Here's my quick thoughts on this game and then my notes on what I saw during the game. Check back for more analysis tomorrow.
First, two players we were anticipating both gave us a good showing. On offense Jimmy Clausen played fairly well, going 8 for 15 and a bogus INT. He read the defense pretty well and made some decent throws under pressure. On defense DE Greg Hardy didn't disappoint either. He collected 5 tackles, 4 for a loss and 2 sacks. Plenty to be excited about for him as well.
Otherwise the good news is sparse at best. Matt Moore looked okay, D-Will is in PB form and Jason Baker is dropping bombs inside the five. CB CJ Wilson recovered a fumble for a TD. The bad...I'll hold off on that for now. Let's hear it Panther fans...more after the jump...
Jaxon's game notes:
- MM missed King on out slant
- D-Will!!!23 yards
- MM 2 miss fires, gets sacked
- Defense bends on first drive, gave up passes for 1st downs but no pass rush; Brayton gets sack on 3rd down against Oher; FG 3-0
- Brayton 2 sacks!! Ankle gets rolled!!! Oh no!
- Gross 3 penalties; killed the drive; To the bench please?!
- Jarrett gets nice 3rd down catch on 3rd and 15 (though called back by Gross)
- Munnerlyn got owned for TD catch 0-10
- Clausen has nice opening drive; gets FG 3-10
- Norwood gets sack and strip! Just get him on the field!
- Sutton looked great..right up until that goal line fumble. Can't have it T-Sut...But still, Sutton is player. Love his burst once he clears the line
- Wilson nice play on ball though slightly weak throw by Bulger
- Nice tip by Conner in coverage
- Gruden in half-time piece from his Clausen QB school session: "...until your brain flies out of your head!". I loved that session for some reason. He said a lot of stuff Clausen needed to hear (though he may have already known it)
- Robinson struggling at RG (per Gantt via Twitter) Makes sense since the Panthers seem to be giving up penetration up the middle
- Hudson nice KO tackle
- I like the way Clausen handled himself; he read the defense pretty well, always the hard part for rookie QBs
- Hardy got a sack; wait make that two
- Edwards looking shaky at PR
- Nice punt coverage by Witherspoon and McClain; but then ST blows the next one
- Cantwell looks shaky on scramble on 3rd down, throws pass behind receiver
- Edwards drops pass after getting hit by Kerry Williams
- Baker drops his second inside the 5 yd line
- Just missed a safety; Neblett
- Norwood nice coverage
- Edwards two straight drops...he's certainly not going to be happy with his performance; don't fret yet Panther fans
- Ivy gets a nice TFL - 4 minutes to go in game 12-17
- Ivy again gets a TFL; Eric Moore playing well too
- Cantwell gets sacked a couple times; didn't seem to have very good pocket presence