What I learned tonight

Also that long pass to Coles was a nice piece of work by Washington as the Panthers were in zone and Ramsey split the seem between CB and Minter. Although Minter could have done better IMO

 

Sounds like a reasonable explanation of the Gross/Donnellhy play. Mangum caught a couple of passes and helped keep drives going. Why is that not worth anything? He's not great, but he knows what's going on.

To Rake, good comments.

To Colling G. Yes, the Skins gave us alot. We should not assume everyone will.

 

Originally posted by lde

>> I decided to share just because I'm so talkative.

No worries. It was very enjoyable, and very thorough.

>> I havent seen enough of Branch either. I would love for him to come on. But as of this minute, he may not have, so I noted that for myself.

Yeah, I only saw him in on one play, which was a good hit. But when you have a raw athlete like that in on third string you expect him to be a player.

>>I know in most Ds the FS and SS are very different. But Ive read over and over again than in the John Fox D, the S's are almost interchagable.

Basically interchangeable. Of course, Seifert's were as well, most of the time, even though they ran cover 3 (more often, they ran one corner in the flat rather than having the corners on the deep ends and the SS under). But Minter showed to be a much better SS than FS.

Maybe it's simply playing against certain O positions. I know Fields plays better covering the TE and the strong side routes, than he ever did weakside, even though he's athletic enough to cover fast RBs. Seems to have been the same way as with Minter. Teams get by with huge SS types at FS, with enough athleticism like Cooper (or obviously, Atwater), but it means changing the defensive scheme around.

>>Look at it this way. Minter is one of the team's leaders. Barring injury, he's not going anywhere. We may or may not have a spot at FS. If Coop stays at SS, he may not be here long. Why not try to get your best 2 S's on the field, if it works?

Give it a try, then. But if Cooper could really handle it, would they have pushed and played Richardson, who's slower, behind Grant? I'm all for keeping an exciting player, but it's a lot more than making hits in the flat and tackling in zone. Grant's arguably better than Minter, save for his two major mistakes last year. Those weren't a problem later on.


>>I was slightly dissapointed in Wiggins

I wasn't, except for that he dropped the ball. Same for Brown, too. I don't see Smart getting knocked for it, but it's the same situation. But Wiggins is a good pass catcher and I haven't evaluated him as a blocker.

 

>>Sounds like a reasonable explanation of the Gross/Donnellhy play. Mangum caught a couple of passes and helped keep drives going. Why is that not worth anything? He's not great, but he knows what's going on.

The one play he caught was three yards, basically just going down after the play. It wasn't his fault he got thrown to short of the first down, but I wanted to see him make the bigger effort for a first down. Put the shoulder down, rather than the rest of it.

The other throw to him was also short of a first down, and also on third down. Two throws to Mangum, two blown third down conversions.

I guess the point is I've seen him since 98 and other than a couple nice hard catches I've never seen a thing to suggest he's a starting TE.

Wiggins didn't do anything better statistically, and had the fumble.

 

Part of the problem is that its SO hard to evaluate a S for a fan, esp on TV. You just don't know what his assignment was. The only thing I will comment on was the decision to put Richardson (its kind of silly for me to keep getting blocked on his name, istn it?) behind Grant last year. Last year Coop wasnt a serious option. This year he may be, if he's as improved as many think he may be. Different situation. I'm not saying change the scheme. I'm saying the player may have changed enought to fit now.

We will all watch Wiggins some more.

Just one more thought. I would like to see one of the other QBs start next week. Having a real 3 way race is very difficult. We like to throw deep, and Weinke can do it, so I think they need to evaluate him seriously. I would not play Fasani anymore. How do you evaluate the TEs and WR's who are playing with him?

 

What I've learned

We had a fantastic draft. Half of them could start at some point this season, most all of them will probably be starters next year. Manning, Seidman, & Gross could start week 1, IMO.

We have 3 QB's, and I don't care who starts. Peete is a decent, quality veteren QB who knows the offense. Delhomme & Weinke will be our QB's of the future. I hope we keep them both for a while, and I don't care who starts...

We are deeeeeeeeep on Defense...and could be the best Defense in the league. Yes the Redskins came up lame, but last year had about 35 ppg in preseason. I don't believe the Redskins are that bad, I think the Panthers made them look that bad. You can't say enough about the scheme and personell. Bring on the Falcons and Vick, I think we're ready.

I'm ready for the league to shorten preseason.

I thought they should have taken S.Davis out after the first 3 plays he touched the ball. I've seen enough.

I was wrong about Smart. I hope he makes the team. Not because he scored, but he's got game.

Hicks has got game too.

I forgot we still had Nick Goings. I don't think he makes the 53.

I think we've seen all of Peete we need to see...we all know what he can do.

I think the same can be said for Fasani, but we need him right now. I don't want our QB's in there in meaningless 4th quarters while some walk-on FA tries to make their team.

Delhomme needs more reps. He's good, but he needs more time in the offense. 3 for 5 ain't even warmed up yet. Good foot speed to, but we don't need to see that play again for a few weeks. Delhomme didn't get enough time to lose any ground.

Weinke got some really good work in. 2 TD drives, one really short field, and then a long field. Couple of key penalties on that long drive, but that's the way it goes. He hasn't done enough to pass Delhomme, but he put a lot of distance on Fasani.

 

i learned, rather remembered, that ericsson looks much better with panther fans in the seats.

i learned that rodney peete, by "looking down" his primary receiver, will hurt us at some very inopportune times. also, his passes were lackluster, even though his effort seemed good.

i learned that our o-line seems improved, but that davis made more of what was actually there. not criticizing, rather praising davis. also, i thought nelson did well.

moose looks determined to step well ahead of many receivers, not just ours. what a job he did.

i think peppers causes others to look better on many plays. manning was very sound. i cringed on some wide open "drops" by redskins that showed some poor coverages. hope that will be quickly remedied.

i learned i really missed football. and you guys, too...

 

Not accurate on the red zone unless you are talking about last season, not last night. I agree I am taking a little levity, but imho in a real game we score the series were we gave it to Bates 3 times in a row from the 4 yard line, and with that we enter the red zone 5 times and come away with 3 td's and 2 fg's. We do it by distrubuting the plays with 7 passes and 11 rushes. That type of red zone proficiency will win the Panthers a lot of ball games.

As for the deep balls, I would have to say that counting the number of deep passes does not define an offense. It was notable that they had Delhomme throw deep immediately. While you might not have seen much in terms of the deep throw last night, imho when Davis is playing 4 quarters and a single quarterback playing 4 quarters you will see a dramatic increase. We cycled through 4 different quarterbacks, the deep balls will come when it counts, not surprised not to see much last night.

 

I can't believe no one else has noted this, but did anyone see what Peppers was doing to Jon Jansen? That thoroughly impressed me... he's a lot of the reason Rucker got his sack in the 1st Quarter.

 

I'll be the first to admit Dehommer impressed me. Thank god.