COACHES CORNER SPORTS BLOG

 BY Dick Cox

The 2010-2011 Carolina Panthers enter the season with many unanswered questions. With the departure of longtime stars and starters Jake Delhomme, Julius Peppers, Brad Hoover, Muhsin Muhammad, Damione Lewis, Na’il Diggs just to name a few. To make matters worse linebacker Thomas Davis re injured his ACL during the springs and had to have surgery again and Steve smith broke his arm during the season playing flag football and missed all training camp. One of the biggest question marks coming into the season was having to replace the starting defensive line.  After two preseason games that question seems to be answered in a very positive way. The new defensive line seems to be one of the strengths of the team.  You will not see any big name stars starting on this year’s D line but you will see a lot of good players getting the job done by committee. After two preseason games the defense has been the strong point of the team. The Panthers defense has only given up one touchdown in the first two exhibition games while the scoring the Panthers only pre-season touchdown.

     That brings us to our next question and concern. Where is the Panthers offense? Carolina has not scored an offensive touchdown in the pre-season. Two big offensive weapons Steve Smith and Jonathan Stewart have not participated in either pre-season game and probably will not see very much if any action in the next two games. The Panthers have played a lot of people on both sides of the ball in pre-season to evaluate talent so it is still too early to panic. With Smith being out of the lineup the young receivers need to step and show what they can do. In two games no receiver has done that.  Matt Moore has not played bad as the Panthers starting quarterback but he has not had a lot of help from his supporting cast. In limited play DeAngelo Williams has looked good and he will have another big season when the regular season starts.

     Thus far the “Special Teams” have not been so special! In the first exhibition game at Baltimore the Panthers special teams missed and extra point and botched a field goal attempt. In the Jets pre-season game Carolina fumbled three punts that lead to all nine of the Jets points. The Panthers also had several penalties in the kicking game. Punter Jason Baker has punted the ball well during the pre-season with booming kicks but at times has out kicked his coverage.

     With all of these things said I think the Panthers will be fine and will be a fun football team to watch this season. They are one of the youngest teams in the NFL and are a “very hungry” football team. Yes they will make some mistakes this season but I don’t think the mistakes will be due to lack of effort. Pre-season games don’t count and used to evaluate talent and to teach players how to play the game at the next level. Sure everyone wants to win every time you go one the field but you also have to look at the big picture. As a former coach I wanted to win every scrimmage but regular season games the most important games.  I am going on record to say that I think the Carolina Panthers will have a winning season this year. It should be a very interesting season. If you get the chance to go to one of the games I strongly encourage it. If you cannot attend you can listen to all the action on WORD.