Darin Gantt of the Rock Hill Herald gets some good quotes and makes a couple key points I failed to mention in my game analysis. The Panthers got Steve Smith involved early and were lining him up in the backfield and then putting him in motion in all directions.

The reality is, what they're doing now is quite complicated, as Smith has alluded to several times. They're putting players in motion on most plays, lining guys up in unusual spots. They often ran out of a full-house backfield in the past, but now, they're starting with Smith lined up as a fullback before sending him moving.

I stroke of genius in my view. Keep the defense guessing on where he is going and try to create mismatches. On the Smith TD Delhomme recognized the one-on-one coverage, something the Rams were trying to prevent. Yet the safety got caught cheating up to support the run. Absolutely beautiful.

There were times during the first and second quarter you could tell the Panthers were struggling to execute the offense. Mike Wahle sums it up:

I know it wasn't pretty," left guard Mike Wahle said. "It was a lot of guys playing hard."

Steve Smith told us what was to come. I admit I had some doubts as I was still used to the Dan Henning predictable play calling.

"You guys print your expectations, what you dislike and like, and now obviously, it's going to be hard for y'all to write something bad, but I think you might manage," Smith said when asked about the offensive outburst. "I think offensively, we did exactly what I said we were going to do. We're going to come out here and give a little different taste. We did that."

I have nothing bad to say about it Steve. Quite a fine opener is most regards. I doubt Tye Hill said much afterward as well. The only person who might need to qualify his statements is Steven Jackson, who was quoted as saying he’s going to top 2,500 all-purpose yards this season.

Jackson, who promised 2,500 yards from scrimmage this year, seemed to be on pace. He ran seven times for 31 yards on the first drive. He gained just 27 yards on 11 carries thereafter.

The Panthers shut him down in the second half and he ended up with only 18 carries total. Once the fourth quarter rolled around the Rams abandoned the run and then the Panthers brought the pressure. Bulger got rattled after Jenkins hit and the game was essentially over.