--The Panthers come out of the preseason 3-1 and, more importantly, injury free. Anything is possible, but it looks like Jeff Lewis easily beat rookie Chris Weinke for the starting quarterback job. Lewis had a strong showing, completing 68% of his passes for 536 yards and four touchdowns.
The Panthers were also actively shopping in free agency for a left guard. They were eventually able to find one. Jeff Blackshear signed a one-year contract for 900K after the third week of preseason and is expected to start Week One.
I have tried countless programs and ways of trying to mod the Texans out of the first year until the expansion happens next season. Alas, no avail. So we are going to have to use our imaginations on a few things.
1) Realignment has already happened, but the AFC South only has 3 teams this year.
2) Team records and scores that I post will not line up until the end of the season, because anyone who plays the Texans I will not display it.
3) I am using a custom schedule for 2001 to emulate most of the teams the Panthers played that year, but they are not exact.
--Eagles Defensive Coordinator Jim Johnson has his defense ready for the season. The Panthers still have a lot of work to do.
Philadelphia forced three turnovers and garnered ten sacks in a 47-0 blowout of the Panthers Sunday afternoon. Cornerback Troy Vincent recorded two interceptions from quarterback Jeff Lewis while Ndukwe Kalu tallied four sacks and a forced fumble that was returned for a score by defensive tackle Corey Simon. Kalu was making tackle Chris Terry look like a revolving door, but left the game due to injury.
Jeff Lewis was under distress all game. With Philadelphia stopping Biakabutuka (51 yards), Lewis was forced to throw more than he wanted to. Lewis completed 6/19 passes for a mere 95 yards. He was replaced near the end of the fourth quarter for Chris Weinke. Weinke went 5/9 for 37 yards. The one time the Panthers were in scoring position, kicker John Kasay missed his field goal attempt.
Eagles runningback Duce Staley gashed the Panthers defense, tallying 189 yards on 22 carries and a touchdown of 48 yards. Spinning off and busting tackles, Staley bruised up the Panthers all game long.
Quarterback Donovan McNabb also felt little resistance, completing 21/28 for 246 yards and three touchdowns. McNabb didn't mind spreading the wealh as he hooked up with three different receivers for scores. His favorite target of the afternoon was rookie wide receiver Freddie Mitchell who went over 100 yards receiving and scored his first career touchdown before also leaving the game with injury.
The only high point of the day for the Panthers was Dan Morgan who sacked Donovan McNabb to record the first sack of his career.
Next week, the Panthers will travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons.
BLOCKING PANCAKES SACKS ALLOWED Tra Thomas 14 0 Jon Runyan 9 0 Doug Brzezinski 6 0 Jermane Mayberry 6 0 Bubba Miller 3 0 Stanley Pritchett 3 1 Todd Pinkston 1 0 Freddie Mitchell 1 0 Na Brown 1 0 Chad Lewis 1 0
SCORING SUMMARY 1st Quarter PHI TD: D. Staley 48 yard run (XP Good)-(6:52) PHI TD: F. Mitchell 7 yard pass from D. McNabb (XP Good)-(0:17) 2nd Quarter PHI TD: C. Simon 21 yard fumble return (XP Good)-(11:53) PHI FG: D. Akers 21 yards-(2:06) PHI FG: D. Akers 34 yards-(0:11) 3rd Quarter PHI FG: D. Akers 26 yards-(8:17) PHI TD: T. Pinkston 13 yard pass from D. McNabb (XP Good)-(2:46) 4th Quarter PHI TD: C. Lewis 11 yard pass from D. McNabb (XP Good)-(7:12) PHI FG: D. Akers 36 yards-(1:20)
INJURIES PHI DE Ndukwe Kalu- Strained Back (3 Weeks) PHI WR Freddie Mitchell- Broken Tailbone (4 Weeks)
--Both the Falcons and the Panthers will look to get their first win of the year this Sunday when the two clash in the Georgia Dome.
After their embarrassing loss to the Philadelphia Eagles last week, the arrow can only point up for this team. Linebacker Dan Morgan is looking like a first round rookie should and, though constantly harassed, quarterback Jeff Lewis did drop a few passes into some buckets.
The Falcons are coming off of an overtime loss to the Miami Dolphins. Trent Dilfer, who the Falcons brought in to upgrade the quarterback position, looked average week one completing 16/28 passes for 102 yards. Halfback Jamaal Anderson will look to have another big game after rushing for over 100 yards against the Phins. If the Panthers haven't learned from their mistakes against the Eagles, expect Anderson to have a field day.
Offense shows up too late; Panthers fall to Falcons
--Another game the defense was gashed. After making runningback Jamaal Anderson look like Walter Payton and making Trent Dilfer look like Montana, the Panthers fell to the Falcons 47-30.
In a game where the Panthers defense couldn't get off the field, the Panthers offense couldn't get into the endzone. After settling for three field goals in the first half, quarterback Jeff Lewis was pulled again for rookie Chris Weinke. Weinke brought the Panthers back from a 19-9 deficit to only be down 26-23 heading into the fourth quarter. The offense finally gave out however, only mustering a touchdown while the defense gave up 21 points.
Trent Dilfer threw for over 300 yards and four touchdowns, but was intercepted three times by the Panthers. However, the Panthers couldn't get any offense mustering until it was too late.
Though not having the numbers like Duce Staley did last week, runningback Jamaal Anderson made the Panthers pay, busting through tackles to a tune of 130 yards and two touchdowns.
Panthers cornerback Rashard Anderson was torched again this week by receiver Shawn Jefferson, who amassed 155 yards and two touchdowns.
Besides the turnovers, the Panthers defense couldn't get themselves off of the field. Atlanta only punted once in this game, a pooch punt by the kicker Jake Arians.
After Weinke came in, the offense finally started moving. Despite a non-existent running game, Weinke made the most of his opportunity throwing for 163 yards and two touchdowns.
Next week, the Panthers will travel to Dallas to take on the Cowboys (1-1) on Monday Night Football.
BLOCKING PANCAKES SACKS ALLOWED Jeff Blackshear 1 0 Kevin Donnalley 1 0 Muhsin Muhammad 1 0 Todd Steussie 1 0 Chris Terry 1 1 Tim Biakabutuka 0 1
SCORING SUMMARY 1st Quarter CAR FG: J. Kasay 25 yards-(5:01) CAR FG: J. Kasay 38 yards-(3:35) 2nd Quarter ATL TD: A. Crumpler 1 yard pass from T. Dilfer (XP Good)-(9:10) ATL TD: S. Jefferson 79 yard pass from T. Dilfer (XP Missed)-(6:17) ATL FG: J. Arians 42 yards-(1:53) CAR FG: J. Kasay 50 yards-(1:05) ATL FG: J. Arians 53 yards-(0:05) 3rd Quarter ATL TD: T. Mathis 14 yard pass from T. Dilfer (XP Good)-(11:45) CAR TD: W. Walls 2 yard pass from C. Weinke (XP Good)-(6:30) CAR TD: T. Biakabutuka 1 yard run (XP Good)-(4:00) 4th Quarter ATL TD: J. Anderson 1 yard run (XP Good)-(11:59) ATL TD: S. Jefferson 2 yard pass from T. Dilfer (XP Good)-(2:19) CAR TD: I. Byrd 4 yard pass from Chris Weinke (XP Good)-(1:12) ATL TD: J. Anderson 7 yard run (XP Good)-(1:03)
INJURIES None
Sorry for lack of audio in the fourth quarter. Something went wrong with it and it couldn't be repaired.