Panthers VS Titans Preseason Game Review

[pantherpryd]

Panthers vs. Titans Game Observations

1st quarter: Panthers offense only ran 5 plays in the first 13 minutes. Funchess fumble. Missed block by LT Matt Kalil on Titans OLB gets Stewart stuffed for TFL. McCaffrey overthrown out of bounds. McCaffrey catches for no gain. Anderson's interception was caused by LB dropping off covering Dickson to double Olsen on a dual drag route by both TE's. That LB tipped the ball. Had Anderson checked it down to Dickson he would have gotten a 1st down because he was wide open 6 yards from the LOS. Panthers defense played with alot of effort but Titans offensive line played with alot of execution. They doubled teamed the DT playside and slide off to our LB. Our defensive ends were so quick to rush up field that they opened up the lanes for off tackle runs. Gap integrity was greatly compromised. Poor open field tackling haunted the team for the entire 1st half.

2nd quarter: Panthers offensive line shows balance of solid pass and run blocking on a 8 play 75 yard drive. RB McCaffrey benefited on both of his running plays with the 2nd one being a TD. Fatigue set in on the defense as Titans QB Cassel was able to throw for chunk yardage on the secondary, and poor gap control along with more missed tackles opened up huge run gains for Titans RB's. Another solid blocking session by the offensive line allowed for Anderson to lead a drive that to a 46 yard field goal by Harrison Butker. 

1st half summary: Take away the Panthers turnovers and blocking miscues then this is a totally different half. Tennessee did not do anything exotic or tricky. They simply executed better and taking advantage of two short field drives. Our 100% effort given was overwhelmed by their 100% execution. Perfect example of showing you need more than a fiery passion. 

3rd quarter: The 2nd half began like you would hope for with an opening quarter drive on your 1st possession for a TD. QB Webb showed his pocket awareness with impressive escape moves for either good run yardage or pass completions. RB's Whittaker and Artis-Payne picked up good yardage on the ground while WR's Bersin and Shepard got most of the passing yards. Although Shepard's came from getting a pass interference call on a deep ball in the end zone which moved the ball 30 yards to the 1 for a Artis-Payne TD run 2 plays later. The Titans opening drive of the 3rd quarter simply overwhelmed Panthers backups. No getting off the blocks by linemen. Bad angles by the linebackers. Fortunately Titans penalties stalled their momentum for a field goal. It was encouraging to see the backup offense respond with another TD with 4 plays for 75 yards. A huge run by Artis-Payne down the right side of the field was followed up by a nifty TD pass by FB Armah who provided a huge block on the long run by Artis-Payne the play before. 

4th quarter & Summary: The 2nd and 3rd units battled hard to tie the game at 27 to give the Panthers a chance to win the game late. But a sack & fumble on QB Gilbert for the 3rd turnover of the day sealed the win for the Titans as they scored a TD to go up by 34-27 with a couple of minutes left. The last chance stalled on a 4th & 10 from the Titans 30 yard line. Overall we saw that the Panthers are their own worst enemy when they do not take care of the ball and when they do not execute the fundamentals of blocking and tackling. All it takes is one player out of 11 not doing their job to destroy a play on any of the 3 phases of offense defense or special teams. WR Byrd was only targeted once the entire game. He also needs to be smart about when to take a knee and when to return the ball on kickoffs. McCaffrey is the real deal but needs to be used smartly as far as reps. He touched the ball 5 times for 75 total yards rushing and receiving. OT Moton had a hell of a day blocking as he played at all positions on the offensive line except center. Moves the pile and walls off pass rushers effectively. C Tyler Larsen showed he is very capable to replace All Pro C Ryan Kalil and not miss a beat. DE Hall just needs to learn discipline better and he will be an emerging player in the near future. LB Mayo was a man possessed. He is clearly ready to fill in if needed for Kuechly and has earned a few reps as well. FB Armah is showing that he can adjust to playing fullback. K Harrison Butker had a strong day with booming kickoffs and making both field goal attempts. It was great seeing the team battle back from self inflicting wounds in the 1st quarter to put themselves in position to win on the road. But the margin for error is small. Missed opportunities by starters to make drive stopping plays on defense must be corrected in spite of defending a short field. Effort can only get you sweaty. Execution gets you results. This game was needed to reel in the focus of the team. No need to panic but points of concern are valid. The 3rd preseason game @ Jacksonville on Thursday will reveal a lot more. The coaching staff will actually game plan the starters as if this was a regular season game. Stay calm. Stay observant. Keep Pounding!

[Jeremy Igo]

Good stuff 

[X-Clown on 1]

Great write up....do more of these to help keep the huddle medicated.

[MasterAwesome]

Awesome job, it's refreshing to see a purely objective write-up on here for once.

[TheSpecialJuan]

Enjoyed reading this. Hope you do another one after Thursdays game.

[PantherFeez]

Fantastic write up. I appreciate the took you took to do this since I missed the 2nd half. Thanks!

[firstdayfan]

Wondering what your take was on the amount of open receivers in the secondary?  It seemed like all of the Titan QBs had no trouble picking apart the secondary throughout the game.  Considering that their two of their top 3 receivers weren't playing that is a little unsettling.

[adub2b23]

Great write up.  Just a small suggestion that if you do these every week, maybe try to break up the paragraphs a bit so it's a bit easier to read through.  Either way I would enjoy them.

[trueblade]

21 hours ago, pantherpryd said:

The 3rd preseason game @ Jacksonville on Thursday will reveal a lot more. 

Great write-up and I enjoyed reading it.

I wish we were playing someone other than Jacksonville. Their QB situation is a mess. If we don't look like the vastly superior team, I'll be concerned. Even if we do look as good as I anticipate, I'm not sure how much that will tell us.