Carolina Huddle

 by John Watson

Most of us fans counted the home opener against the Houston Texans as a win, I know I did. The Texans have been one of the worst teams in the league over the last four years, so why our seasoned group of veterans, mixed with a couple superstars wouldn’t beat the Texans is beyond me. Some how we watched it happen right in front of our eyes on Sunday afternoon.

Recent QB addition Matt Schaub had a good day playing catch with his receivers. I was anxious to see how Schaub would react to a good pass rush, as a matter of fact, we’re still waiting. Andre Johnson torched the secondary for 120 yard on seven catches. Somehow he found himself lined up against MLB Dan Morgan in the red zone and made quick work of him to record his second TD catch of the day.

RB Ahman Green waltzed his way through the defensive line for 71 yards in just 15 attempts netting a 4.7 average and walking into the end zone completely untouched at one point. To say the least, it was ugly…especially considering that the Panthers went up early with a 14-0 lead in the opening minutes of the game before allowing 34 unanswered points. Turnovers, poor run blocking and Kerry Colbert were just a few examples of what went right. Steve Smith is still Steve Smith, thank God for that much and Jake Delhomme had a solid game despite 1 INT as the result of a forced throw and an under thrown pass to Colbert that likely would have gone to the end zone…if he could have caught it, which is doubtful.

So now the Panthers sit at 1-1 after blowing a great opportunity to take control of the NFC South. The next three games are crucial to the Panthers success this season as they kick off a campaign against their division foes, starting with Atlanta this week.

The 0-2 Falcons have seen very little go their way so far this season, while the year is still young it’s not looking very promising for a franchise that ushered in a new Head Coach in Bobby Petrino. Petrino looked to install a new offense in Atlanta that would fully utilize the talents of then QB Mike Vick, but as is well known, those plans were derailed when Vick pled guilty to several felony criminal charges.

Luckily the Falcons also signed the underachieving Joey Harrington in the off season to be Vick’s primary back up, by default he was promoted to the role of starting QB for the revamped organization. As it turns out, that’s not working out very well either. Harrington is sporting a 74.1 QB rating with 2 interceptions and no touchdowns to his credit. He’s shown himself to be horrible at avoiding the pass rush as boasts a league high 13 sacks…in just two games. Part of the reason for the sacks is that Atlanta has ditched it’s very successful zone blocking scheme for the more tradition man blocking technique, but they’re still viewed as too small to be effective in such a scheme. The woes don’t stop there.

Roddy White has emerged as the number one receiver, but on an offense that’s only averaging 200 yards through the air, it’s not that hard to do. Alge Crumpler looks to be as reliable as ever and is currently second on the team in receptions and yards in the passing game. Warrick Dunn and Jerious Norwood make up the Falcon’s RB duo, but haven’t had a lot of success in this new, high powered offense. Between the two backs, they have 168 yards on 49 carries with only one touchdown.

The Falcons aren’t a whole lot better on defense so far, they’ve surrendered 252 yards on the ground and 414 through the air, but are only -1 in turn overs.

The Panthers have yet another chance to seize an opportunity and make their presence felt in the division. The Saints are looking at going down 0-3 if they lose to the Tennessee Titans, the Buccaneers are 1-1 and tied with the Panthers and Atlanta sits at 0-2. With an offense that looks improved over last year and defense that should be able to contain a very suspect offense the Cats can re-establish some momentum before taking on the other two division rivals.

John Fox’s Panthers have been better on the road than at home, hopefully that will hold true this week as we look to spoil the Falcon’s home opener in Atlanta. We now get to see the resolve of the 2007 Panthers as they try to rebound from an embarrassing and devastating loss and take the show on the road to recapture the magic we witnessed against the Rams.

Whether they win or not is up in the air right now, but the outcome of this game will very likely show the course for the rest of this very young season.

Things to watch:

Can the Panthers defensive line get any pressure on Harrington?
Will Julius Peppers record his first sack of the year?
Will the Panthers highly acclaimed defense rise to the occasion in Atlanta?
Will the offensive line be able to create lanes against a D very familiar with the ZBS?
Will this team show the heart and desire it needs to make a push into the post season?
Will someone, anyone step us as a reliable second receiving option?
Lastly, can the Panthers finally win the turn over battle?