Preseason Impressions

[Mr. Scot]

Had originally planned to write a review of each preseason game individually, but a busy schedule combined with a nasty bout with bronchitis has slowed me up some. Add in that it’d be harder to objectively view earlier games having seen later ones. So instead, I’ve decided to review the preseason thus far as a whole. Yes, preseason four is still yet to come, but the last game generally is about settling the last few roster battles while the first three are more about the starters, so I’ll look at that one separately.

Also plan to write up the quarterbacks in their own thread because, honestly, that’s a full-blown discussion all by itself.

On to the rest…

OFFENSIVE LINE

Generally speaking, I prefer the word “ugly” to apply to the appearance of our offensive linemen, not their performance. Sadly, this preseason it’s been equally applicable to both.

The right side of the line is being manned by backup quality players. Otah getting back to form will help, but we don’t really know if that will happen. Beyond that, the right guard position is a major problem area, and the weakness there is affecting Kalil as well. Schwartz wasn’t that great when he was healthy, and now he’s not. Bernadeau? He still has yet to live up to the promise he showed early on. Hate to say it, but I think it’s time to give up on the idea that he’ll turn into another Geoff Hangartner.

On Kalil: When at his best, you could see Kalil be an absolute wall on pass plays. On run plays, you could watch him get a block right at the line and then move downfield to get another block at the second level. He was legitimately one of the best second level blockers in the league. And maybe he will be again, but right now he too often has to help keep the right guard from getting manhandled. Solve the right guard issue and I think you’ll see why the Panthers thought Kalil was worth what they paid him.

Saw plenty of discussion about whether the pick six that Clausen threw in week one was on Clausen or Williams. I put it on Clausen, but with a big assist from Jordan Gross. Jason Pierre-Paul was around Gross and on Clausen in a heartbeat, and as a result Clausen threw the ball at a time when he didn’t want to. Couldn’t quite tell

Gross is honestly starting to worry me. He’s never looked the same since his major injury, but it isn’t just that.

People don’t always appreciate just how much of a physical beating offensive linemen take. Because of it, great offensive linemen sometimes come to a point in their careers where they hit a wall. And when they decline, it’s not the slow “lost a step” decline that you see at other spots. As often as not, it’s a very sudden, sharp dropoff. Sadly, this drop often comes right after they’ve reached a point in their careers where they’ve earned a big contract. The result is you wind up with a guy not playing up to his payday for two to three seasons or more. Sadly, at least in the preseason, Gross is showing some signs the he might be a victim of that proverbial wall. I hope not, but we’ll see in time.

Hoping for some pickups after final cuts, or maybe sooner. If we go in with only what we have now, things could be pretty rough.

THE REST OF THE OFFENSE

Seeing a pretty fair share of one back, three-wide sets mixed in with some occasional shotgun. What I’m not seeing is as much of the pre-snap movement as I saw in practice. Honestly, that could be a deliberate adjustment to make it easier on Cam Newton. Part of the quarterback’s responsibility is to make sure everyone is lined up in the right spot. Clausen seems to have enough time in to be able to do that. Newton? Not so much. Maybe in time, though. Until then, the offense might not have as much flavor as you’d normally expect from this kind of attack.

Williams and Stewart still have the characteristics that made them elite. For Williams, that’s elusiveness and field vision rivaling Emmitt Smith. With Stewart, it’s the balance of a weeble. He may get wobbled, but he doesn’t go down easily, and he’s still got a world class stiffarm. Goodson makes a good number three still, but you have to hope Rivera and John Settle are able to fix the ball handling issues. Sutton always looks good in preseason but tends to get dinged up when he gets hit in the regular. Since that position is likely inactive anyway, not sure he shouldn’t be traded for something (low rounder, if they can get it). At fullback, never been the world’s biggest Tony Fiammetta fan, honestly. Been hard to get a good read on him with the number of one back sets I’ve seen run, but what I have seen of him just underwhelms me. Could see at least considering keeping Richie Brockel instead, though I wouldn’t place any bets on that.

Like what I’m seeing of Kealoha Pilares. I could definitely see him sticking. The more I see of Brandon LaFell, the more questions I have. They’ll miss David Gettis for certain. Steve Smith is still the baddest on the field, but also still looks a step slower than in the past. I’m hoping he holds up all season. Out on the tight end spots, Shockey is the better blocker, Olsen the more dangerous receiver. Won’t be at all surprised if Shockey sees most of the action on first and second down while Olsen sees the bulk of the third down action. As a side note, Shockey is easily one of the most animated guys you see on the sideline. He might turn out to be a better teammate than I would have thought.

OVER ON THE DEFENSE

To call the middle of the defensive line “soft” would be a compliment. They’re getting pushed around like crazy. Everette Brown continues to be the master of the near miss. Sometimes he can generate pressure, but not consistently and not enough. Sadly, as good a guy as he may be, this is another one that I think it’s coming time to cut bait on.

Since Brown seems unable, you have to ask if Greg Hardy and Eric Norwood can fill that other side. At this point, it’s a big maybe. One of them needs to though, because otherwise teams will be able to focus solely on stopping Charles Johnson. What time he’s played in the preseason, that seems to have been the case.

Moving back one level, Dan Connor is very good, but he isn’t Jon Beason. There’s been talk of trading him, and I won’t be surprised if that happens eventually. Not as certain it’ll happen prior to the season though because Beason’s health is an issue right now. Thomas Davis is really starting to look like the player we used to know. James Anderson has flashes but isn’t ideal just yet. New guy Omar Gaither looks decent too, but there are reasons why he was available so he might be best as a utility backup. Do hope the team keeps Thomas Williams.

And back to the back, Right now, it’s Chris Gamble looking unhealthy and a bunch of other guys looking subpar. Could a better pass rush help? Sure, but it’s not a cure all. Nobody has really stepped up and shown anything special. Heck, at this point I’d settle for “solid” but we’re not really even seeing that. I have to believe the team makes a move at this spot after final cuts. I’m just hoping it’s not one that involves giving away draft picks.

Still not the world’s biggest Charles Godfrey fan. Never been convinced that he has the ability to handle the mental aspects of the safety position. Sherrod Martin may be better at that, but in fairness he hasn’t looked quite up to form in this preseason either.

SPECIAL TEAMS

First things first. The new kickoff rules suck.

That’s the downside. On the good, special teams blocking in the first few games has looked to be improved from prior years. People always focus on the returners, but the blockers are just as important. Brian Murphy seems to have placed some emphasis on this.

Goodson is still capable of running the ball back when he has the chance, but of course he has to hang on to it. Ditto Edwards, who looked way better in the early game than he did in the later ones. He could stand to learn to run more North-South, something Trent Guy was pretty good at (but now he’s gone).

Charly Martin still has a chance to make it to the final roster based on his special teams prowess, and he’s not a bad receiver either (as opposed to say, a Karl Hankton).

COACHING

A lot was made of the fact that Rivera really wanted to win that first preseason game. I think they returned to a more traditional preseason approach in the games following. Normally that means week three is the “dress rehearsal” but watching the game I’m not absolutely convinced we really did that. In the practice I watched, I saw lots of shifting and multiple formations on offense. In week three, it honestly looked fairly vanilla to me. That could be optimism on my part, but that’s what I’m seeing.

One thing that’s abundantly clear: Rivera hates mental errors with a passion that would make the Israelis and Palestinians say “dude, chill out”. Given that fact though, I’d expect better discipline than I’ve been seeing. Sadly, the team still has often looked sloppy and made silly mistakes. If that keeps up, Rivera is likely to pop a blood vessel (not necessarily one of his own).

McDermott definitely wants to be aggressive, but I find myself increasingly wondering if the talent level on defense will allow him to execute things the way he wants to. He loves the inside “A Gap” blitz (no shock when you look at who his mentor was) and caused a fair share of problems with it in the early game against the Giants. I could swear it got more vanilla in the games that followed though.

The question becomes whether the defense was pushed around because they were more vanilla or did they look more vanilla because they were getting pushed around. Guess we’ll know the answer to that in week one.

[Mr. Scot]

FINAL WORD

I think the Giants game made us all more optimistic than we realistically should have been. the games since have brought us back down to earth. Obviously, there's still plenty we haven't seen yet and regular season can sometimes look markedly different than preseason. But with that said, I'm going into the season with my expectations very low.

Have said before and say again, wins and losses don't concern me this season. All I want to see is improvement. We see that, next year and the years following look a lot brighter.

Looking forward to week one...

[CRA]

One thing I keep coming back to......

I think the stat I read is that when Cam has been in the game.....Carolina has only handed off to RBs 30% of the time.

Makes it hard to judge preseason considering most of what they are practicing isn't what there emphasis will be. Would be like asking Indy to go run heavy all preseason and complaining about the poor results. They aren't built to lean on that....less offensive production and more time for there D on the field would be the most likely outcome. There OL and RBs likely would get embarrassed....

but overall, good summary of things....

[panther4life]

I agree 100% with you CRA.

That Miami game in particular where we only rushed 3 times in the first half really leads me to believe that they had more interest in getting Newton as many passing reps as possible vs. executing a balanced game plan to go for the win.

[Mr. Scot]

One thing I keep coming back to......

I think the stat I read is that when Cam has been in the game.....Carolina has only handed off to RBs 30% of the time.

Makes it hard to judge preseason considering most of what they are practicing isn't what there emphasis will be. Would be like asking Indy to go run heavy all preseason and complaining about the poor results. They aren't built to lean on that....less offensive production and more time for there D on the field would be the most likely outcome. There OL and RBs likely would get embarrassed....

but overall, good summary of things....

That's one of the reasons why I think we haven't seen the full state of he offense yet, even in the traditional week three "dress rehearsal" game (under "Coaching").

Worth remembering though that Chudzinski was criticized by Cleveland fans for throwing too much.

[fjblair]

FINAL WORD

I think the Giants game made us all more optimistic than we realistically should have been. the games since have brought us back down to earth. Obviously, there's still plenty we haven't seen yet and regular season can sometimes look markedly different than preseason. But with that said, I'm going into the season with my expectations very low.

Have said before and say again, wins and losses don't concern me this season. All I want to see is improvement. We see that, next year and the years following look a lot brighter.

Looking forward to week one...

Spot on observation regarding the Giants game.

[CRA]

That's one of the reasons why I think we haven't seen the full state of he offense yet, even in the traditional week three "dress rehearsal" game.

Worth remembering that Chudzinski was criticized by Cleveland fans for throwing too much.

could also argue he simply needed another RB worthy of carries....

b/c Lewis took on a huge load and was one of the most productive RBs in the NFL in 07.

as far as 08, the QBs couldn't make the same plays they were asked to the year before......so it would be easy to argue to throw less and run more. But in his defense, he needed better QB play in 08 to make things work.

[CRA]

I agree 100% with you CRA.

That Miami game in particular where we only rushed 3 times in the first half really leads me to believe that they had more interest in getting Newton as many passing reps as possible vs. executing a balanced game plan to go for the win.

and not to bring up Fox....but Fox often put an emphasis in camp prior to the start of the season on the passing attack. I think that lack of emphasis on the "bread and butter" of his team of running could explain why in 08, 09, and 10 the run got off to a slow start every season.

With Chud putting the run on the back burner, I doubt he can flip the switch come week 1 and them produce as needed. Will probably end up taking the Fox start up time of a few games before we see them run effectively.......which will be bad news for the QB.

[Snake]

I also think there will be more Shotgun formations than in the games we watched. I think Pre-season was to get him familiar with taking snaps under center but our Oline is going to push us back into the gun a lot this season. A lot like they did with Bradford his first year.

[Mr. Scot]

I also think there will be more Shotgun formations than in the games we watched. I think Pre-season was to get him familiar with taking snaps under center but our Oline is going to push us back into the gun a lot this season. A lot like they did with Bradford his first year.

Even there, Newton's going to have to adjust to the sight lines being different.

[Peppers90 NC]

Seeing a pretty fair share of one back, three-wide sets mixed in with some occasional shotgun. What I’m not seeing is as much of the pre-snap movement as I saw in practice. Honestly, that could be a deliberate adjustment to make it easier on Cam Newton. Part of the quarterback’s responsibility is to make sure everyone is lined up in the right spot. Clausen seems to have enough time in to be able to do that. Newton? Not so much. Maybe in time, though. Until then, the offense might not have as much flavor as you’d normally expect from this kind of attack.

After Cam's first series against the Giants, I was convinced we may have a rubix cube offense. I didnt see the Dolphins game, only the highlights but the Cincy game looked almost like Davidson was still calling the plays.

My hope/guess/assumption is, is that those complex formations will be instilled back into the game plans as the season progresses, while these preseason games give Cam a chance to work on fundamentals of standard passing. I could be wrong, but that's all I have on that.

Everything else, is pretty much eh, damn't.

[Double34Trouble28]

Nice write-up. Agree definitely on most of your points.

-Right side of the line is a huge issue and will most certainly have to be fixed by someone not currently on this roster.

-WRs. I'm not sure where LaFell is missing it. He seems to have regressed, and that has to be mental. He's a fine blocker for a WR but he's not getting any separation, which has been thoroughly discussed by Huddlers. I still have faith he will come through in the regular season. Naanee has to make more of an impact. He's far too experienced to be invisible. He won't drop the ball, but he's got to get open. Pilares needs to see the field. Period.

-Special Teams: I honestly believe the Armanti fumble last game was a hiccup. You don't work as hard as he reportedly did this summer, have a great camp, and play great your first preseason game and it mean nothing. Granted it was called back on a holding call, he did bounce back with a decent return on the following return last week. I'm not as high on C. Martin as many of you guys are. He got flagged twice last week on ST. I prefer Wallace Wright, but that's just me.

-Defense. The DT situation doesn't need to be talked about anymore, you're obviously spot on there. We better pray right now Hardy is the answer at the other defensive end position because Norwood is nothing more than a pass rushing specialist. And Everette, well, like you said its like he's always riiiiiiiight there but can't get it done. Linebackers will be fine, we can't get any kind of read on them right now because of how horrible the D-Line is playing. I disagree on Godfrey. I think this is his year (Let's hope) I haven't been as hard on him in years past as some anyway.

I'm hoping that with Rivera closing practice and saying they were game planning and didn't want any information out they are really looking to cook up something special. With the athletes we have on offense there is no reason we can't do something out of the ordinary whenever we want. Again, Pilares must be utilized. I don't think they will have Cam playing the statue game in the pocket as much in the regular season.

What's really going to be important, and Cam cited this in one of his recent interviews, all preseason long we have been in 3rd and forever. I know it's putting a lot on one man, but if we can get Otah back and assuming someone respectable gets plugged in at RG our running game should look night and day. Instead of getting one yard on first or second down and leaving us at 3rd and 8s we should be in 3rd and 3s. 3rd and 3 and Cam Newton can kill you all day. If he gets out of the pocket with a pass/run option he gets that 9/10 times. If he doesn't have a pass the man can fall forward for 3 yards.

I really don't think we've seen anything deep as far as play calling on either side of the ball yet. Rivera seems sneaky. I'm excited.

[panthers55]

I think the offense we are seeing in preseason is not the same one we will see once the season starts. I think we are still installing plays and haven't used them if we haven't gotten them down pat, meaning we will be vanilla. The o line has been poor but without any gameplanning we have looked like this last year as well. With Otah back we need to find a right guard and hopefully someone steps up or we pick someone else up this week. As for the running game we seem to running too much up the middle and really haven't explored the edges yet which is where our strength should be. I am pleased that we actually saw a few screen plays that worked in the preseason and expect to see the runnning backs used as receivers more to get them in space. I wonder if Ziemba wants to play guard. He and Otah could be a lot of beef on the right side if Otah can stay healthy.

As for receivers, we go as the QBs go. We need the time to allow Smitty to beat double teams off the line and for the second and third receivers to get open. That requires protection, selling the play action, and moving Smitty around. The tight ends will be used alot and I wouldn't be surprised if we use Olsen as our second receiver and spread him out wide.

As for the defense, we can only hope it is preseason and we haven't turned guys loose yet. Our blitzing has been ineffective as guys aren't getting open lanes to the QB and are leaving our defenders on an island. We are rushing 5 and 6 but failing to exert that much pressure. There is hope that guys are working on their timing which is a big part to blitzing. Knowing when and where to blitz. I have hope that Balmer can be a good addition and that our rookies are soaking up practice and game experience and will look better sooner than later. I also hold out hope we bring in a big vet at nose who can clog things up. As long as linebackers don't have to worry about the middle and DEs can worry about the edges, we won't get gashed so much on the edges in the run game and our linebackers can play the pass instead of overcommitting to stop the run. Safety play is a mixed bag right now with some good plays and lots of missed assignments. With lots of guys shifiting in at DB, we have looked disjointed and lost much of the time. I still hope we can find a DB in final cuts. Anyone hear how Hogan is doing????

I am most disappointed in the defense at this point and only hope that things turn around in the next few weeks. Unfortunately we were saying the same thing last year and it tooks half a season for things to turn around. Unfortunately the offense never did.

I expected the offense to struggle but not the defense. That is most disappointing at this point.

[Snake]

Even there, Newton's going to have to adjust to the sight lines being different.

Oh most definitely and its going to be rough and rocky to start with. I am for starting Anderson but all signs point to starting the new stallion.