Thoughts and Impressions - Preseason Week 1

[Gazi]

11 minutes ago, Mr. Scot said:

Rivera prefers pass rush to coverage.

It’s all gonna depend on which Shaq shows up this year. 

[MasterAwesome]

Yessss let’s trade a draft pick for a 3rd string RB based off of one preseason game against our 2nd/3rd string D!!! Come on Hurneyyyyyy what are you doing, you bum?!

[Snake]

1 hour ago, LinvilleGorge said:

Same story as last year. It was a pretty much a sack or a completion. But if we hadn't done all that blitzing, honestly we would've simply gotten less sacks and given up more completions. We couldn't cover anything and from what I saw tonight, I can't foresee that changing this year. We need to get Jackson and Gaulden out there with the starters and see what they can do with the big boys. There's no reason not to.

Our entire defense is set up to do exactly that. Strong interior rush with a heavy zone blitz scheme. Rivera has never really put much money into the CB position. Our better defensive years we had good rush and safety play. 

[The Lone Panther]

Watched Haynes a good bit. He just didn't seem like he could get off his block. Moore was the only DE, maybe with the exception of Cox, that seemed to cause any disruption. Hall, Haynes, Cox, Moore or Obada, just one needs to get going because outside of Horton, we have no one else....currently. 

Norton/Sprinkle - Neither really impressed me, which is to be expected since one was a 7th round pick, the other was a UDFA.  Doubt we'll see either make the 53, but they're battling it out for the PS.  I think it will be Sprinkle

Just a couple observations. 

 

[top dawg]

Anyone that can't see the difference between Turner and Shuls right now is asleep at the wheel.

Cam and the experienced vets (including old soul C-Mac) will be fine, even with a patched-up O-line. 

Numbers 10 and 12 are going to bring plenty of juice to our offense. I certainly love the effort Elijah "Pile Driver" Hood was giving out there. 

The defense is shaky. We should have been called Eric Reid. Should probably give Kayvon Webster a call also.

As for the backup QBs, they settled down and did pretty well.  Heinicke's "it" factor impressed me more. I'm not going to say that I wouldn't support a trade for a more experienced backup based upon one preseason game though.

There is still plenty of work to be done, especially on defense.

[LegioX]

If Hood continues his good play throughout the preseason, I hope the panthers FO does not just put him on the PS. He will probably get snatched up quickly!

[Mr. Scot]

6 hours ago, MasterAwesome said:

Yessss let’s trade a draft pick for a 3rd string RB based off of one preseason game against our 2nd/3rd string D!!! Come on Hurneyyyyyy what are you doing, you bum?!

He played against our starters and did well against them.

[panther4life]

7 hours ago, Gazi said:

Why is it that when our offense gets a good OC, and starts to look good, our defense goes to poo?

Defense will be just as good if not better than last year. We didn’t lose anyone aside from Star and potentially upgraded him with Poe. However we did add a new safety (Searcy) plus the rookies (Jackson and Gaulden). 

Cockrell would have looked light years better than Seymour but injuries happen

[Mr. Scot]

1 minute ago, panther4life said:

Defense will be just as good if not better than last year. We didn’t lose anyone aside from Star and potentially upgraded him with Poe. However we did add a new safety (Searcy) plus the rookies (Jackson and Gaulden). 

Cockrell would have looked light years better than Seymour but injuries happen

Rivera had Cockrell behind Seymour on the depth chart though.

[MasterAwesome]

1 hour ago, Mr. Scot said:

He played against our starters and did well against them.

In the first quarter, he had 1 carry for 3 yards and took one screen pass for 15 yards...and those were both with under 2 minutes left. Considering he was tackled by the likes of David Mayo and Colin Jones on those two respective plays, we weren’t fielding our starting defensive unit.

Either way, surely you’ve watched enough football through the years to know not to make knee-jerk reactions to one preseason game? I mean, maybe you’ll see enough out of one player in one game to decide you want to give him more snaps in Game 2 to see how he performs with the starters perhaps...but going as far as to trade assets for an unproven backup after one preseason game?? That’s extremely impulsive, which is a quality I sure as hell don’t want from a GM.

[UpstatePanther]

@Mr. Scot very fair analysis of the backup QB situation. I agree with you and don't understand the panic. We have two guys who are undrafted rookies. I'm not sure what we expect from them. Both looked serviceable when their nerves calmed down.

[Mr. Scot]

6 minutes ago, MasterAwesome said:

In the first quarter, he had 1 carry for 3 yards and took one screen pass for 15 yards...and those were both with under 2 minutes left. Considering he was tackled by the likes of David Mayo and Colin Jones on those two respective plays, we weren’t fielding our starting defensive unit.

Either way, surely you’ve watched enough football through the years to know not to make knee-jerk reactions to one preseason game? I mean, maybe you’ll see enough out of one player in one game to decide you want to give him more snaps in Game 2 to see how he performs with the starters perhaps...but going as far as to trade assets for an unproven backup after one preseason game?? That’s extremely impulsive, which is a quality I sure as hell don’t want from a GM.

I've seen enough football to know CAP just isn't that good. And I'm not sold on Hood just yet.

Spent some time researching Murphy last night. My guess? He makes the Bills. But yeah, I'd give up a late round pick. Only a late rounder though.

[Mr. Scot]

2 minutes ago, UpstatePanther said:

@Mr. Scot very fair analysis of the backup QB situation. I agree with you and don't understand the panic. We have two guys who are undrafted rookies. I'm not sure what we expect from them. Both looked serviceable when their nerves calmed down.

Looking forward to seeing them in more action.

[App Panther]

-DJ Moore and Christian McCaffrey stood out to me most on the offense side. They are playmakers. 

-Jarius Wright is going to carve out a very nice role for himself here, the one Sheppard and many before him could not fulfill. 

-The secondary looked like trash, but not much QB pressure early on. Most likely a byproduct of conservative defensive scheme for the preseason. 

-Ian Thomas and Jermaine Carter Jr. are going to be considered steals when we look back at this class 3-5 years from now. Carter has something special about him, I'm not sure how to place it just yet, but with adequate coaching he could be a starter down the road.