Oh boy. We are not going to decide the season after about seven minutes of live work by the starters, but there are issues. Man are there issues:

  • The Panthers paid elite tackle money to Jordan Gross and Gross is not an elite tackle. How can I tell? Every tell he lines up opposite an elite DE, that DE blows past him and strips Jake. Carolina cannot fix this, they are simply stuck with a ton of money tied up in a good OT.
  • If Gross and the starting OL unit is good, the backups are below average. Yes, the Jints DL rotation is impossibly deep and talented, but OL injuries are virtually a given in the NFL and right now the Panthers are courting disaster. Geoff Schwartz had a train wreck of a night and he’s supposed to backup Jeff Otah. This bunch must get better.
  • Other than some poor tackling from the starters, I’m not going to get too worked up one way or another over the Panther defense right now. DC Ron Meeks ran the first unit about as plain vanilla as possible. But rookie DE Everette Brown had a motor as advertised, while LBs Dan Connor, James Anderson, and Jeremy Leman were all over the field.
  • Keep an eye on rookie DT Marlon Favorite, who made a play or two. Favorite was a highly-touted DT coming out of HS in 2004 and kinda got lost in the shuffle at LSU. If Favorite can get upfield like Ron Meeks wants, he might see a good number of snaps and all the hand-wringing over Carolina’s DL depth can take a few minutes off.
  • Josh McCown. Didn’t play like a guy with 31 NFL starts. Didn’t play like a guy with 31 NCAA starts. It boils down to the Panthers’ comfort level with Matt Moore. Moore, now in his 3rd NFL season, is either an NFL QB or not. Can they roll with only two QBs on the roster, freeing up a roster spot for rookie FB Tony Fiammetta in the process? Much drama ahead here.

It is a short week for the Panthers, as they turn around and head to Miami on Saturday for another good test from a playoff-caliber team. Playing a 3-4 team will also be a good change up. In fact, the Panthers will face the 3-4 for the rest of the preseason before running into it again when they visit Dallas in the third game of the regular season.