24 hours is up, lets talk about New Orleans

[panthers55]

It seems we have beaten to death the Jimmy Clausen debate as well as the beating we took from Cincinatti. The 24 hour limit is up on a loss and its time to move on to this Sunday.

We know that Clausen will get another shot to show that he can learn from his mistakes and improve from a very rookiesque performance.

He will obviously be in conversation with Smith this week and have opportunity to watch film and learn like Jake did that you have to look for Smitty early and then late since it often takes him a few seconds to come clear from initial double coverage. He will also be able to look at film of NO and help develop a gameplam to mazimize what he can do.

The line will be under stress from a team that likes to blitz and take chances rushing the passer which also opens up opportunities down the field if the quarterback can find the single coverage or open man often deep.

The playcalling can help us if we can stick with the run early and throw some short and medium passes to give Clausen some confidence. Or we can continue what we have doing.

The defense will have to come up big and limit NOs scoring so we can stay in the game long enough so we can continue to run and use a controlled passing game and aren't forced to throw exclusively which isn't our strength.

Williams or Stewart need to break a big one. Hopefully if Otah is back that will give the run game a boost.

What else??

[The Saltman]

Pressure on Brees, limiting pressure on clausen, running the ball effectively to get brees off of the field, and getting Clausen into a rhythm to give him confidence are my keys to the game.

[Dpantherman]

NO will take away Smitty again, meaning our boys need to get open. RUN THE BALL. the saints run defense is HORRIBLE

[The Saltman]

also limiting turnovers.

[Baschski]

Short/Intermediate passing game will win the game for us. The Saints are going to blitz the f*ck out of our rookie QB, but if he can keep his composure and complete to his TE's and RB's, we'll see some big chunks of yardage coming from guys like Goodson and Williams. Also, getting pressure on Brees is absolutely pivotal. If our pass rush looks like it has the past three weeks, Brees will tear us up through the air. Get some dudes in his face and let Godfrey and Marshall feast on his mistakes.

I don't care how good the Saints are or how shiny their Super Bowl rings are. This is a divisional rivalry and we have a strong history in their dome. We have a chance.

[CLTPanther]

Control the clock or lose

[Cat'sGrowl]

NO will take away Smitty again, meaning our boys need to get open. RUN THE BALL. the saints run defense is HORRIBLE

I'm not sure i remember a time where N.O. took Smitty away.

In fact, Smitty usually does to the Saints what DeShaun Foster use to do to the Falcons. (Sadly, those games against the Falcons kept Foster here about two years longer than he should've been.)

[Dpantherman]

We played them right up until the end last year--With Jake the turnover machine (even though he threw no TDs, no picks)

to recap what happened. last time:

The Panthers bypassed an opportunity to kick a 48-yard field goal with 1:16 to play and instead chose to go for a touchdown. A converted field goal would have cut New Orleans' lead to seven and given Carolina a chance at an onside kick. Ultimately, the Panthers turned the ball over on downs with 22 seconds left.

Carolina lost three crucial fumbles. Those miscues were too much for the conservative Panthers, who employed a cautious game plan, to overcome.

http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2009110807/2009/REG9/panthers@saints

Id rather get beat straight up than lose to ourselves, which is our biggest issue

[Clawsome2]

Score more points than the other team

[Dpantherman]

Smitty had 4 catches for 64 yds, no TDs. so they didn't take him away...anyone want to guess who the second leading receiver was...no it wasn't Moose (who didn't play)

[The Saltman]

granted clausen might have an int or 2 but damnit keep those ridiculous fumbles to a minimum. We lost the game last week to stupid turnovers and horrible field position. With Drew brees at the helm and that blitz heavy defense if we have bad field position we will be screwed.

[Jeff L]

I am not judging Clausens performance on this one game. He had a lot of things against him. (Weather, nerves, etc...) Looking forward to him having a good game this week.

As far as the New Orleans game goes I honestly don't think we have a chance. Our offense can't score enough points to keep up with theirs and our defense can't stop their offense.

I'll still support the Panthers and hope we get some wins this season!

[PanthersPhan18]

Screen plays, screen plays, and more screen plays.

[CRA]

Fox just seems to play Peyton well. Most will expect a blowout......if we don't shoot ourselves in the foot we should be in this game. Remember last season when Jake was imploding we still went to New Orleans and had the ball in the 4th quarter with a little over 2 minutes on the clock down by 3......trying to win the game.

The biggest factor in this game imo will be DT play. They have to get some penetration so we can rush the front 4. I'm not sure those guys can pull it off.....but imo that will determine if we can hang in the game or not. The DE's in Carolina are good enough to get the job done as long as the DTs come to play.