Panthers’ Past Picks
The draft is coming up this weekend and the Carolina Panthers are going to be focusing on depth. Let’s take a look at some of the past picks the team has had in comparison to their current selection spots of this weekend. The Panthers’ first round pick will come in at number 14, second round pick at 45, third round at 83, fourth round at 188, fifth round at 155, sixth round at 191, and final round at 226.
In 2003 the Panthers picked up wide receiver Walter Young from Illinois in the seventh round number 226 pick. They kept their 1995 sixth round pick, quarterback Jerry Colquitt from Tennessee, as well as last year’s pick tight end from Virgina Tech, Jeff King. Past fourth round picks at number 188 have since gone to other teams as well as the 11 third round picks at number 83, and the 14 second round picks at 45.
The Panthers’ first round picks at number 14 have privileged the team with a few good men. In 1998 defensive end Jason Peter from Nebraska joined the team, and a more recent 2005 pick from Georgia, linebacker and safety Thomas Davis has brought some positive numbers to the Panthers over the last few seasons. The draft will be over Sunday night, but that just means that football season is that much closer and you can get your 2007 season tickets at StubHub.com.
Keyshawn as ESPN Analyst
Carolina Panthers’ wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson just announced he will be working with ESPN as an NFL draft analyst this weekend. He offers the expertise of a number one overall pick and can lend some perspective to the pressures felt by first round pick players without over analyzing these top picks. ESPN has called him a “straight shooter.”
Keyshawn is taking his job very seriously by studying up on players’ past year performances. He was said to have studied over twenty receivers and defensive back positions by film as well as cornerback and safety players. Keyshawn has been with the NFL for over a decade now and sees himself as a General Manager of a ball club when his playing days are over, and his recent efforts will serve as good practice for that.
In 1996 Keyshawn was chosen by the New York Jets as the number one overall pick and he has maintained a very steady and successful playing record since then. See him in his twelfth year as a pro, this coming season with the Carolina Panthers and get your game day tickets through StubHub.com.
Panthers’ Preseason
The Carolina Panthers have posted their preseason schedule and will be gearing up to battle the New York Giants in their first game of the 2007 NFL year Saturday, August 11th. Three out of the four exhibition games the Panthers will play before regular season will be televised on Panthers TV. The New England Patriots game on Friday, August 24th will be aired on CBS.
The Panthers’ second game on Friday, August 17th, will be the only 7:00pm EST game and it will be played against the Philadelphia Eagles. The other three exhibition games will be played at 8:00pm EST. Finally, Thursday, August 30th the Panthers’ will play Pittsburgh’s Steelers with a little over a week break before they meet the Rams in St. Louis for their first regular season game.
Stay tuned for all the latest Panthers’ talk and get ready for the upcoming season by getting your game tickets through StubHub.com.
Panthers Draft Strategy
The Carolina Panthers have had a bad record when it comes to making good draft picks. Last year may have changed that when all eight draft picks stayed with the team the entire season. Hoping to get a good enough strategy together to better last season’s record, the Panthers have picks in the first, second, third and fourth round that can by them some depth in 2007’s line-up.
They will need two safeties to replace Shaun Williams and Mike Minter. There 14th place pick may also be focused on addressing the middle linebacker, wide receiver, defensive end, or tight end positions as well. 14th pick is too late in the overall to get LaRon Landry of LSU, who has been labeled the number one pick for safeties this season, so the Panthers may see an advantage in waiting until the second round to fill that position. Stay tuned for the latest news in draft picks and get your tickets for the 2007 NFL season through StubHub.com.
Delhomme’s Exclusive Interview With Goings
Carolina Panthers have a neat feature on their website where teammates interview one another. After tackle Jordan Gross interviewed quarterback Jake Delhomme, Delhomme turned to running back Nick Goings finding out that Goings would rather spend an extra week in training camp than handle the team’s practice stuff with his bare hands.
After much joking around Goings confessed that Williams DeAngelo was the fastest running back, and that Delhomme’s perfectly placed pass was the reason for the winning touchdown that was scored in Super Bowl XLII. On a more personal side Going said his favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers and pleaded ‘no comment’ to talk of him dancing with his shirt off at a recent concert.
Although fans of the feature film 300 could swear all of their favorite NFL players were cast as the muscle bound, eight packed, soldiers of glory, Goings denied any truth in the question, which was a question request by teammate Foster DeShaun and which received laughs all around. Seems the Panthers have a great sense of humor off the field, but they definitely don’t mess around come game time. See them in the 2007 NFL season and get your tickets through StubHub.com.
Carr Signs to the Panthers
David Carr is content to sign on as a back-up quarterback to Jake Delhomme and the Carolina Panthers. All Carr wants to do now is “take a deep breath and be around a good environment and just start enjoying the game again.” He is leaving the decision for him to play completely up to his new team, meanwhile showing his support for his starter by stating he would be Delhomme’s ‘biggest fan’.
“I’ve been on an expansion team and it’s not fun. I’ve been on teams that aren’t winning and it wasn’t exciting. Football is a hard enough game when you go out there and you’re battling everything,” Carr had expressed about his recent unhappiness and continued to express his job had gotten harder with each lose his previous team suffered, ”I wanted to be on a team that was fun and exciting and whether I had a chance to play right away, it didn’t matter to me.”
Carr might have found exactly what he was looking for when signing the $6.2 million dollar deal with the Panthers’. ”If I learned anything in the last five years, that’s where football games are won and lost,” Carr shared about his personal growth making it clear that he had a desire to play alongside an established offensive line that could relieve some of the pressures he had experienced in the past. The sour taste in Carr’s mouth is sure to be washed clean come 2007’s NFL season. Watch him play by getting tickets to Panthers’ games through StubHub.com.
Panther’s Acquire Carr Quarterback
The big Carolina Panthers news for today is the signing of a two year contract with the former number one pick, free agent David Carr as back-up quarterback to starter Jake Delhomme. “Jake’s our starter, but we wanted to get the quarterback position as deep as possible and we feel David Carr is a talented quarterback,” general manager Marty Hurney is quoted on the Panthers’ website.
Carr has been struggling to bring his Houston Texans to a higher ranking since his 2002 first round draft to the NFL despite an acceptable playing record over the last five seasons. Over 76 career games he completed 1,243 passes for 13,391 yards. He scored 59 touchdowns and only at the cost of 65 interceptions. He hit his career best of 302 of 442 passes for 2,767 yards last year; a 68.3 percent average with 11 touchdowns and only 12 interceptions.
“We want someone who can come in and give us the best chance to win. David felt comfortable with the situation and the people he met, and we’re pleased he did,” Hurney continued with the praises. Carr and Delhomme’s records are fairly parallel as Delhomme had a 65.3 percent average with 17 touchdowns and 12 interceptions last season. The Panthers’ might have chosen the best imitation to their current situation, but only the 2007 NFL season will prove how well Carr performs with his new team. Get your Carolina Panthers’ tickets to the upcoming season at StubHub.com.
Zone Blocking for Panther’s 2007 Season
The upcoming NFL season may see the Carolina Panther’s executing a zone blocking scheme where each offensive lineman is accountable for one defensive player when drive blocking, while the running back works the gap on the play. Even though there is a player on player emphasis in a zone blocking scheme each line is respectively blocking an area, which means if the player they are blocking moves out of their respective area and into another players they do not follow their move.
Zone blocking does allow for long runs to happen and really consists of two techniques. When promoting plays to the right of the center it is of course zone right, and zone left supports plays that are meant to be played to the left of the center. “If someone comes into your gap, that’s going to be your guy no matter where he came from,” Carolina guard Evan Mathis says, “this works because on defense, every guy has a certain gap responsibility. They’re not going to put two guys in one gap, and they’re not going to leave a gap open.”
Both blocking schemes can be very effective, but are really dependent of the people involved, “In man blocking, if you have maulers on your offensive line who can just blow people up and put them in the linebackers’ lap, then you’re going to create holes and things are going to happen. We have a lot of strong and athletic guys here, but we don’t really have any behemoths on the line,” says Mathis.
The Atlanta Falcons have been the lead rushing team with zone blocking schemes followed by the Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, and Green Bay Packers for the last two NFL seasons. Atlanta and Denver do not have outstanding large offensive lines and employ a zone defense to cover the inside game, challenging their opponent to work them from the outside. “It also takes the right offensive line to make zone blocking work, and it also takes a back who can take advantage of it. You have to have the right running back to make any scheme work. If I was running the ball, nobody could clear holes big enough for me to make anything happen, regardless of the scheme,” Mathis added.
Zone blocking is really a tool to aid the running back in gaining more yards and Carolina has challenged the Falcons’ rushing lead in their last few bouts. Zone blocking is not defensive in nature and encourages that if an offensive lineman is not covering a defensive player that he move to cover the linebacker. Zone blocking schemes are really an offensive play and are a reasonable consideration for Carolina. See them play the upcoming NFL season by getting your tickets on StubHub.com.