Most of the articles on the Panthers this past week stem from John Fox’s recent speech at the Charlotte Touchdown Club . Fox had a few classic quotes but here is my favorite:

When asked why the Panthers targeted only massive linemen in the off-season:

"I was tired of third-and-1 becoming fourth-and-2," Fox said. "People were being critical sometimes for us not going for it on fourth-and-2. Why on earth would I ever do that? We can't get there on third-and-1.

Word. I know exactly what he’s talking about. I lost total confidence in the Panthers to convert those short yardage situations and I guess Fox did too. I think having Jonathan Stewart going off the right side behind Vincent/Fanoti and Jeff Otah should do the trick.

 When pressed by one of the Panthers minority owners on his prediction for the 2008 season:

 "If we stay healthy," Fox told the fan, "you'll be happy."

 This is an obvious reference to the series of injuries that have derailed the last two Panther seasons. Unfortunately I don’t think that caveat is going to help him should it happen again this season.

 Finally, I found this one a bit unusual as John Fox usually stays away from criticizing former players:

 "We wanted to get a little bit smaller and a little more athletic and quick as far as rushing the passer," Fox said of the Jenkins trade. "That's an area where we dropped off. A lot was made of Julius (Peppers') sack production. Well, Kris only had three sacks."

 Did he just take a swipe at Kris Jenkins or what? Certainly Jenkins won’t let that go without a rebuttal at some point. I’m glad we don’t play the Jets this year so his rebuttal won’t be on the field.

 Interesting too that we wanted to get a lot bigger on the o-line but smaller on the d-line? To me it sounds more like he justifying getting rid of Jenks instead of employing a new d-line philosophy. I mean come on, you have to be able to go jumbo on the d-line as well for goal situations etc…

 Here’s one about Charles Godfrey I forgot to mention from mini-camp that I really liked:

"He adapted well," Fox said of Godfrey. "It didn't look like it was too big for him. He fit in well. Our players liked him."

Fox said receiver Steve Smith came back to the huddle at one point, saying, "Man, (number) 30 is pretty good."

"Smitty doesn't give out a lot of compliments," Fox said, smiling.

No Smitty doesn’t give out compliments, especially to rookies. If he was impressed during what was essentially a walk through without pads then I think he have a keeper. I’m excited to think the Panthers may have finally found a free safety.

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Check this picture of J-Stew and a few other rookies from the Madden conference.

From left to right: J-Stew, Chris Johnson, Earl Bennett and Malcomb Kelly

Check out J-Stew's shoulders and guns. He looks like the rock guy (Ben?) from the Fantastic Four. He's going to be a beast and I predict he will do more for the Panthers running game than even (dare I say it?) Steven Davis.

Speaking of Davis I don't think I've told my Steven Davis story on this blog. When Davis was in High School I drove to one of his last games to see him play. I was living in Gaffney, SC at the time and Davis played for Spartanburg High. These schools are big rivals and there was a lot of talk in the paper leading up to the game that Gaffney was going shut him down. Yeah right. He was a man among boys out there putting up 200+ yards and three TD's. On one play he broke like 3-4 tackles and ran over a LB for a TD. He was a marvel and I knew he was a Pro in the making. I never understood why he went to Auburn though as he never made the headlines I thought he would in college. He made up for it in the NFL though.