1st Half Review

[lightsout]

Not bad for the starters offensively. Cam looked pretty good. Missed by a bit on some throws (the one to Smith as he laid out at the pylon was JUST off as well as the throw in the endzone to Tutu), one dangerous throw early, but overall not bad. One of those games where had he been in for a whole half at least, he would have turned it on and probably shredded. Double Trouble looked sharp. Not impressed so far by Tolbert, but it is the preseason and his role was minor (at least for tonight).

Special teams is still poo.

Defense is swiss cheese. However, Kuechly is an animal. Very excited about him. I feel like had Beason been able to go, we would have looked better. Our secondary is just.....well, you know. Gamble looked good though (as expected).

Murphy looks good. Very impressed and hopeful that he can step into a consistent role in the regular season, even if it's just rotational with the other receivers.

We have some work to do and we need to get a bit better, but I feel good about it. Half of the gameday thread in the first quarter was nothing but worrying over a fuging preseason game. Chill guys. If you don't think that guys will turn it up a bit more in the regular season, then you clearly haven't watched enough NFL football.

[redbuddha]

Nice fg by medlock

liked all of the turnovers generated!

[lightsout]

Nice fg by medlock

liked all of the turnovers generated!

Forgot to mention Medlock. Saw him in TC on Wednesday and thought "yep, Mare is gone". Mare should be cut after this game or the next. Medlock has a stronger, more accurate leg. Keep Medlock.

[nosuchthingasapanther]

preseason or not...i still see a 6-10 team.

defense is meh.

special teams is full retard special.

[lightsout]

preseason or not...i still see a 6-10 team.

Having a starting LB out and another LB who will be big in rotation out doesn't really help us look good. DL looked OK to me. Held their own at least. Problem is the secondary, at the end of the day.

I don't see a 6-10 team. I see a team going through basic plays in the playbook in the first preseason game of the season with the starters and thus, not able to really explode like they will come week 1. Last preseason, everybody said "offense looks off. Chud needs to pick it up or we'll win 2 games all year." What happened? Chud opened the playbook week 1 and never looked back. You have one of the best offenses in the league. No need to show off your playbook in an exhibition.

I don't see how you see a 6-10 team.

[GolfRasta]

preseason or not...i still see a 6-10 team.

defense is meh.

special teams is full retard special.

I think you meant to put 10-6....Which is what I'm seeing. These bullshit mistakes will get fixed by week 1. If you didn't mean 10-6, GTFO

[SCP]

6-10

7-9

My opinion after 1st preseason tilt

[nosuchthingasapanther]

I don't see how you see a 6-10 team.

i think the success of the offense has blinded people to the absolute mess that the defense and special teams are in.

the defense has been on a downward spiral over the past several seasons...and the special teams unit just doesn't exist.

until these 2 phases of the game show life, they are a liabilty to any progress that the offense makes.

[PantherPhann89]

I really like Kuechly, but defends is suspect at this point.

[lightsout]

I'm not making a prediction record wise, because that is ignorant after two series of the starting units on the field. Yes, ST and defense still look bad, but it's 2 series people. I am withholding all real judgment until the 3rd game when the starters actually get some time to work with. ST needs to pick up by next week though. That is unacceptable.

[Cape Fear Cat]

I'm still not happy with the D and St either, but I'm trying to keep in mind that it's just the first preseason game. I'll withhold judgement until I see a few more. Mostly I'm just interested in seeing individual performances, and some of those have been really good!

[carolina-chuck]

My expectation going into the season has dropped a bit.

Defense and ST are still the same as last year.

Murphy and McDermott are you know what already.

[Brandon]

I liked what I saw so far. If the offense fails to find a rhythm again next week I'll start worrying but defense was fine for the first week of preseason. Louis Murphy was a boss, can't wait to see him in with Cam at some point.

[lightsout]

I'm still not happy with the D and St either, but I'm trying to keep in mind that it's just the first preseason game. I'll withhold judgement until I see a few more. Mostly I'm just interested in seeing individual performances, and some of those have been really good!

Precisely my point. The preseason is about how individuals perform. The full product doesn't have to impress as much (for me, anyway). If you notice, the best part of the football game itself in these preseason games come when you get down to 3rd-4th on the depth chart. When guys are fighting for spots on the 53-man roster and the skill level is fairly even. That's when you're going to enjoy watching these more. The starters and backups are going through situational stuff and running basic stuff to get back into the swing of things. No reason to sound the alarms and start doubting how we'll look come week 1. It's not like the coaches look at film all week leading up to these games like they do in the regular season. Relax, people.