So far so good. The Carolina Panthers opened the 2008 preseason, Saturday, at Bank of America Stadium with an overtime win agiainst the Peyton Manningless Indianapolis Colts. I know it’s only a preseason game, and the starters only played a quarter or so, but the Panther’s couldn’t have started off the NFL season better.
First, looking at the starters, I would have to say that the defensive line gets the game ball. Even though it was Jeff Sorgi undercenter and not Peyton Manning, the Panthers defensive line and linebackers were able to effectively put pressure on Sorgi and force some errors, coming in a fumble and an interception (Julius Peppers was the cause of both turnovers). By sacking Sorgi in the first series, Julius Peppers showed that he is carrying over all of the progress he made during the offseason and training camp, and should be in line for a great season.
What’s even more exciting is that it wasn’t just Peppers applying the pressure, everybody on the line was doing a great job of collapsing the pocket, which again shows the Panthers are rebounding nicely from last season’s 23 sack showing. The secondary didn’t look quite as sharp, but with Lucas and Gamble out, that’s no suprise. You can say injuries were a factor during the game, but when you look at the Panther’s defensive line and the Colts offensive line, both teams had most of their starters, with the exception of Gary Gibson filling in at DT for the Panthers, and the fact that the defensive line was able to push the very good Colts offensive line around is a great sign.
On the other side fo the ball, the offense looked equally as good. The strong running game the John Fox wanted to get back to this season was glaring, with DeAngelo Williams rushing for 55 yards and two touchdowns in a little over a quarter of play. Some of the credit has to go to the Panther’s new offensive line, which was opening massive holes on both sides for Williams to run through.
With Jake Delhomme only playing a series, Matt Moore was able to get some reps in with the starters, and closed out the backup job against Brett Basanez in the process. Moore had a couple of nice throws to Moose and Smith, and showed that he hasn’t lost the same pocket presence he had last season.
Looking at the receivers, Dwayne Jarrett and Jason Carter performed admirably, both making some nice catches, Jarrett with a 22 yard grab (and I must note that this was during the two minute drill and the Colts were playing softer zone D) and Carter with a 20 yard grab. I expect more from them in the coming preseason games as they battle for that number four receiving spot.
Running back DeCori Birmingham also had a nice game, rushing 17 times for 70 yards, and picking up a number of third down conversions as well. Birmingham’s sucess, like DeAngleo Williams’ was in part do to a very good performance by the Panthers reserve offensive linemen, who did a great job of opening up some holes for the running backs.
All in all it was a pretty good start to the season, but the Panthers will face a tougher test this Thursday against the Philadelphia Eagles, who are a bit more healthy than the Colts were.
