Ronin's Panthers Game Review

Thought I'd start a thread of my own this week with a review of the Panthers game. I try to be as objectionable as possible and view the game without the aqua colored glasses. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, I've got to ask, could you feel the power from Tony Sparano's fist pump after Lex Hilliard scored to make it 7-0? I'd have given it an 8 out of 10 normally, but it looked rehearsed and Jeff Hixon doing it in perfect synchronization only reinforces that belief, so only a 6.5 for the fist pump Tony. I guess it's preseason for coaches too. That said, this game was just what the doctor ordered in a number of ways, but I still see some concerns and things that need to be improved. Just like last week, I'll do a breakdown of the units I wanted to see the most and/or things that jumped out at me. I will say that I stopped watching when the Panthers made it 20-10 so I can't comment on the Nic Grigsby's and Quinton Spears' (sorry padre) of the world. Here we go.

QB: Reading through the game thread, I believe MrClean said this with direct respect to the OL pushing around the smaller Carolina front 7 and that he'd be concerned if they hadn't done so. Well, I think the same goes for Chad Henne's performance last night. Let's keep in mind that he was playing Carolina, minus Jon Beason, who was playing a pretty vanilla defense last night (probably moreso than our Dolphins did) so if he didn't play like he did last night, I'd have major concerns. Now, that said, I thought he played well. I thought his throws were on point for the most part. He did a nice job of fitting passes into tight windows to Brandon Marshall and Anthony Fasano. Where has the quick slant to Brian Hartline been since the Saints game in 2009? As a Buckeye fan (by birth, not by choice) I remember arguably Henne's biggest game in college, the 1 vs 2 OSU vs. Michigan game in 2006. He torched Ohio State with 3-step slants and fades to Mario Manningham for a quarter and a half. Love seeing that concept incorporated into the offense here. Hell, it worked for Mark Sanchez, why can't it work for Henne? Chad looks more mobile and did a nice job of improvising on the deep throw to Fasano...very Jake Locker-like (those who were in the Club Draft chat should get that reference moreso than others) if I do say so myself. As for the minus plays, I've got the 4th and 4 pass to Brandon Marshall - not sure if Marshall ran a poor route or Henne just got juiced and overthrew it - need to re-watch the play. In the 2nd quarter, and even Bob Griese called this one, Henne missed a wide open Anthony Fasano down the middle and went to try and dump the ball off to Daniel Thomas in the left flat; he didn't put much on it, and if there were a better defender out there, it'd have been a pick 6 instead of a deflected pass. As Griese said, just get it out of bounds or run it in that situation. Goes back to the point Toddphins and I were debating after the Falcons game - it's okay to fight another down or, God forbid, let Sparano fist pump a field goal; just don't go to the worst possible scenario of a turnover for points. All in all, that was a pretty good performance from Henne keeping in mind we probably weren't showing much motion, getting matchups, etc. His timing on the deep ball still needs work. Tampa Bay will be a good measuring stick next week, let's see how he does then.

RBs: Well, let's start with the obvious, Reggie Bush looked pretty good last night. He looked good in the passing game, minus the one drop, and he showed some nice burst through the hole and cutting ability. If he's used right...I repeat, if he's used right, he could be a nice contributor to the offense. He won't be getting 15 carries per game, that I'm sure of. But 12-15 touches per game, as a RB, in the slot, as a WR, in the Wildcat, and perhaps on punt returns sounds right. I do admit that I cringe every time he goes into a pile as he just seems very fragile (16 games missed the past three years I believe) and had his right forearm wrapped up on the bench in the 3rd quarter. I wouldn't think it's a major concern, but I do remained concerned about his durability. Daniel Thomas looked better this week. He runs pretty hard and doesn't go down easily. I highly doubt he's 4.55 or whatever Jeff Ireland's trigger finger timed him at, I just don't see it. At all. It was nice to see him learn not to go over-the-top from the 4 yardline - he wasn't even close on that attempt (more on this series of plays later). Interesting to see Lousaka Polite getting the bulk of the work as the FB with the first team unit over Charles Clay. Perhaps (and I hope) Clay should be more of that Lawrence Vickers/2nd TE role.

WRs/TEs: Good to see Brandon Marshall getting involved early. He looks good, but I don't know if it was the field conditions or just Marshall himself, but I didn't really notice any extra explosion last night. Thought Henne's best ball of the game was the toss over the middle to Marshall in stride (how many times did we see that last year?). Good to see what he can do on the run in space. I thought Davone Bess and Brian Hartline both made some nice plays. Anthony Fasano was involved quite a bit over the middle and I think only had the one drop. I'm interested to see how they're going to use him more as I mentioned in the QB section, he was wide open, deep over the middle on the play Henne nearly threw a pick 6 on. How the hell did Fasano get there? Beats me. Didn't notice much from Charles Clay, saw the one catch in the flat, that was it. Fasano looked pretty good blocking I thought. Did a nice job on one of Reggie Bush's runs sealing off the backside.

OL: Obviously, no Jake Long again tonight. Personally, I'm not too worried about him unless something more happened to his shoulder that we don't know about or there was a setback in his rehab. Lydon Murtha struggled a bit more this week going against Charles Johnson. He got beaten real badly on a bullrush and as you know, he had 3 penalties. Someone pointed out in the game thread and I agree, that it was interesting that Nate Garner subbed in for him at left tackle after a few drives (2nd quarter I believe). Did Richie Incognito block anyone on the first 3 run plays at the goaline? I really wish they'd have acquired an athletic LG, moved Incognito to RG and kept Carey at RT. Despite getting some good push, I still have my doubts about this O-line. However, I was pretty impressed with Mike Pouncey last night. Yeah, he had one high snap and a few others were getting up there. But he did a great job getting push up the middle and I saw him on the second level finding work on a few occasions. He's a fiesty guy as Richie Incognito, yes you read that right, Richie Incognito had to pull him away from a Panther defender and back to the huddle on one occasion. Marc Colombo impressed me with his pass-protection again, I think...but who was he going against? Was Joe Berger injured? Noticed Nate Garner taking snaps as the 2nd string C last night and not Berger. I still think this O-line is less settled than Tony Sparano and Jeff Ireland have led on. At least, I hope they think so as well.

Defensive front 7: Now that effort was a bit more like it. Karlos Dansby got exposed by Greg Olsen, but that was the only glaring bad play that I remember from the first team last night. Dansby made his share of plays. Thanks for showing up this week Kevin Burnett. He made some nice plays in coverage and made a great open-field tackle on Jeremy Shockey to prevent a first down. Those are plays Channing Crowder never made. I'd still like to see Burnett tested more up the middle though. Didn't really see much from Misi and Wake, but the scheme last night seemed pretty vanilla. I remember Chris Clemons coming once on a safety blitz, but that was about as complex as Mike Nolan dialed up all night. Despite starting, I still don't think Jared Odrick is going to unseat Randy Starks. Memo to Jeff Ireland, please extend Kendall Langford before it's too late. I thought the pursuit of Cam Newton outside the pocket was pretty good. Newton's deceptively fast as he got the better of Cam Wake twice when Wake was trying to get an angle on him. Say what you will about Newton, but there's definitely some things that the Panthers can build upon with him, more than Jimmy Clausen for sure. Again, going back to what I said about Chad Henne and the offense, I think Tampa Bay will be a good measuring stick for the defense next week.

DBs: Is it really worth mentioning as Cam Newton didn't really challenge anybody? Yeremiah Bell and Vontae Davis made some nice plays against the run. Sean Smith even made a nice force play in which Dansby finished off the tackle on DeAngelo Williams for only a 3 yard gain. Good to see from Smith. Still not sure why he and Davis are flipped "for now" to quote Sparano. Just a head-scratcher to me.

STs: Dan Carpenter was money from FG range ("Double fist-pumps tonight baby!" - Tony Sparano. I kid, I kid). Brandon Fields was Brandon Fields. Philip Livas came back to reality tonight, which was disappointing. Hopefully he'll get a chance next week (hey, at least he won't have a baseball infield to deal with) against the Bucs. The kickoff coverage team needs some sorting out as well, but for the most part, you can live with that effort.

Playcalling: I think Brian Daboll got into a nice rythm with calling plays last night. That was pretty encouraging. Now, I'm not sure if this was mandated by Sparano or what last night, but why run four straight 44-Power O runs at the goaline last night? How much did Henne struggle passing in the redzone last year? I mean, c'mon, Brandon Marshall had 3 TDs. Three! If you're not going to work on getting him the ball, throwing a jumpball fade, etc. when are you going to do so? Hopefully before the New England game. If Carolina doesn't bail us out with the 12 men on the field penalty, we turn it over at the 2 yardline and get zero points. Yeah, it was good to see Lex Hilliard punch it in, but it was just as frustrating not seeing Daniel Thomas break through (or over) and watching Richie Incognito trying to pull was a bit maddening to me.

Overall: Good to see a win. It was good to see Chad Henne play well. I'm interested to see how we incorporate Reggie Bush with the running and passing games. Daniel Thomas runs hard, and I think you can work with what he brings to the table. I really like our top 3 receivers in Marshall, Bess, and Hartline. After that, well, I wasn't really impressed with Clyde Gates or Roberto Wallace tonight. Marlon Moore had some nice plays and even got some run time with the first team early on. I guess next week will be Gates' turn to shine if things keep going the way they are. I think the defense, for all the vanilla that was on display, played pretty well. I'd like to see some more pressure from Cam Wake and Koa Misi though. I think Wake got to Cam Newton once and someone else (Starks maybe?) got a hit on him n the pocket. Good performance overall, but I think there's some things that can be corrected and/or improved upon, and I think the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, despite getting crushed by the Pats two nights ago, will provide a nice measuring stick to see where Miami really is.