Game Recap: Eagles 24, Panthers 13
August 15, 2008
In the Panther’s second preseason game, the weather, rather than any individual player, was the defining factor in Thursday’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles. The starters were able to play a few series, in what was relatively light rain, but lighting in the area caused a lengthy one our delay, and was followed by heavy rain. So even though the weather wasn’t great and the players performance was affected, let’s take a look at some of the positives and negatives from the game.
First off, the abscence of Steve Smtih, D. J. Hackett, and Dwayne Jarrett was felt on the very first Panther drive. Delhomme had some fair amount of time in the pocket, which was a positive, but it was clear when he was looking down field that he had no one to throw to, causing the offense to go three and out on the Panther’s first two drives. After the rain delay, Delhomme and the offense were able to finally get back on the field and put a pretty decent drive together, taking the Panthers all the way down to the Eagles’ red zone. This was a promising drive because it not only showed that DeAnglo Williams’ success continued from the previous game, picking up some nice first downs, but it also showed that Delhomme’s arm is doing fine, nearly connecting on a ten yard touchdown pass to Muhsin Muhammad that was fiercely broken up just as Moose came to the ground.
The rest of the night for both offenses was pretty muddled, neither team able to drive the ball very well, mainly due to the drenching rain. There were a number of passes on both sides that were either dropped or simply not thrown well because the ball was so wet, then again the Eagles definitely had some drops that should have been catches.
Moving on to the defense, the front four for Carolina really didn’t have a great game. For the first part of the game, the Eagles were running some short inside routes and Donovan McNabb was getting rid of the ball quickly so teh defense didn’t have much time to pressure, but later on there were a number of plays in which McNabb dropped back and had all the time in the world, only getting pressured a few times. The secondary played pretty well considering they were lacking three quarters of their starters, though Ricardo Colclough had a few bad plays.
It was a good day for special teams, scoring the only touchdown for the Panthers on a Richard Marshal interception of a trick play by the Eagles on a field goal attempt. Rhys Lloyd had another good game on special teams, showing that the Panthers may be in line for a much better performance on special teams this season because of the number of touchbacks Lloyd can give them. John Kasay looked as solid as ever, going two for two, the longest a 49 yarder.
Moving on to the backups, Matt Moore didn’t have a great game, but he showed flashes of greatness on a couple of good throws, as well as improvising nicely on a botched snap, picking up the football and tossing it to DeCori Birmingham for a first down. Speaking of Birmingham, even though he only rushed once for five yards, I think he’s played better than free agent pickup LaBrandon Toefield who has had two fumbles in as many games. Toefield may have more yards, but you can’t excuse the fumbles.
The Panthers number one overall pick, Jonathan Stewart saw some action as well, but didn’t have a great outing, only rushing for three yards on four carries, but then again, he’s running behind the backup offensive line.
Gary Gibson also had a good game, not recording any sacks, but putting some pressure on Kevin Colb a few times. With the way Gibson has played in these first two preseason game, I think he could be seeing some more action at DT during the regular season, maybe eving starting.
The Panthers will now have nine days off until their next preseason game against the Washington Redskins, which should give them plenty of time to fix the issues from their first two games, as well as get their starters healthy.
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Written by Dylan Forrester · Filed Under Featured, Game Recap, Offseason
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