SB Nation User Blog: NSpicer

Breaking Down Carolina's Running Game

NSpicer — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:07:25 -0000

Breaking Down Carolina's Running Game

ESPN's stats guy did a recent analysis of Carolina's re-energized running game. There's some interesting stuff in it. Enough so, that Pat Yasinskas decided to blog about it yesterday. I hadn't seen anyone else post about it. But here it is...

Panthers Trim Roster to 53

NSpicer — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 22:45:41 -0000

The final roster cutdown is now official. And there's a few interesting developments on it, including putting DTs Corvey Irvin on injured reserve and cutting Marlon Favorite. Jeremy Leman also failed to make the roster. The official list follows...after the cut...

Placed on injured reserve:

DT Corvey Irvin

Released as free agents:

OL Justin Geisinger

S Kevin Kaesviharn

Now hitting the waiver wire:

QB Hunter Cantwell

RB Decori Birmingham

RB Jamall Lee

TE Andrew Davie

WR Larry Beavers

WR Jason Chery

WR Kevin McMahan

WR Marcus Monk

OL Patrick Brown

OL Keith Gray

OL Jonathan Palmer

DT Marlon Favorite

DT George Hypolite

DL Casper Brinkley

LB Jeremy Leman

LB Mortty Ivy

LB Anthony Heygood

LB Kelvin Smith

S Paul Chiara

DB Joe Fields

DB DJ Clark

Panthers Might Be Pursuing DT Alfonso Boone

NSpicer — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 02:36:25 -0000

Panthers Might Be Pursuing DT Alfonso Boone

Jason La Canfora of the NFL Network says that a league source has indicated the Panthers have been in contact with DT Alfonso Boone. He was with the Chicago Bears from 2000 thru 2006, then spent 2 years with the Kansas City Chiefs. He was released on Tuesday.

Alfonso is 33 years old, 6'3", and 305 lbs. with 9 years of experience in the NFL. In 113 games, he has posted 150 tackles, 12.5 sacks, and 13 passes defensed.

According to some, Boone was ill-suited for the Chiefs new 3-4 scheme and became expendable.

Nate Salley Placed on IR

NSpicer — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:13:31 -0000

The Carolina Panthers made their last roster cut before the deadline today by placing Nate Salley on injured reserve. That means he's gone for the season, but they get to keep him around for next year to compete again for a shot at making the roster. Salley tweaked his knee and he sat out multiple practices recently. I suspected he'd be a roster cut even if healthy, but this gets us to 75 players before the Pittsburgh game without having to send anyone home who's still hale and hearty.

Aftermath: Projected Roster After First Round Cuts

NSpicer — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 12:26:07 -0000

I started to post this as a response to an earlier fanpost discussing the projected roster and depth chart for the Panthers. But then, it got so lengthy (surprise!) that I figured I might as well make it a separate post, especially now that the first round of cuts have come through (though we should see one more later today).

I'm not 100% sold on some of the personnel choices I've indicated in my projected roster. Some of these guys could still land on the practice squad instead of the 53-man lineup. Also, needs on special teams could dictate a change here or there. And, once we bring in a veteran DT, they'll have to release somebody. For now, though, I think most of these position battles are over. Barring injury, I suspect the list will stay mostly intact.

So, without further ado...I give you a proposed 53-man roster...after the cut:

Right now, I'm projecting the following 53-man roster, particularly in light of the cuts announced yesterday:

QBs (3): Jake Delhomme, Josh McCown, Matt Moore

I think we keep 3 QBs on the roster. Josh McCown is the probably #2. And Matt Moore is still #3. I think we try and stash Hunter Cantwell on the practice squad.

RBs (3): Deangelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart, Mike Goodson

We keep three guys in the thoroughbred stable of RBs. All three have starting-caliber talent, in my opinion. Deangelo is the veteran starter. Stewart is still there to spell him. And Goodson gets on the field as a wild card in certain formations. Goodson is also our WR5 and KR. I believe Decori Birmingham is still eligible for the practice squad, so we probably try and sign him there one more year for insurance. And if Jamall Lee has an international player exemption, we probably try and keep him there, too, if he's willing to forego playing time in the CFL to stick with an NFL team.

FBs (2): Brad Hoover, Tony Fiammetta

We keep two FBs for the first time in forever. Technically, Nick Goings was our emergency backup FB last year. We also counted on him to contribute in a major way on special teams. Tony Fiammetta now fulfills that role. And he's more than capable of backing up Hoover before eventually supplanting him when Brad retires. Fiammetta could also see some action as another TE, if one of the others gets injured.

WRs (4): Steve Smith, Muhsin Muhammad, Dwayne Jarrett, Kenny Moore

We carried 5 WRs last year with one of them being Mark Jones who primarily served as our KR/PR guy. With Mike Goodson handling KR duties and either Kenny Moore or Captain Munnerlyn available for PR duties, I think we can shake loose a roster spot here and keep just 4 this time. Essentially, Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad start. It's debatable whether Dwayne Jarrett or Kenny Moore get the WR3 slot. I'm thinking Moore based on production, but it could be situational. If they inactivate Jarrett at any point during the season, it won't be a good thing for his career. Meanwhile, if we find ourselves in need of a fifth or sixth WR, we should still have Mike Goodson and even Dante Rosario who could fill in for us.

TEs (3): Jeff King, Gary Barnidge, Dante Rosario

I think we keep all three of these guys. At first, I thought Dante Rosario might become the odd man out, but he impressed in the Ravens game again. He makes another decent fill-in at WR5 in certain formations because of his speed. Of course, Jeff King stays with us at least one more year, unless we re-sign him again in the off-season. Meanwhile, Gary Barnidge may see increased playing time to prepare him to take over for King as the primary starter next season. For now, King gets the starting nod for his superior blocking skills. But, if as I suspect, we release him next year, it becomes all that more important to retain Rosario as Barnidge's future backup.

OLs (9): Jordan Gross, Travelle Wharton, Ryan Kalil, Keydrick Vincent, Jeff Otah, Duke Robinson, Geoff Schwartz, Justin Geisinger, Mackenzy Bernadeau

We kept 9 O-linemen on the roster last year. This mix seems more than decent to me. The starters are the same as last year, obviously. The depth is what matters now and, fortunately, there's a lot of versatility among everyone. Bernadeau would be the second-string center, though Geisinger could fill-in there, too, if needed. Geoff Schwartz will continue as Jeff Otah's backup. Travelle Wharton would kick out to fill-in at LT if Jordan Gross goes down. And that leaves Duke Robinson, Geisinger, and Bernadeau as backup guards where needed.

DLs (8): Julius Peppers, Damione Lewis, Marlon Favorite, Tyler Brayton, Everette Brown, Nick Hayden, Corvey Irvin, Charles Johnson

Julius Peppers, Tyler Brayton, and Damione Lewis are the no-brainers at their respective positions. I believe Marlon Favorite becomes the "favorite" fill-in for Ma'ake Kemoeatu over Nick Hayden for now. But Hayden should stay in the rotation along with Corvey Irvin. Everette Brown and Charles Johnson serve as backup DEs, but on passing downs, we'll clearly see some formations using Peppers and Brown on the edges with Brayton and Johnson in the middle. As soon as we bring in a heavy, veteran, space-eating DT, I suspect Hayden or Irvin might get cut. If we can stash either of them on the practice squad (probably Irvin rather than Hayden), I think we'd probably try and do that.

LBs (7): Jon Beason, Thomas Davis, Na’il Diggs, Dan Connor, Landon Johnson, James Anderson, Jeremy Leman

This grouping is a lot smaller than last year when we carried 9 LBs on the roster. I'm projecting only 7 this year. The first six guys could probably start for most teams. Jeremy Leman makes the squad because of his performance in training camp and the preseason. One of the LB spots from last year goes to keep Tony Fiammetta as an extra FB. Our extra LBs last year helped on special teams more than defense. And I expect Fiammetta will do the same thing, but he'll just be backing up the offense instead. I assigned the other LB spot from last year to the DBs, just because we need the extra secondary help...and one of those DBs could really help us on special teams a bit more than another LB.

DBs (10): Chris Gamble, Richard Marshall, Chris Harris, Charles Godfrey, Sherrod Martin, Dante Wesley, http://www.sbnation.com/nfl

Pat Yasinskas on the Panthers-Ravens Game

NSpicer — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:51:40 -0000

Pat Yasinskas on the Panthers-Ravens Game

Pat Yasinskas of ESPN blogs about the Panthers-Ravens game and the new "hole" in the Panthers defense as a result of the secondary's poor play.

Beason Calls Out Panthers Defense

NSpicer — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:45:02 -0000

Beason Calls Out Panthers Defense

There's an article published on NFL.com citing some comments from Jon Beason about the lack of tackling in the Panthers loss to the Ravens. Some commentary is also provided by Chris Harris and John Fox.

Roster Trim Down #1 - Who Do You Cut?

NSpicer — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 18:14:24 -0000

The first roster trim down from 80 players to 75 has to occur by this Tuesday (9/1). At this point, I think we've all probably picked out a guy here or there that we think the Panthers will cut. Or maybe there's someone who's managed to catch our eye that we're hoping sticks. Regardless, this first round of cuts usually focuses on releasing players the coaching staff expects to not only eliminate from their final roster, but more specifically, guys they no longer need to evaluate any further and which they believe will no longer help them prepare the rest of the team to get ready for the season.

In other words, there are some players the coaches expect NOT to make the final roster, but they choose to keep them around because they need the extra bodies in training camp to help run the second and third units while practicing. They also keep guys they want to further evaluate for possible inclusion on the practice squad. And finally, coaches sometimes keep a few guys around they know won't make the team, but still give them this extra preseason game and training camp experience to further showcase their talents for scouts from other teams in the event they can still pursue their NFL careers elsewhere.

So, given all that, what 5 players do you expect the Panthers to jettison before Tuesday? Here's my take, after the cut:

Here's a partial list of guys who were healthy, but didn't play at all in Saturday's game vs. the Ravens. They also look look expendable due to other players distinguishing themselves at the same position:

WR Marcus Monk

Now, I think we keep Hunter Cantwell into next week to further evaluate him for the practice squad. Same goes for Gerald Cadogan. Both have value, and though it might be difficult to sneak them onto the practice squad, it's worth the attempt even if we can't find room for them on the active roster.

The other guys don't have that luxury. Andrew Davie is playing behind Jeff King, Dante Rosario, and Gary Barnidge. We're already trying to figure out if we'll keep 3 TEs. So forget about a 4th. Davie probably goes unless they just want to keep him around as an extra body in training camp to spell guys during practice.

Meanwhile, WRs Larry Beavers and Marcus Monk are way down the depth chart at their positions. Beavers had a shot as a possible return man. He's a rookie that we could target for the practice squad, too, but it's probably wiser to let him go now, because we're going to be using reps in training camp and this last preseason game to settle on Mike Goodson, Ryne Robinson, Kenny Moore, or Captain Munnerlyn for that role. So best to part ways now. And, if Beavers is still available when we settle our final roster, we can offer him a spot on the practice squad then.

Lastly, among the big guys, we have DT Lorenzo Williams and C Keith Gray who have become expendable. Our duties at the C position are most likely taken up by Ryan Kalil and MacKenzy Bernadeau anyway. And even Jeff King is available to serve as an emergency C if we need him. Whereas, Lorenzo Williams is also at the bottom of the depth chart behind a lot of other "sub-par" DTs right now, whose backup capabilities we keep questioning, much less imagining them as starters. So Williams is likely gone in this first cut. Another DT will possibly follow as soon as we can bring in a veteran replacement via trade or pick up someone waived by another team.

That means, I think one possible grouping of 5 players to cut could include: Larry Beavers, Andrew Davie, Keith Gray, Marcus Monk, and Lorenzo Williams. But that's 4 offensive players and only 1 defensive player. Maybe that makes sense. After all, we're pretty set on offense and we know who we're going to use. But defense is still a big question mark and the coaches might want more time with all of those players before deciding the final roster. But, just because these guys didn't play in last night's game against the Ravens, doesn't mean they'll be the first ones to go. After all, it's entirely possible some players who DID see time against the Ravens performed poorly enough that it'll sway the coaches against keeping them. Here's a couple of players I saw who might fall into that category:

LB Kelvin Smith

LB Landon Johnson

WR Ryne Robinson

Kelvin Smith is the LB who was supposed to have containment on that 48-yard run in the 4th quarter that allowed the Ravens to run out the clock. He got completely lost behind the D-lineman in front of him and was out of position to make a play as the Baltimore RB went right past him and into the secondary down the sideline. He's also playing at a position where we're super-loaded right now. And, if there's any second- or third-string LB the coaches want to further evaluate, I think it'll be Jeremy Leman before Kelvin Smith.

Also, Leman has distinguished himself so much in practice and the preseason games that he may even pose a challenge now to unseating Landon Johnson. Some early pre-game reports had Landon Johnson sitting this game out (because he didn't practice), but I'm fairly certain I saw him in the game. And he whiffed badly while trying to tackle a RB who caught a dump-off pass over the middle. Landon Johnson has also had a lot of time to add value for the Panthers and he's never lived up to the success he had at Cincinnati. It might be worth cutting him in favor of someone like Leman.

Lastly, we come to Ryne Robinson. He's quickly become expendable because of Mike Goodson's ability to handle kickoffs. Goodson seems to have better breakaway speed and he's one of those rare game-breaking types of players. We haven't had that on special teams in awhile now. In addition, Captain Munnerlyn flashed some serious skill at being a PR guy. He also has more speed, but both he and Goodson need to work on ball security. We also used Kenny Moore last night for PR duty. He never had to return any, though, as they both sailed into the endzone. Nevertheless, we've got viable options to takeover Ryne's special teams contribution. In addition, Ryne was already looking at a possible WR4 slot behind Smith, Muhammad, and Jarrett. Goodson and Moore now enter that mix and they're both showing themselves capable in that regard. Given that, the coaches might feel now is the time to release Ryne Robinson so they can focus on coaching the other guys to fulfill all of those roles for us. Plus, if we use Goodson as a WR4 (or WR5 behind Kenny Moore), that may help free up another roster spot to keep an extra FB or TE...something we may very well want to do given the success of Tony Fiammetta, Dante Rosario, and Gary Barnidge. Personally, I think we keep Ryne Robinson at least until the next roster cuts just so we can keep evaluating everyone. But his days may be marked now. And I'll bet he knows it. So, it'll be interesting to see how he reacts against Pittsburgh.

Of course, some of this picture may still change if the Panthers decide they don't need as many big bodies on the O-line or D-line among the backups they're carrying right now. But, I suspect we'll keep a lot of them to help spell the summer heat at Spartanburg and to take some of the load off the guys who WILL make the final roster. We could also make a trade involving some veteran players for a decent DT before opening day. And, if that happens, it'll determine who we need to bring up from behind whoever we package in such a trade. But for now, I think we'll drop some of the players listed above in this first cut. Then, the second one will offer the ultimate ruling on September 5th.

My two-cents,

--Neil

Inside the Numbers: Panthers vs. Ravens

NSpicer — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:33:53 -0000

I thought I'd try and gather some of my thoughts around the numbers and stats coming out of our third preseason game vs. the Ravens. Since we played "most" of our starters...and for "most" of the game...normally, I'd say the results of Game 3 should be more indicative of how we can expect the team to play throughout the upcoming season. But, we had some key guys sit this one out. On offense, both Deangelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart never saw the field. And, on defense, we were missing Jon Beason, Thomas Davis, Charles Godfrey...and of course, Ma'ake Kemoeatu. That latter personnel grouping was pretty important, as defensively, we just didn't have it together. But more on that once we go...inside the numbers...

OFFENSE:

Running Game - We actually did very well despite not having Deangelo or Stewart in the game. Mike Goodson carried 11 times for 52 yards (an average of 4.73 yards per carry). And Decori Birmingham ran 8 times for 27 yards (a 3.38 average) and scored our only TD on a 4th and 1. The offensive line blocked fairly well, but on several occasions Baltimore's defense overpursued, keying off our FB at the point-of-attack. Credit Goodson for cutting back to the weak side of the defensive line and using his speed to get positive yards. At least on one occasion, he seemed frustrated by that. I think Jake or someone was telling him to follow his blockers, but Goodson was trying to indicate that there were too many Ravens defenders already there. He also had a couple of good runs to the edge, again using his speed to turn the corner and get up field. Birmingham got most of his yards inside, including the TD run off-tackle to Otah's side. Generally speaking, our run game looks intact even against a really good defense and even without our two starting RBs. That's a positive to take out of the game regardless of the outcome.

Passing Game - We just did reasonably well with our aerial attack. Jake Delhomme looked better (compared to late last year) and had good zip on the ball, going 10 of 16 for 180 yards. But, in all honesty, he looked very "blah" for the entire first half. He picked up most of his yardage in the 3rd quarter, presumably after making some adjustments and making some long passes (see Receivers, below). McCown went 2 of 4 for 40 yards. No TD passes or INTs for either QB. And we didn't see Moore or Cantwell, but our last preseason game against Pittsburgh should feature all of the backups to determine who makes the roster. Also, despite our QBs being sacked twice by the Ravens, none of them fumbled (including Jake).

Receivers - We made some big catches in the passing game. Long receptions to Muhsin Muhammad (38-yarder), Jeff King (35-yarder), Steve Smith (26-yarder), and Dante Rosario (25-yarder) helped. Smith took quite a shot on his catch and almost had another one, laying full-out along the sideline. Jarrett also pulled in a tough ball (10-yarder) and hung onto it, despite a big hit, but that's all we saw of him other than a holding penalty that called on him. And, another bright spot -- picking up where he left off, Kenny Moore showed really well again playing with the 1's, catching 3 balls for 40 yards, including one that went for 19 yards. More importantly, he showed consistency and an ability to get open against a premier defense in the Ravens secondary. I think the other good thing we saw from the Panthers was the ability to get the ball downfield to our TEs. Stretching the middle of the field can only help us. We also did well on screen passes to Mike Goodson, who turned 3 catches into 26 yards, and had another big one that got called back for a penalty.

But perhaps more eye-popping was the sideline catch Goodson made that the refs originally ruled out-of-bounds. McCown was flushed from the pocket and looked like he was going to scramble to try and pick up a first down...but he had too far to go, so he pulled it back and threw for Goodson up field. Unfortunately, Goodson thought he was going to run and was locked up with his man to block for McCown. Then, they disengaged and Goodson saw the ball coming his way. He literally had to lay out for it, catching it on his fingertips and pulling it in, barely toe-tapping to keep his feet in bounds. The refs threw a flag, originally for illegal contact, I believe, because Goodson was blocking his man downfield before the ball was thrown. They also ruled the pass was incomplete, i.e., that Goodson didn't keep his feet in-bounds. Fox challenged because the Ravens were going to decline the penalty and put the Panthers in 4th down instead of replaying 3rd down after the penalty was enforced. We won the challenge that Goodson caught the ball (wow!), but it was also determined he was knocked out of bounds, came back in and re-established himself with two feet in-bounds before the reception. So, by catching the ball it was illegal touching, and that was a penalty on the Panthers. Bottom line: the Ravens couldn't put us in 4th down and we got to do 3rd down over. Silver lining: Goodson is a player, not just with his speed, but also his pass-catching ability.

Penalties - We had a lot of them. Too many, in fact. All in all, we had 9 penalties for 70 yards, several of which killed our offensive drives or kept them alive for the Ravens. And, since we're supposed to be in "top form" for our 3rd preseason game, it's disappointing to see something like that. A few of them came across kind of ticky-tacky, particularly on defense. But most of them were accurate. We stopped ourselves. It wasn't us against the referees.

Third Down Conversions - We went 0-for-7 on third down opportunities. A whole lot of three-and-outs for us, basically. Instant drive-killers. When we did move the ball, we sustained drives mostly because of our long pass plays or a nifty run from Goodson that kept us out of third down. But, everytime the defense put us in a third down situation, we couldn't convert...at all. That's a problem. And we've seen it in previous seasons before. I don't know why that keeps happening. Is it a lack of sound playcalling on third down? Do we not have plays in the playbook we can reliably use? And if we do, are the players simply incapable of properly executing such plays? I don't know. But it's a prime area of concern. Comparably, the Ravens went 8-for-13 (61%) on third down conversions and they only punted to us twice. That means our defense couldn't get them off the field. And our offense couldn't stay on the field. Time of possession was very lopsided in the first half. And, only after we sustained some drives late in the 3rd and 4th quarters did we start to even it out. Still, the Ravens had the ball for 35:09 and we only had it 24:51...about a 3-2 ratio, basically. For a team that wants to pride itself on running the ball and controlling the clock, it was obviously lacking in this game.

DEFENSE:

Run Defense - With the exception of the big 48-yard run given up by the scrubs in the 4th quarter that allowed Baltimore to run out the clock, we did really well in defending the run against a good team. The DTs didn't get pushed around nearly as much as I feared they would. And the Ravens didn't just try to run around the edges. They specifically targeted the center of our D-line on multiple plays and got stood up. Our LBs did a particularly good job. I'll single out Dan Connor, James Anderson, and Jeremy Leman, specifically. Anderson led the team in tackles. And Connor was his usual "tackling machine" self. If you go inside the numbers, the Ravens ran 28 times for 118 yards (an average of 4.2 yards per carry). But, as I said, I think that's a little misleading because of that one 48-yard rumble at the end of the game against guys who probably aren't going to be on our team come opening day. If you take out that play, we actually held the Ravens -- a very good running team -- to just 2.6 yards per carry. And that's pretty decent, considering we were getting much more in our run game.

Pass Rush - We had only 1 sack, courtesy of Tyler Brayton against Joe Flacco...but I think it's worth noting that Peppers caused Flacco to delay getting rid of the ball by leaping and obstructing the passing lane he wanted to use. When Flacco pulled the ball down, Brayton came crashing into him from behind. Peppers also chased Flacco on another play out of bounds, coming all the way from the far side of the field. Everette Brown applied pressure, too, against Troy Smith when he got into the game. And all of that pressure came without too many blitzes involving the LBs or DBs...though Chris Harris did bring some heat on one play in the 4th quarter. We didn't see much of a push by the DTs in the game, but I didn't really expect them to do much in that regard. On passing downs, we did see an interesting package using Peppers and Brown on the edges with Tyler Brayton and Charles Johnson in the middle. I suspect we may see that more often throughout the year. They also lined up Julius on the left side more than I thought they would, basically flipping him and Brayton from their DE positions last year. I wonder if they'll continue that or just move them around depending on our opponent?

Pass Defense (Secondary) - We outright sucked in this area. Joe Flacco picked us apart, going 23 of 28 for 247 yards and 1 TD. Many of them were dink-and-dunk passes to the TE and RBs. Our LBs played them very poorly, and I recall one play where Landon Johnson very specifically fell right on his butt trying to come up and make a tackle, decleating himself and totally whiffing on an opportunity to make the tackle. Instead, the RB caught the ball, sidestepped, and went straight up the field for extra yards. Other big plays resulted from our LBs getting swept up in the wash, particularly on screen plays or passes into the flat. And, of course, the TD play to the Raven's TE occured because he simply beat our LB and made a tough catch.

But the lack of playmaking in our secondary wasn't just attributable to our LBs. The DBs got into the act as well, especially from the CB position. Chris Gamble and Richard Marshall gave WAY too much cushion to the Ravens receivers on the outside. And Gamble got beat particularly badly on a long pass play to Kelly Washington that could have gone for a TD if the receiver hadn't stepped out of bounds. He also missed tackles and just generally played very poorly. He had a lot of tackles, but that's because they picked on him...a LOT. Marshall did a little better, but he too gave too much cushion. They just didn't abuse him as much as Gamble throughout the game. Overall, we had really poor tackling, too. That's something we definitely need work on, as it's been on display in the earlier preseason games, too. We have guys flying to the ball. They just don't wrap up. One bright spot among the DBs is that Dante Wesley picked off Troy Smith (and paid the price taking a wicked hit afterward) to kill a Ravens' drive that was about to get into scoring range again. But even Troy Smith showed well against our secondary, going 7 of 10 for 57 yards. Both Ravens QBs enjoyed a really high completion pecentage...primarily because they threw a lot of passes quickly (thereby negating any pass rush) and for short yardage where their receivers could pick up plenty of YAC because of our poor tackling. We also got burned deep a few times. So this was our most disappointing element of the game.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Kickoffs - This just in...Rhys Lloyd has a booming leg on kickoffs. He did so 4 times and forced 3 touchbacks. One of them, he angled from the middle of the field deep to the far right side of the endzone, maximizing the distance it had to travel because of the geometry involved. This helped us out by making the Ravens go the full distance on their drives. Unfortunately, our defense never really capitalized on it. But, imagine how much worse things might be if we had short kickoffs?

For instance, on the one kickoff that Lloyd didn't place in the endzone, the Ravens' KR moved upfield past the 30-yard line before ANY of our coverage guys even got close to him. He didn't actually get contact until the 35 and thankfully, we brought him down short of the 40. Still, it's clear that if Lloyd doesn't force a touchback, we're in trouble. Also, on our first kickoff (after the FG in the 1st quarter), Sherrod Martin was gunning along the right side of the field and got taken about 5 yards deep out of bounds and knocked on his butt at about midfield when he came back inside. Not very good technique being employed there...except by the Raven's special teamers, of course. I also heard after the game that Martin tweaked his knee a little. He was the only official "injury" and it didn't appear too serious. On the other side of the field, I watched Captain Munnerlyn do well on special teams. He got downfield much easier, with some assistance from Dante Rosario attracting attention by running fast alongside him. And Munnerlyn got in on some tackles because of it. The Captain also did pretty good tackling from the CB position later in the game, too.

On our kickoff returns, Mike Goodson handled ALL of them, which I found surprising because I thought they'd give Ryne Robinson some work on that, too. But we didn't see Ryne at all on special teams. He got in there for some pass plays late in the 4th quarter, but produced nothing. I don't think that looks well for him making the roster given that Kenny Moore continues to play well...Jarrett caught a tough ball...and Goodson is taking all of the kickoffs right now. As for Goodson himself, he handled 4 kickoffs and averaged 19 yards a return, with his longest going 27 yards. In general, our starting field position was pretty decent. But, Goodson did handle the first kickoff, pretty poorly...not so much in how he caught it...as his decision-making in running it up field. He started down the middle, then spent a lot more time running laterally and eventually got knocked out of bounds around the 15 yard line. Not a good start. But he did very well after that.

Punting - Jason Baker did a good job. He forced one fair catch and generally put the ball up really high to give his coverage time to get down field. But the coverage unit gave up some yards. On 2 of our punts, they picked up 27 yards against us, but the other 2 went for nothing (including the fair catch). Still, our coverage guys just aren't getting it done yet. Crossman needs to keep working them and settle on the right personnel mix. Also, J.J. Jansen continues to worry a bit. At least one of his snaps caused Baker to adjust to it. If that happens in the regular season, it could haunt us big-time.

Lastly, and perhaps most surprising to me, we didn't see Ryne Robinson go back to catch punts at all in this game. Baltimore punted twice and both times they fell into the endzone for touchbacks. But, we put Kenny Moore back there for them, rather than Ryne. What does that mean? Maybe they were giving Kenny his opportunities this week and we'll see Ryne handle them next week? Or maybe this is an indication Ryne will be cut in favor of keeping Kenny Moore and Mike Goodson to handle KR/PR and WR3/WR4/WR5 duties?

Field Goals and PATs - Same old John Kasay. He had one blocked, but it was called back because the Ravens were offsides (hence, they got there with plenty of time to block it). Other than that, he hit 2 FGs and a PAT. His longest FG went 50 yards. So yeah, John's still got the juice and accuracy.

Turnovers - As I mentioned before, we had a pick with Wesley's INT of Troy Smith. I think the notable thing for us is that we didn't have any, despite playing such a good defense in the Ravens. Admittedly, Jake did throw a ball to Steve Smith that Ed Reed tried to make a play on. He couldn't pull it in and Steve broke it up trying to wrap Reed up anyway. Our RBs (including Goodson) held on well. And despite suffering two sacks, none of our QBs fumbled. They also did well in avoiding the pass-rush or blitzes from the Ravens. Quick outs, slants, and some nifty footwork to move around in the pocket helped both Jake and McCown.

Okay, that's pretty much all I've got on analyzing the numbers for the Panthers-Ravens game. My general impression is that this defense still has a long way to go...and I'm really concerned. I came into this game worried about the run defense and the DT situation. But I left it with additional concerns about the secondary play. The offense is also struggling on 3rd downs. And we've got way too many penalties. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of time left for the starters to work on these things. I imagine practices are going to get a lot more intense for them before the season opener. And maybe they can get more repetitions in once the roster starts getting trimmed down.

My dollar's worth this time,

--Neil

Steve Smith Injured in Practice

NSpicer — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:14:30 -0000

Steve Smith Injured in Practice

NFL.com is reporting Steve Smith suffered an injury to his arm in practice today.