Observations from Dolphins vs Panthers (QB's not included)

[Eazy-E]

Can we talk about the Panthers problem areas without mentioning quarterbacks. Jesus every thread that mentions QBs turns into a flame war. The only winners in this game were the Dolphins. There were so many bad things that stuck out in my mind it made me completely forget about quarterback play.

1. Offensive play calling was horrendous. There were maybe 4 running plays the entire first half. Then running the clock down to 3 seconds only to throw a random bomb into the end zone, wtf?

2. Offensive line got dominated. The right side of our line is god awful. We need Otah and a real starting RG asap.

3. Losing Gettis sucks really bad. I had high hopes for him this season. Also maybe if we can get Smith on the Field guys like Naane and LaFell might look decent. If only one of them could step up their game and prove they can be a #2.

4. D line looked worse last night then I remember them looking all last season. I don't even credit them for the goal line stand. If TD was not playing his ass off last night they would have punched it in every time. Henne had 5+ seconds just about every time he dropped back to pass. Thank god he can't complete a pass over ten yards.

5. DBs looked bad but like many people say the secondary is going to look like crap with no pass rush. Also we were missing Gamble so I hope he can step in and be an impact player.

Now lets see if we can discuss these issues without bringing up Cam or Jimmy.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

Now lets see if we can discuss these issues without bringing up Cam or Jimmy.

yeah. right.

[EMSMedic79]

Both starting DE's got owned. Henne had very little pressure put on him from any direction. Neither Norwood or Brown could make any kind of move around the line. That's a big concern considering one of them will be starting this season.

[mav1234]

Losing Gettis and Edwards was huge. They were going to be major contributors.

Still, Rivera can mask a lot of defensive defeciencies with good coaching and game planning. He was also playing a ton of people all over the place to see if anyone would step up and assert themselves. Our first quarter wasn't great by any stretch but considering who we were missing and how vanilla we were on both sides of the ball I thought it was OK. Not good, but not as bad as the rest of the game.

I think our lack of depth at CB, DL, OL, WR is just painfully obvious. On the other hand, it feels like our LBs, TEs and RBs are pretty deep.

[DevilCat]

On a side note ...does Tony Saprano not look like he should be working behind a deli counter or what?

[Zithers]

Charles Johnson must have been doing something right in the pass rush because that Murtha guy got called for holding like 3 times against him.

I noticed that we didn't blitz very often in the first half.

Also, really predictable running calls on 2nd down weren't working out for us at all.

[Makish]

D. Connor - looked out of place got caught up in block to easily, miss holes, look slow

Fua- got pushed around like a child by another rookie Pouncy

Stanford- got abuse by Marshall, but will give kid a break against an elite WR

RB's early- didn't help at all, leaving Cam on 3 and 10s where he ran and got 8 yard twice

QB's - while they did show flashes, overall it did show why we have the 31st best QB's ( only bengals are worst off)

[chknwing]

<---drunk, sorry

[mav1234]

fox doesn't coach Miami.

the fins didnt have to do much in the way of gameplanning I bet, but I could be wrong. they probably went in saying "ok, let's force the rookie to beat us with his arm." they have a very, very good defense, so I'm not surprised by how that went down.

which is pretty much how it'll be in most regular season games, except that we'll be healthier and they'll have a bit more planning than that, and so will we.

oh also we won't be facing the fins every week, but...