Game Grades – Texans at Panthers

And so the roller coaster begins.

The fans are calling for heads today are the same fans that claimed a Superbowl lock last week. The truth of the matter is, this game was a complete breakdown on all sides of the ball. It happens to every team, every season. If anyone truly believes the Panthers are truly as bad as they looked yesterday, they have not been paying attention.

In scientific terms, the game was an anomaly, a deviation from the common rule, type, arrangement, or form.

Offense:

I would like to first recognize that Jake Delhomme, Steve Smith, and Jeff King put their heart into this game and performed well enough to win. The rest of the squad, however, need to take a serious look at themselves and ask if they were a fan paying to watch them play, would they be satisfied. After all, THAT is the question Jerry Richardson asks himself, as his main focus is his customer, the fan.

Two things can sum up the lackluster offensive performance. Poor blocking, poor catching.  The entire game would look much different if those two things were even improved to ‘average’ or even ‘acceptable’.

Offensive Grade: D

Defense:

I would like to first recognize Jason Turner, who fills gatorade bottles for the defense. His individual performance yesterday was the only one worth mentioning.

Back in my days at USF, I once missed the last 3 weeks of a class, instead taking a trip to Mexico in a peyote induced vacation with a traveling group of gypsies. The professor was an ex-hippy, and gave me a grade of ‘incomplete’ until I could make up the work.

Defensive Grade – I

Special Teams:

Performance not worth  the time to critique.

Special Teams Grade: F 

Coaching 

This is the area of most concern for me. Not because of one poor game, but because a pattern is undeniable.

The Panthers  have not won a home opener since 2003.

The owner of this sad statistic is John Fox.  He has once again failed to motivate his coaching staff and players. I felt like I was watching another remake of Dawn of the Dead, only these zombies were not as hungry.

The good news is, the Panthers have been able to overcome early season let downs, particularly in 2005 when they made the NFC Championship game.

All in all I am happy they have gotten their total meltdown out of the way early in the season and against an AFC team. This will matter later on when jockeying for a playoff birth.

Coaching Grade: F-