Carolina Loses Final Preseason Game
In a battle of two teams coming off of disappointing 8-8 seasons, the Carolina Panthers were defeated 19-3 by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fourth and final preseason game for both teams. Neither team played many of their first-string contributors, and the game actually did very little to answer any lingering questions fans of either team might have as to whether their team is ready to make the rebound from 2006. Neither team looked particularly sharp or game-ready, but when it’s only third-stringers playing, how can you really tell?
For the Panthers, it was hit or miss all night long. Keary Colbert does seem to have locked up the number two receiver opposite Steve Smith - who spent all his time during the game Thursday filling cups of water for his teammates. David Carr showed some signs of life but also threw a very easy interception over the middle. The Panthers bench had six turnovers altogether. Here’s hoping the starters protect the ball a bit better once the regular season begins.
You can get all your Carolina Panthers tickets at www.stubhub.com.
Preseason Power Rankings Published
ESPN.com has released its final preseason power rankings. In many ways, not much has changed since the last time these rankings were released. However, for some teams, the change has been drastic. No change has been more dramatic or surreal than the complete free fall of the Atlanta Falcons, who plummeted from 19 to 31 after losing Michael Vick. Other notable changes were the Bears (from 5 to 4), the Ravens, (4 to 5), and the Redskins, who somehow jumped from number 28 to 19 despite the fact that I couldn’t name you one offseason Redskins acquisition.
The Panthers, for their part, have slid all the way down to 16 in the rankings. A stark fall from grace for a team that at this time last year had Super Bowl buzz. I believe the Panthers will be better than a middling team, but not by much. They should make the playoffs and possibly even attain double digit wins, but they have serious issues that I believe they have not addressed that could come back and bite them in the behind around about the middle of the season. This may be the year that Carolina goes from being a “veteran team” to an “old, beat up team.” Or they might have one more run left in the tank. Only time will tell.
You can get all your Carolina Panthers tickets at www.stubhub.com.
Panthers Page 2 Preview
ESPN.com’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback has released their NFC preview, giving their perspective on the upcoming football season as only TMQ truly can. You really should read the entire article, as it will give you a solid (and fairly humorous) perspective on your team’s entire conference. However, if you really don’t care to read TMQ’s take on the entire conference, you can simply read their take on the Carolina Panthers and be done with it.
Their take on the Panthers is nothing particularly earth-shattering, other than the revelation that your coach has openly been questioning the existence of the football gods, which does not bode well for the 2007 Carolina Panthers season. Beyond that, they have very little new information to add, but they make the same points. Carolina was an underachieving schizophrenic team last year, and they will need consistency from their offense this year if they wish to right the ship. TMQ believes Carolina will find that consistency by returning to their power running game and by making David Carr their starting QB. Time will tell if they are correct.
You can get all your Carolina Panthers tickets at www.stubhub.com.
Carolina Guard Pleads Not Guilty
According to reports, Carolina guard Jeremy Bridges was at practice on Monday while his lawyer was in court, entering a not guilty plea on Bridges’ behalf. Bridges has been charged with misdemeanor assault stemming from an altercation during which he allegedly pointed a gun at a woman outside of a strip club. Bridges has already been suspended by the Panthers for the first two games of the season and will likely face further discipline from the League if found guilty of the charges. His trial date has been set for October 2. Bridges, for his part, continues to decline to speak with the media at all.
Can someone just put out a memo to all NFL players that they might want to just stay away from strip clubs? It seems that every other off-field issue a player has occurs outside of a strip club or after leaving a strip club or inside of a strip club. Seriously, just stay away from strip clubs. And hey, if you are going to go to a strip club, you should probably not arrive strapped at said strip club. In fact, rule number two of the NFL’s new non-strip-club-compliance policy should be “If you think you might need a gun to go somewhere, don’t do to that place.”
When you make millions of dollars, you can afford to not have to hang out at places like seedy strip clubs where you need to carry a gun. It just seems like if you’re getting your butt kicked for more than half the year for a living, you’d want to spend the rest of the year at a relatively low stress level. I’m just saying.
You can buy all your Carolina Panthers tickets at www.stubhub.com.
Morgan Glad to be Back
Len Pasquarelli has written a rather touching piece on the 2007 comeback of Carolina Panthers middle linebacker Dan Morgan. Morgan, more than once the subject of this blog, has become a poster child of sorts for head trauma in the NFL, having sustained five documented head injuries in his career. There are many who speculate that the actual number of head injuries sustained by Morgan is closer to double digits. For someone who has, at points in his life, had real trouble even counting to 10 or remembering his address, to be back out on the football field is nothing short of a miracle.
Dan Morgan, for all the ways this is being painted as a feel-good story, is putting his life on the line every single time he steps on a football field. With every hit, everything modern medicine and science has taught us says that Morgan brings himself closer to his next head injury. And that next injury could very well be his last. While the Morgan story is a nice one for now, in the preseason, it must be noted that this is a man taking his life into his own hands every single week, and if something were - God forbid - to happen to Morgan on the field this season, everyone, from Morgan to the Panthers to the NFL, is going to have some serious questions to answer.
You can get all your Carolina Panthers tickets at www.stubhub.com.
Panthers’ Peppers Back at Practice
According to a report out of the Gaston Gazette, Julius Peppers has returned to practice. The defensive end missed the better part of this week with an illness, but has since returned to practice with the team and expect to play against the New England Patriots in the Panthers’ third preseason game. Peppers has not commented on exactly what illness had him out of practice, but has only said that he is now feeling much better and expects to play Friday.
Can the regular season just start already? How boring is the month of August, when Julius Peppers catching a cold or having a stomach bug or whatever was wrong with him is considered “news?” Tom Brady playing in this game just days after the birth of his new baby boy is the main story line of this game. The main storyline. A story that literally has nothing to actually do with the game of football, is somehow the most interesting thing about this game. The NFL preseason folks - don’t worry, it’s almost over.
You can get all your Carolina Panthers tickets at www.stubhub.com.
Madden Not So Kind to Panthers
ESPN.com has released their John Madden 2008 Player Rankings, and things are not looking too hot for the Panthers. Not only do they not have one player in the top 10, but they barely cracked the top 20. Julius Peppers is ranked 19 and Steve Smith 20. If you want to find the next Carolina Panther on the list, scroll down past number 100, because the Panthers don’t have another player who cracks the Madden top 100. That, my friends, is just depressing. Panthers fans everywhere are left playing with a team they know is talented that gets no respect from Madden.
While the Panthers may be a sleeper team in the NFC this year, it’s obvious that the people over at EA Sports feel that they have lost a step or two. Having only 2 players in the top 100 is just not very good. The Panthers are going to have to step it up this year if they want to see their Madden rating improve by 2009. Some of your rookies will need to step up, not to mention a QB. Not having your QB crack the top 100 is bad. Luckily for Panthers fans, it’s only Madden, not real life.
You can get all your Carolina Panthers tickets at www.stubhub.com.
Panthers Move Rookie to Guard
According to a report out of the Gaston Gazette, the Carolina Panthers have moved rookie Ryan Kalil from starting center to starting guard. This move comes after the Panthers moved Kalil to second team center for a few days after their last preseason game. Kalil did not have th best game, allowing a sack and just generally being one cog in a Carolina offensive line that has yet to gel and play well together. However, within a few days, Kalil was back on the first team at right guard, and by all accounts from his coaches, he is doing very well for having no real game time experience at the position.
Kalil, entering his first year in the NFL after a career as the center for the University of Southern California, has already impressed his coaches in training camp. Though some have marked his last game as a failure, there were a lot of good things to take from the game. Besides, anyone who knows anything about football will tell you that offensive lines work as a unit and are only as strong as their weakest link. As a player who can move freely and easily from position to position along the line, Kalil is most certainly not the weakest link.
You can get all your Carolina Panthers tickets at www.stubhub.com.
Panther’s Morgan will Play Again
According to a report out of ESPN.com, Carolina Panthers middle linebacker Dan Morgan will make his return to professional football this year. Morgan, who has not been on the field in a year, ever since suffering his fifth reported concussion, has fought back and is looking forward to getting back onto the field. This story has equal opportunity to turn into one of the field-good stories of the year or to become a horrifying cautionary tale for NFL players young and old as to the severity of multiple concussions over a long period of time.
I can’t say I agree with the idea that Morgan will be back on the field. With the NFL under more scrutiny than ever over their treatment of concussions and players with concussions, it’s mind-boggling (no pun intended) that the Carolina doctors have cleared a man with not one, not two, not even three or four, but five reported concussions in his playing days back onto the field. That’s only the concussions this man has reported. It says nothing of all the injuries he’s sustained and kept his mouth shut about. Dan Morgan is putting his life in danger every single time he steps on that field. I guess that’s his right, but the whole idea of a man with a history of that many concussions putting himself in harm’s way again just puts me on edge.
You can get all your Carolina Panthers tickets at www.stubhub.com.
Panthers Fall to Eagles
The Panthers lost their preseason game versus the Philadelphia Eagles this past week, falling 27-10 on August 17th to Donovan McNabb’s squad. McNabb, for his part, looked amazing in his first game back from knee surgery, going 6-9 for nearly 150 yards and leading the Eagles to 10 points before taking a seat and letting his backup A.J. Feeley take the reins. His first-string counterpart, Jake Delhomme, actually had a particularly awful game that left him shaking his head and asking lots of questions. Delhomme went 9-18 for 78 yards with and INT returned for a touchdown.
The Panthers did not play well at all during the game, struggling to get their offense going. This is a make or break year for a lot of people in Carolina, especially after the severe disappointment of last year’s 8-8 campaign. Look for the Panthers to try a few different things in their remaining preseason games to see if they can’t get the offense clicking properly. And if Jake Delhomme doesn’t start looking better out there, then look for David Carr to take his job early in the season.
You can get all your Carolina Panthers tickets at www.stubhub.com.