Carolina Panthers Monday Morning Optimist 8/26/11 (Friday edition)

Is it just possible that both the staff and players just didn’t play hard because it’s just pre season? Think about it, we as fans are more upset then the players and coach.. Maybe they are just not tipping their hand?!

If you notice, the defense came out really strong after half time. When regular season approaches I expect for conservative check down pass plays from Cam and our defense will step up.. If pre season really meant anything then I suppose that means Falcons will have the worst season this year and Michael Vick will be terrible?

Then again maybe I’m just trying to convince myself that I didn’t waste money paying $250 on a authentic cam newton jersey lol.

4-0 Preseason
0-16 regular season.

Nothing else needs to be said as far as preseason goes…..

Bottom line is, our coaching staff needs to realize that Cam is a great running QB and they need to take full advantage of that. Cam is the terminator, he won’t get hurt, he know to dodge defenders to well. It’s a thing of beauty when he runs, what do you guys think of just making him a running back? He could revolutionize the RB position with his size and speed,

I hope the last two games have exemplified this team playing to their weaknesses intentionally to see how bad it can be, but when the real plays are rolled out that use this team’s strengths then everything will get better.

I’m not trying to bury my head in the sand here, but I think your outlook is spot on, James.

He looked in mid-season form, which is probably why the staff limited his carries. The only other explanation would be ineptitude, and I don’t believe that’s the case.

Is there a CSR tailgating section/area at BOA?

All things considered, for a rookie NT he looked fairly good out there. Certainly looked farther along than I would expect from a 3rd rounder in his first season. He was often getting double teamed because of the ineptitude at UT and still managed to get some push. To me, his future looks bright.

I also think there is certainly optimism for both of our TEs. Olsen and Shockey did their best to bail out Cam at any opportunity, and Olsen made another highlight reel catch.

Sutton, in his limited snaps still looks really good.

I’d conversely like to throw Legedu Naanee in the pessimism column. He looks neither like a veteran or a guy who knows Chudz system out there. I also remember him half assing a block that could have sprung D-Will (might not have been D-Will) for a huge gain.

I would also like to note that Armanti is perpetually getting screwed by penalties. Every return last night drew yellow laundry. The decision to re-kick was also questionable… however, I can justify that as Rivera wanting to get his return team and Armanti as many reps as possible. It doesn’t forgive the muffed punt, but in reality (the regular season) we would not have elected for a re-kick and hopefully we wouldn’t be flagged as much in the first place.

We sucked last night but again it really looks like we are forcing a lot of things. There was certain plays where we played to our strengths and we had some success. I don’t expect us to be world beaters this season. We will take our bumps. Its how we respond to them. Im sure Bucs fans weren’t jumping for joy with there team with Freeman and Morris and holes in the Dline. They took their lumps addressed holes in the draft and had a very solid second year under the new regime. Rome wasn’t built in a day. you got 11 guys learning a new offense at the exact same time and all the starters are still not in. We will get better. Slowly but surely. Patience

Must a very popular guy in the league. I’m still not sold on his pro bowl status unless he donates to the United Way for every false start flag he gets. Very optimistic about the coaching staff. Going for on 4th down made my night. I really don’t care about wins and losses this year. I just want to be entertained. I’m tired of my wife calling out what the next play will be and being right. I thought Cam looked good, there were a couple of drops and he forced some passes to Smitty. However, I have seen improvement. Sutton has to be #3 on the depth chart and I think we look at moving Mike Goodson. I’m not going to put that wounded duck touchdown totally on Gamble. Looks like he thought he had safety help. They had been running to that side effectively. I think he will pick Kolb at least once.

josh vaughn might be showing enough this preseason to make him a not so safe stash on the PSquad this year. for a team that need RB’s, he just might get snatched

anyone else surprised to see RR with such a pleasant sideline demeanor while his team is suffering an embarrassing defeat? At least two sideline shots had him chatting and smiling/joking with 34 and 69 at times in the game where we might have expected him to be spouting venom. my take on this is: he really does understand that this is a young team with new systems to learn, which will take time, and so his expec’s at this point are not as high, frankly, as ours.

has any NFL team ever used their first round pick, regradless of pick number, in consecutive season on a quarterback? ex: team X has 1st RD pick 5 in 2011 and takes QB, then in next years draft has 1st RD pick 12 and picks another QB.

I don’t necessarily think that Cam “took a step back” but I wouldn’t hail any significant improvements from him in the passing game based on last night’s performance. I’m not going to make excuses for O-linemen bumping into him or any of that jazz. He’s a big boy. He’s expected to make the reads, find his man, and put the ball on the money. Those are the primary things you need out of your QB.

He’s still taking too long to read the defense. And it’s something he himself acknowledges. He’ll get better at it over time. The NFL is just a different game from college and he’s going through the adjustments for it. It’s great that he’s going through his progressions (and the coaches will indicate their happiness with that once they review the film). But, by the time he makes it through those progressions, most of his receivers who get open for an instant are then covered by the time he recognizes it, so he can’t deliver the ball where they can catch it.

And that’s another big problem. Cam is still sailing balls too high…throwing them in the dirt…and leading receivers out of bounds. I haven’t really seen the improvement on those throws yet. So, I wouldn’t mark him up with a Somewhat Optimistic based on any of that. And that’s okay. You play the Monday Morning Optimist and I’ll be the Monday Afternoon Realist. ;-)

That said, the one area I would label Cam Newton a Somewhat Optimistic is his ability to extend plays and run with the ball. The offense scored its only TD last night because he tucked it, ran 20 yards with it, took a hit, rolled off it, and stretched the ball across the goal line. Welcome to the NFL rookie! You just scored your first TD! In addition, he had a huge run later in the game that could have gone for even bigger yardage if he’d set up his blocks better. Regardless, this is with his feet, not his arm. This kind of scrambling will help keep us in games (if our defense can do their job). But, in terms of his development, we’ll need to see a lot more improvement in throwing the ball. And I didn’t see nearly as much of that as you’re indicating here.

Still, that’s just my two cents,
—Neil

Wow, all this doom and gloom. The sky is not falling Chicken Little…

It is a sobering experience to Google “catscratchreader tater596” on Google image search and see just how many images I am responsible for uploading to this site. lol.

It was a complete and utter debacle in the trenches which in turn made everything else look a lot worse that it really was.

We got beat on both sides of the line. Newton was consistently pressured whereas I was screaming at my tv all night for somebody to get a hand on Dalton or stop the run. The o-line started off slow last year as well but showed improvement as the season went on so I think we’ll be okay there in time and with Schwartz and hopefully Otah back at full strength.

It was embarrassing watching Brown unable to set the edge on multiple plays and getting burnt for big chunks of yardage on the outside. I’m willing to give Norwood more time to improve as he is still getting used to being a full time DE. Overall I think CJ and Hardy will be fine at DE but we have to address DT someway, somehow. The lack of pressure from the D-Line in these last two games is a scary prospect with such little time left before the games start counting. I’m not as concerned with the secondary as I am with the D-Line because with some semblance of a pass rush by the front four our secondary won’t be left out to dry. Gamble didn’t play well last night but I think some of it is rust from lack of play time.

I’m neutral on Cam’s performance. He showed some progress in some areas and I loved the way he was able to buy time, keep plays alive while keeping his vision down field, but he did show some inaccuracy. However, like others have said when he has time to properly set his feet his accuracy is much improved. I think in time as he refines his mechanics and the O-line can provide a better pocket his accuracy will be fine.

All in all is was an ugly performance in the trenches, but with a few key pieces returning namely Hardy, Otah and Schwartz we should be able to address a few of these issues with our O and D-lines. Also, I think getting Goodson back with his ability as a receiver out of the back-field will be a big help for the offense (as long as he can hold on the the ball), giving Cam another outlet to dump off and to and keep drives alive.

I’m not encouraged by much of anything from last nights performance, but I’m not going doom and gloom in game 3 of the preseason. When the real games begin we’ll see a heavy dose of the running game, TE utilization, and designed plays for Cam’s athletic ability. We should also see more of the aggressive defense we’ve heard so much about. I think all these things will help make a team that we’ve yet to see thus far during preseason.

No minicamps, OTAs hurt teams w/ new systems. But Steve Smith says “at some point we’ve got to put away those excuses.” http://bit.ly/obX6wN

08 DET

4-0 preseason
0-16 regular season

What is the lesson here?

’We’re the little brothers getting punched in the head. Pretty soon, we’re gong to learn to punch back.’" – Ron Rivera aka BAMF

He was definitely looking through his progressions better last night. And my god, did you see when the D lineman smacked his arm and it didn’t even phase Cam?! That would have been a fumble for 80% of the other starting NFL quarterbacks.

That being said, we need some efense. (can’t even put the ‘d’ in there, we don’t have any)

So Cam struggles all game dropping back and delivering the ball down field… Yet we keep doing it over and over again. :-S

But Cam’s 1st play against NYG… roll right with multiple targets… worked.

Reverse run… worked.

LB’s rushing the D-line gaps in NYG… worked.

Put Shockey in motion last night… worked.

Screen passes… worked.

Sweep instead of running up the middle… worked.

It’s only logical that if something works you keep doing it. But not us! And this is nowhere near the exotic play calling they’ve practiced in camp. Am I being overly optimistic? After all I have been known to do so ;). Or does this staff seem like they’re seriously hiding their playbook?

This needs to be addressed seriously….

Though, unlike King they’re saying it’s ‘hard to imagine it would be more than a late round pick’

If we’re talking a 5th or 6th rounder then I’m fine with it

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/08/26/report-good-chance-joselio-hanson-gets-dealt/

steve reed predicting IR for him. did i miss this? i didnt know how hurt he was

Are my biggest worries with Cam. it’s not the physical things like his accuracy, throwing mechanics, footwork etc. It’s all mental, I am completely confident he can overcome and greatly improve the physical aspect of his game. However what worries me about Cam is all mental. Take for example that 3Rd down conversion pass he made to clowney that came back because of a flag, Cam acted depressed, he acted like he just threw a pick 6 or something.

Cam’s biggest concern is he is way too hard on himself and he expresses himself too much on his face. He looked depressed out there after the 1st qtr, it looked as though he got tragic family news or something.

How do you guys think Captain did? I know Gamble looked waaay rusty.

i really don’t buy that we were working on plays that we are weak at, not using plays that would have been more succesful. i think this is naive optimism. i think a more plausible explanation for our struggles on offense is: we have 11 guys learning a new system, with a rook QB, and it will require time to become in sync. we just arent very good yet on offense. admitting this is more realistic than “oh, we just weren’t using our good plays yet.”

While I love ST and Jame’s optimism saying “They’re hiding their playbook, it’ll all be okay,” I’ll just say I’ll believe it when I see it. I’m not going to totally discredit the notion (mainly because there is obviously some precedent and sense to doing that) but I’m not going to lean on it like a crutch and pretend everything is okay.

Last season I believed “pre-season doesn’t matter, we’re still a playoff team.” Reality spit in my face and I watched the worst season since my inauguration as a Panthers fan (Christopher Penis Weinke) . So, I’ll hope for the best and watch closely when we play Arizona. Call it the “wait and see approach.”

game 3 of the preseason is the one game where you’re really trying to show you are ready for the season. they game planned for the first time. they played starters 3 quarters. we tried, and we failed. we aren’t ready. yet

so when do you guys think Rivera will officially announce the starting QB? He’s gotta do it very very soon.

That’s RIGHT…get on their ass BAMF!

This just cracks me up : )…Jimmy:“Awww SNAP, that’s what I’m tlking bout Cammy”

What the hell is up with #29 and #20 on this one.
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Here are some rookie year QB ratings; Eli Manning 55%, Josh Freeman 56% and Matthew Stafford 61%, so let’s not panic. Grant it you could then say Jimmy should get a 2nd chance, well cam already looks better than Clausen and has only been doing this 2 weeks.

I consider myself a big football fan, I might sound stupid asking this but why the hell are NFL playbooks the size of bibles? Maybe the NFL is at fault on why so many QBs struggle. KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid. I mean seriously, is it really necessary to have that many plays?

so let’s not panic

YOU’RE THE ONE WHO PANICKED SAYING THAT HE’S A BUST AND WE SHOULD DRAFT ANDREW LUCK……..

i think my CSR addiction is about to be overtaken by Irene watching addiction

Remember a few things everyone. Brand new offense, brand new defense, brand new special teams, brand new head coach, brand new QB. Oh, and I haven’t seen any stats on it this year but I’m willing to bet we are again the youngest overall team in the league. Oh yeah, and no real offseason. Let the guys grow into their positions a little bit. Don’t over analyze everything. Its fairly obvious the guys who have some talent. I think the staff is full of teachers not just coaches. They will show much improvement as the season goes along. If u expected too much too soon u were fooling yourself.

I mean I know he’s got some left in the tank. But he doesn’t look like he’s as quick or jumping as high, and losing those 50/50 balls he use to be so good at going up and getting.