there though. Sure the deep strike spreads the field - but a QB that hurts you in the air on every short/intermediate play is a much bigger threat than one that occasionally hits the home run ball.

[Anybodyhome]

No mention of the Raven's obvious game plan: throw to whoever Munnerlyn is covering- guaranteed completion.

[boney]

Overall I feel pretty good about the game. I wish we could have had better conditions so we could see more out of the WR position though. Lafell had some solid blocks but a pretty big drop, DJ had an impressive catch away from his body coming across the middle for a 1st down (negated by Jordan Gross) and Kenny Moore had a very impressive catch and run...those are about the only plays that stand out from our wide outs last night.

[bigjohn]

My take....

Moore will be fine.

Hard for me to be fair to Clausen (I thought he looked good) but I can't get the ESPN slurp-fest out of my mind.

Hope Cantwell or Pike has a good preseason for trade bait maybe down the road.

Impressive: Hardy, Brayton, Fiametta, Sutton, DWill (of course)

Our secondary is going to be good once Gamble is back. Hard to under-estimate the value of a lockdown corner.

LB's will be fine. First game with the new lineup, Beason won't let them be below average.

Special teams are still special, in the wrong sort of way.

Edwards didn't fumble and didn't run backwards. I can live with that for now. Showed a bit of burst on one kick return.

Penalties...preseason norm. (Still no excuse Gross!)

We have to have a WR step up. Would love to see full field coverage to see who's getting separation on each pass play.

That's it... it's too early in the morning for much more than that.

[Zod]

Clausen had a 41 passer rating. Yeah he did really great. I am really excited. LOL

Considering he didn't have an actual WR on the field and his only option was to throw to RB's I thought Clausen looked pretty good. The improvised shuffle pass was a thing of beauty. Kid looks like a baller.

[Squirrel]

Clausen had good pocket awareness but Alot of his throws made me crinch. Most of them was asking to be picked off.