Game Thoughts - Week 1

[Mr. Scot]

Initial thoughts from the week one game against Arizona...

OFFENSE

Clear sign that John Fox is no longer coaching this team: the tight ends. Lord, but they were good today. We may not be that deep at wide receiver, but when you factor in Shockey and Olsen, I'd still say we might have a better overall receiving corps than we've had in years.

Heaven knows we haven't had a tight end that could consistently stretch the field since Wesley Walls, but we do now in Olsen. Olsen has the body control of an Olympic gymnast. Go high for a pass, do a mid-air turn, and hit the ground running? Are you kidding me? And we got this guy for a third round pick only? Wow.

My opinion: The offensive line deserves way more credit than anyone is giving them. No, they weren't great, but they weren't awful either. On passing downs, Arizona was throwing a lot at them, and they did a better than average job of picking it up. Yeah, the run could use some work, but it might be a while before we can expect much there. Arizona was in eight man fronts pretty much all day (until going prevent on the last drive). Even with Newton's performance today, don't expect that to change just yet. Williams and Stewart will break out eventually, but it may take some time.

Speaking of Newton, the Cardinals defended him pretty much like I expected. They tried using heavy pressure to flush him to the side where he was less comfortable throwing. That's been known to work against Vick, but didn't work near as well against Newton.

Regarding Vick, I'll say this. Given the choice between a quarterback with Vick's athleticism and one with Newton's height, I'll take the big guy every time. Vick is generously listed at 6'0, which is one reason why he tended to favor Alge Crumpler so much early (he couldn't see anyone else downfield). Newton, however, showed very good field vision today. As has been said before, you can't coach a guy to be 6'6.

Back to Newton. Said already in two other threads that while today was a great first step, no one should be surprised (or upset) if he struggles in future contests. We face a much tougher test next week with Capers defense, and the Pack won't be starting two rookie corners. A 422 yard performance next week would shock the world (not that this week's was exactly expected).

The downside: Ball placement is still inconsistent, but more good than bad today. He also faded a bit down the stretch. By game's end, Newton looked tired and wasn't as sharp as he had been previously, particularly on the last series. Will have to check the tape, but it looked like he missed an open Greg Olsen in the back of the end zone on the final play, opting instead to throw to Goodson short. Pretty sure he wishes he could have that one back, but that's part of the learning curve for a rookie.

But again, as mentioned elsewhere, you can't pull him now. I'm always in favor of rookies being brought along slowly, but that ship has sailed. Now that he's out there, you have to let him sink or swim, even if it gets ugly (and with our schedule there's a good chance that it will).

DEFENSE

You remember the days when the defense used to look worse in the second half than they did in the first?

Well, I didn't see that today.

That might sound odd given that they gave up more points in the second half than the first, but both of those TDs were kind of flukey. In the early going though, it looked like they were gonna be run over all day. But then, a funny thing happened...

Someone made adjustments :eek:

Did they still give up some big plays? Sadly, yes, but you might want to get used to that. An aggressive defense is one that from time to time will gamble and lose. Still, on the whole I'll take that over "bend, but don't break" ten times out of ten.

The upfront was weak, as expected, but could have been worse. Johnson and Hardy got pretty good pressure from the outside. Kolb was harassed enough that he was uncomfortable, and that's a good sign.

Speaking of Charles Johnson, I know we're thin at corner but man... :sosp:

Truthfully, that's another thing you might want to get used to seeing. A zone blitz means linemen drop into coverage sometimes. It works more than you might think. That said, I'd prefer in the future not to see Charles Johnson one on one with Larry Fitzgerald.

Gamble one on one with Fitzgerald? That, I'm more comfortable with, and clearly so were the Panther coaches because he was on an island plenty today. Other times, Sherrod Martin was his shadow. The scheme worked decent at containing Fitzgerald, and everyone in the secondary not named Jordan Pugh had at least a half-decent day. Quick note to Sherrod though: When you have the chance to jump a route like you did today, HOLD ON TO THE BALL! :(

Obviously the big concern on everyone's mind is Jon Beason. From what we're hearing, I expect he'll be out significant time if not for the year. guess it was a good thing we held on to Dan Connor after all, eh?

SPECIAL TEAMS

Between Mare and Baker, we have two guys who can boot the ball really far. What we lacked on one play more than any other though, was coverage. The run they gave up to Peterson was ugly. Sure as heck don't want to see anything like that again.

On returns, Armanti is still a mixed bag. Worth remembering he's not the only young returner who's had bobbling and handling issues. Still, he's got to get that under control.

Not as much to see here as there might have been in a John Fox coached game, but I'll take that.

COACHING

A little while back, I found out someone I knew was pretty well acquainted with a Panthers player. I chose not to pester them for inside info, but did ask for some general thoughts, beginning with their impression of new head coach Ron Rivera.

Their response: "He's not very nice."

Not nice, indeed :sosp:

Mind you, the "not nice" wasn't meant as a personal shot. It was because, they said, Rivera was a perfectionist to the extreme, down to the smallest details. And that particular characteristic, they advised, also trickled down to the coaching staff. News which I'm actually pretty happy to hear.

I'd go a step further than "not nice" though. Ron Rivera is a very scary man. The look he had on his face after an early miscue made my game watching buddy and I want to hide behind the couch. I pity any player who has to face him coming off the field after making a mistake. He hates mental errors, hates hates hates them, and woe be to you if you're the guy that made one. Still wish the overall discipline level would have been better though (had some dumb penalties, for sure).

Rivera is also true to his word. He said "aggressive" about a hundred times in his initial presser, and today he was just that. With a minute left in the half and the score tied at 7, John Fox would have had them kneel it out and head to the locker room. Not Rivera. He went for the score, and perhaps just as important for the touchdown, not the field goal.

The John Fox era is over, ladies and gentlemen. There's a new sheriff in town, and he'd just as soon step on your throat as look at you.

That's true of the coordinators too. Seems to me that Chudzinski prefers using the pass to set up the run, and that approach might work a little better down the road than it did today. McDermott called a decent game overall too, although there are definitely still some areas where we may not have the talent to truly execute the kinds of things he wants to do. Murphy's mean need some work too, but again...time.

OVERALL

Way better start than I'd have expected, but against what I'd still consider a relatively weak team. Even with that in mind though, I said many times this past offseason that what I wanted most this year was a reason to be optimistic.

Watching this game, I saw way more than just one.

[chef17]

Great write up Mr. Scot

[Mr. Scot]

Would add this...

Seeing Jeff King and Richard Marshall make plays against us sucked. Always stinks to have the guy you let walk in free agency play a role in beating you :(

Luckily, Marshall also made a couple that helped us :D

[chef17]

Would add this...

Seeing Jeff King and Richard Marshall make plays against us sucked. Always stinks to have the guy you let walk in free agency play a role in beating you :(

Luckily, Marshall also made a couple that helped us :D

Those were horrible. King was the last guy I expected to hurt us in the passing game.

[Mr. Scot]

Those were horrible. King was the last guy I expected to hurt us in the passing game.

On a short, red zone play? That I could have lived with to some degree.

On a long pass though? Ugh :(

[Kuech Da Sneak]

Those were horrible. King was the last guy I expected to hurt us in the passing game.

You aren't the only one. I haven't seen a man that big rumble down the sidelines....well, since the UGA-USC game.

[Tarheels23]

Yeah the O Line didn't do as bad as I initially thought. AZ was relentless with their blitzes, and at times sent 3 people in one gap. I thought the pass blocking was better than the run blocking, to be honest.

Oh, and J. Stew is pretty awesome with the blitz pick up.

Great write up!

[micnificent28]

Still not ready to give cam a vote of confidence aye scotty.

[Mr. Scot]

Compared Newton to Delhomme a lot this week (mostly on ball placement) but I'll add one other comparison as well.

Delhomme always trusted Steve Smith, regardless of whether Smith was "open" or not.

Glad to see Newton learn that lesson early.

[Mr. Scot]

Still not ready to give cam a vote of confidence aye scotty.

Not sure how you read that from this.

Speaking of Newton, the Cardinals defended him pretty much like I expected. They tried using heavy pressure to flush him to the side where he was less comfortable throwing. That's been known to work against Vick, but didn't work near as well against Newton.

Regarding Vick, I'll say this. Given the choice between a quarterback with Vick's athleticism and one with Newton's height, I'll take the big guy every time. Vick is generously listed at 6'0, which is one reason why he tended to favor Alge Crumpler so much early (he couldn't see anyone else downfield). Newton, however, showed very good field vision today. As has been said before, you can't coach a guy to be 6'6.

Back to Newton. Said already in two other threads that while today was a great first step, no one should be surprised (or upset) if he struggles in future contests. We face a much tougher test next week with Capers defense, and the Pack won't be starting two rookie corners. A 422 yard performance next week would shock the world (not that this week's was exactly expected).

The downside: Ball placement is still inconsistent, but more good than bad today. He also faded a bit down the stretch. By game's end, Newton looked tired and wasn't as sharp as he had been previously, particularly on the last series. Will have to check the tape, but it looked like he missed an open Greg Olsen in the back of the end zone on the final play, opting instead to throw to Goodson short. Pretty sure he wishes he could have that one back, but that's part of the learning curve for a rookie.

But again, as mentioned elsewhere, you can't pull him now. I'm always in favor of rookies being brought along slowly, but that ship has sailed. Now that he's out there, you have to let him sink or swim, even if it gets ugly (and with our schedule there's a good chance that it will).

It's fairly typical forum behavior to label someone the greatest of all time or a total and complete bust based on a single game. Also typical for people to get crazy hyped up after a good game and then morbidly depressed when the next isn't as good.

Me? I prefer to look at the big picture. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Bottom Line: Cautiously optimistic at this point. Like I said, great start, but people expecting a similar performance against the Packers defense should temper their expectations. If he looks bad, I won't jump off a bridge. If he looks so much as half-decent, I'll be happy.

[Swarly]

Compared Newton to Delhomme a lot this week (mostly on ball placement) but I'll add one other comparison as well.

Delhomme always trusted Steve Smith, regardless of whether Smith was "open" or not.

Glad to see Newton learn that lesson early.

That's what I was saying too. Jimmy wouldn't even think of throwing to Smitty unless he was wiiiiide open, and even then by the time the ball got there defenders had already caught up to him.

Jake always had a ballsy style of playing and trusted Smitty to beat his guy for the ball. Smith proved he could still do that today.

Were there any designed runs for Cam(besides the two goal line plays) today? I was watching via NFL Redzone channel, and while they showed a pretty big amount of the offense I didn't get to see every single play.

[Double34Trouble28]

Great thoughts.

Hopefully Rivera's perfectionist attitude and Cam's desire to be the best will rub off on others. Too many penalties.

[Mr. Scot]

That's what I was saying too. Jimmy wouldn't even think of throwing to Smitty unless he was wiiiiide open, and even then by the time the ball got there defenders had already caught up to him.

Jake always had a ballsy style of playing and trusted Smitty to beat his guy for the ball. Smith proved he could still do that today.

Were there any designed runs for Cam(besides the two goal line plays) today? I was watching via NFL Redzone channel, and while they showed a pretty big amount of the offense I didn't get to see every single play.

I've begun to believe that Clausen just doesn't have the physique to play in the pros.

He did look like he had improved on his technique and overall performance working under Shula. Still, I think the ceiling for him is in Eric Zeier territory.

[micnificent28]

Not sure how you read that from this.

It's fairly typical forum behavior to label someone the greatest of all time or a total and complete bust based on a single game. Also typical for people to get crazy hyped up after a good game and then morbidly depressed when the next isn't as good.

Me? I prefer to look at the big picture. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Bottom Line: Cautiously optimistic at this point. Like I said, great start, but people expecting a similar performance against the Packers defense should temper their expectations. If he looks bad, I won't jump off a bridge. If he looks so much as half-decent, I'll be happy.

In no way shape or form am i ready to call him great or a bust after one game. But, saying he faded as the game went on is a long shot. His looked like the same player from start to finish to me. To exspect him to live up to the Lofty standards you have set seems impossible.

We all knew you didn't like or want a qb at all, let alone have him start i would have thought even you would have came away impressed. No you didn't say he sucked but, you didn't sound impressed either. It seems more like you exspected more out of him and threw more words of caution than praise.