ESPN Grade after 1st quarter:

Carolina Panthers (3-2)
First-year coach John Fox went into the season with the most fundamental of approaches: Keep things simple. Fox knew he could "coach up" a decent defense and figured that, if the offense ran the ball and avoided turnovers, the Panthers could stay in most games. The philosophy worked until the last two games, both close defeats, in which the Panthers turned the ball over too often. This isn't a team good enough to win on days when it is sloppy and quarterback Rodney Peete and tailback Lamar Smith have played giveaway. The defense is rated No. 1, primarily because Carolina has quietly developed a solid front four (led by ends Mike Rucker and Julius Peppers), and linebacker Dan Morgan and free safety Deon Grant have played up to their first-round billing.
Grade: B.

Sounds about right to me.

 

So we are 2 kicks and a potential overtime from being 5-0. What would our grade be then? (Shoulda woulda coulda)

 

Note that Dan Morgan beat out Brian Urlacher for the MLB position in this article...why? go see it here

 

RG Kevin Donnalley Panthers


Wow. Holy shit he just called Donnaley a 1/4 All Pro. Who saw that one coming?

 

Not me. The Donnalley picked kinda stunned me.

I bet he still can't push around Warren Sapp.

 

Nobody really can. what you hope to do there is wall off. Still it's McFarland I have to worry about overall. Very stout against the run right now.

 

Don't know if I agree with all of Pastabelly's assessments for 1/4 All Pro. I will say that, as good as our run game has looked, as well as the pass-blocking (for the most part), they would have taken allmighty hell if someone from our line didn't make the list. Donnaley's as good as any other.