Panther Paw Prints: Ravens Edition

Here's some early Paw Prints for you related to yesterday's game and some of the leading topics from the past 24 hours:

So how bad has is gotten in Carolina? Even the Browns fans are saying "At least we aren't the Panthers..."

P.M. Cleveland Browns links: Panthers could be the balm the Browns need; a little chortling in Jacksonville | cleveland.com
But moral victories don't translate to the standings. Cleveland fans are tired of saying, "They played hard, but we still lost." Still, it's the nature of the beast to find a bit of solace in saying, "Yeah, but at least we're not Carolina." The Panthers, who visit Cleveland next week, are 1-9 and coming off a 37-13 loss to Baltimore. Cleveland at least has hope each week, and a real future, especially with Colt McCoy at quarterback. All the Panthers have are moral victories.

We'll be back next year to stick it to all the Haters!

To me when a team owner fires his coach mid-season for poor performance it says they care. I don't get what Richardson thinks he is accomplishing by keeping Fox around.

Could John Fox follow Childress? - NFL Nation Blog - ESPN
Although they’re certainly not playing well, the Panthers are at least playing hard. That’s a sign that Fox still has some respect in the locker room. Without a labor agreement for next season, Richardson’s not going to do anything drastic. This season is lost and going with an interim head coach isn’t going to accomplish anything.

Flacco takes ownership of the red zone fumble blamed on  Ray Rice:

Fumbles, Red Zone Slow Ravens " Baltimore Ravens Blogs
"That was all me," Flacco said. "My head got scrambled a bit, which can’t happen and I went to hand it to Ray, I put it in his stomach and I’m like, ‘Why isn’t he taking it?’ And then I was like, ‘Oh yeah!’ So it was all me. I take full responsibility."

Now if only they would adjust my FFL score...

So what exactly is Kalil trying to say here, that maybe some of the young guys asked to step up are not exactly doing just that? Say it isn't so!

Fox blames himself for loss - CharlotteObserver.com
"Well, it's easy to ask that now, but only because it hasn't quite worked out the way we expected it to," Kalil said. "Obviously in a business, you don't have time for losses. It's easy to say you'd take a guy like Brad Hoover over (fullback) Tony (Fiammetta) any day. But I think Tony is a better choice for us in the long term. He's somebody who can be a Hoover-type. Unfortunately, it's not an ideal time. Not saying Tony's the problem, just giving an example of a key position that made our run game go last year. "It's different. It's not better or worse, it's different."

Like I've said many times, younger players make more mistakes, mistakes that can kill you in the end.

We have a new name for the Panther offense: 'makeshift'

Inside the Panthers: Just Gross: Tackle breaks down latest loss
"It’s a frustrating loss, a makeshift offense again," Gross said. "I thought Brian did an outstanding job for being here 10 days. It was close at the end and some bad plays there swung the score and the direction quickly. It kind of got away from us there at the end."

Of course its the same playbook as when the season started but hey...who's splitting hairs?

Will we have a battle of the rookie QB's this weekend in Cleveland?

Panthers' QB Jimmy Clausen optimistic he can go Sunday - CharlotteObserver.com
"I'm feeling a lot better than I did last week," Clausen said in the locker room. "I'm just trying to keep resting as much as I can to hopefully get back to play next week."

Should be another barn burner....

It would have been nice to see us try this again as least once later in the game:

Tom Talks: Trick is on Panthers - CharlotteObserver.com
Carolina tried a trick play on its first series. Quarterback Brian St. Pierre lined up at receiver, and center Ryan Kalil snapped the ball directly to running back Mike Goodson. He snapped the ball directly over Goodson’s head, and third and three became fourth and 16. The odds of a trick play working for the Panthers is 5%. The odds of a non-trick play working is 4%.

I got a big lol on the percentages laid down in the last two sentences!!