Carolina Panthers Monday Morning Optimist- 10/10/11

Yes James agreed. And yes, Cool heads will always prevail. A mantra I try to live by but FAIL time and time again as sports fan and as a Carolina fan all the way in deep darkest South Africa. From my game analysis all things being equal between the saints and panthers, one can conclude that the better team lost (Panthers) and more experienced team won (Saints) IMHO. But once we can get some sort of stability and consistency on defense, this team honestly will be extremely difficult to beat. Especially if the Offense and Cam continue to consistently put up more than 20 points per game.

All the Panthers need is an Alabama like stifling/suffocating defensive philosophy that excludes JORDAN PUGH and this team with the explosive offensive we have right now the Panthers will become an 10 game winning team season in season out at the very least.

But like you said, it will take some time. As long as we don’t suffer any more effing injuries and Cam doesn’t have a Vince Young like mental melt-down because he can’t handle losses, and the team and COACHES continue to dial out the moronic mistakes and consistently improve each week. Then I believe Happy days are ahead of us my fellow Panther brethren. Happy days indeed.

Of course there were mistakes that really cost us and it should have been a win but it waws a good game

BUT looking forward, I think we can take the falcons next week. They were a stellar team last year but just aren’t livin up to the hype this year

Well, I cannot argue with the logic here James. I still hate losing like this though. It is amazing what a win can do for a team like this, especially against the saints. It helps the team believe they can win any game they play. And yes, while they have been taking teams to the limit, they are not winning them, and thus are not learning how to beat these “elite” teams.

Sooner or later we will need actual victories for this team to grow. The longer we continue on this losing streak, the harder it will be for the team to realize it can win games. This game was there, and we let it go. Now we have to just move on and focus on atlanta. Try and win this game.

Is that when they finally took the lead, they were up by 4 points. The Saints didn’t score and there was like 4 minutes to go. The Panthers got the ball back up by 4, and what do they do? run the ball 3 plays in a row, then pass (incomplete), then punt. It seemed to me, Newton was on a roll, he got them into the game and the coaches abandoned the pass for that possession except the 1 pass. With a 4 point lead they needed to stick with Cam and try to score not try to run the clock.

Mcclain in a play that was a good play, I think it may have been a run play he stopped, My thought at the time was that he may deserve an optimistic award as well.

If we can’t make the playoffs, whats the point in 7-9, 8-8, 9-7?

Again, they are hanging and competing very well with top ten teams. I am so proud of this group, the wins will come. Its amazing to think that in a short season with a rookie QB and coach, they are putting up a fight and making the games exciting to watch.

Weren’t we at or even across midfield at that point? That’s 2-down territory. You’re not going to gain much by punting, you had 2 chances to get 2 yards and DeAngelo was avergaing over 10 yards/carry. He could’ve at least gotten 2. That’s what had me shouting at the TV.

He did look better, probably because Smith was double teamed. I hate that every touchdown and every catch they make are under review. Oh well.

Our record is exactly what I predicted it would be. The problem is that we’re playing 1000X better than I thought we would be. I’m logical enough to analyze the team and break down the game, but during the heat of battle, I’m a fan. My emotions are drawn into the game by hope and my passion for the team. If that ever changes, I’ll just stop watching the games.

The botched time out call and the early interception didn’t bother me as much as the blocked kick and the piss poor zone coverage. All in all, our special teams units just stink. Coaching is going to get the blame, but I believe it’s more the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s than the X’s and the O’s. Hopefully Pilares can turn us around with some time at the position. He’s explosive as hell, he just needs to catch up with the speed of the game.

It’s no secret that we need better talent in the secondary (nickel corner and safety) , but yesterday, it was the lack of pass rush that was the culprit. I’m not going to kill C.J. or Hardy for this because there is only so much those guys can do. We need more push from the entire front four and that’s not going to happen this season. As I said yesterday, Brees is going to get his, but we made it awful easy for him. All in all, I’m just disappointed that we’re so close, yet so far away. I hope that our young guys take these experiences and build on them for the future.

The team as a whole performed maybe the best out of all the games they’ve played this year.
I’m not really down on the D as much this time because Breez and company are very hard to stop. The special teams played much better with the exception of a couple miscues.
Our O played on par with what we’ve been seeing this year.
  Every one points to the TO that helped the Aints at the end of the second half and rightly so. To me though, the defining moment was the failure to convert the 3rd and short in the 4th quarter when we had a 4 point lead at around the 8 minute mark. If we had used the RB’s and ground that clock down we could’ve had at least a 7 point lead and possibly an 11 point one with little time left for the opposition. That would have changed the way the Saints would’ve had to play and our D might’ve been able to show us something. As it turns out though, we played right to the strength of Breez…he was able to dink and dunk and kill the clock. I put that squarely on coaching. They must get better in strategically thinking through games or our pain will continue. However, I commend the coaches for preparing the players, as I think there has been improvement every game.

1- I am not positive, maybe you all have seen this happen before but I think it was his first time, (cause it’s the first I recall seeing), Newton slides feet first after his first down run on the last play of the 3rd quarter. Every time I seen him run till then he has dove head first.
2- I do not like the designed qb run plays. I do not like risking our star qb running the ball when we have players that do that specifficly. I think he should only run it as a last resort, and he seems to do it very well .We are 1 qb injury from being a true 1-4 team.
3- Munnerlyn gets revenge. After Brees chooses to throw to Munnerlyn 90% of hos throws, Munnerlyn gets his revenge with a sack. It’s like, “You want to mess with me, take this”.

I’d rather a QB take a hit occasionally (not near as often as we’re running Cam on purpose) and get a 1st down in a big game, especially a grudge match like that. But to come up short, that’s just pathetic.

The honey moon is over. We need to acknowledge that his timeout at the half cost us 3 pts, the exact same amount we lost by! This was a big mistake on his part.

Chud while not perfect, has done a great turning our offense around. However the failures on Special Teams and Defense (although a bit improved yesterday) also need to be held responsible by the coaches. And being a defensive guy… We can’t only blame McDermit and not Rivera.

It always hurts to lose close division games, especially against the Aints, but going into this season… we probably didn’t even expect to play it this close. Who would have thought Brees would need to organize one of his patented comeback drives to win in a game where we are out our 2 best linebackers, starting DT, and have a rookie QB at the helm? Nobody could have predicted this in preseason.

The upside is, I firmly believe we just played the toughest team in our division. Atlanta and Tampa Bay both don’t look very good right now, and we can steal a few wins from them that we may have written off prior to the season. Being able to shut the lid on the Saints running game on Sunday was a nice boost of confidence for our young DTs who continue to get better. The Saints RBs don’t get enough credit, but a 3 headed monster of Thomas, Sproles, and Ingram is pretty deadly. That gives you each “type” of RB you could possibly need.

We are getting great play out of our top 3 corners. Gamble, Cap’n, and Butler are all exceeding expectations in my eyes, with Butler being a great surprise. However, we need better play at the safety position. Godfrey needs to start leading by example with better tackling. I am tired of watching him launch himself at people shoulder first without his arms out to wrap up. Unacceptable from someone who gets a “C” sewn onto their jersey every game.

Linebacker play is ok considering the situation with injuries, but make no mistake, we probably have 2 more wins if we have TD and Beast right now. Without them we are missing a couple inspiring leaders and 2 excellent players. It shows the most in TE coverage, and the lack of QB pressure from the LB position.

I will say this… until that drop by Legs NooNoo it was the first game I didn’t want to put him in the pessimistic column, but with the game on the line, a good receiver makes that catch. Hell, I’m fairly certain that I could make that catch if I had the speed to get to it. Just another example of us looking his way in clutch situations only to have him FAIL hard.

I know as outsiders we can’t fully see who responsible for what. But Rivera brought in Chud to counter balance his inexperience on offense. So I tend to think Rivera has less fingerprints on that side of the ball than he does on defense.

That being said, this offense has gone from worst in the league in 2010, to top 5 in 2011! That’s pretty remarkable. I tend to think the majority of that progress needs to be credited to Chud and Cam. The defense however, for a number of reasons, has taken a step backwards.

I think these trends need to be monitored very closely. Because in a couple years, if it’s the same story, and Chud is offered a head coaching job elsewhere… Where does that leave us?

Defense, defense, defense. Can we play some? Its a bit predictable—our surrendering of 3rd downs. You can’t drop 8 yet inexplicably leave the middle of the field wide open for the TE.

Speaking of the TE: maybe someone wants to get their hands on Graham at the LOS? Mm? Mm? Good gracious. Not once did we try to disrupt his route.

I have zero faith in this defense. Less Than Zero. (Apologies for the Robert Downey Jr. reference.)