Offensive line, Moore, QBs ring bells in 28-23 win over Buffalo

The  Carolina Panthers offense was clicking….

Even Coach Ron Rivera’s usual even-keeled ‘we liked’ comments should underscore how pleased everyone from new owner David Tepper down should be with  the Carolina Panthers first pre-season game against the Buffalo Bills. The 28-23 final score was a solid team effort resulting from necessary individuals doing their jobs well. Greg Van Roten and Brendan Mahon’s work on the offensive line, Shaq Thompson making a carbon copy of several training camp INTs, and two specific catches by DJ Moore: a slippery 16-yard run after catch (plus a face mask penalty) and going up/boxing out for a 32-yard reception of a Taylor Heinicke heave— put a smile on every Panther fans face.

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While it’s only one pre-season game– and without meaning to throw a jinx, because another injury even with the revelation that Van Roten and Mahon have a handle on things isn’t necessary—this picture of an 11-5 team working on weak links is worth noting. Newton still gets a semi-break on early high throws being ‘because he’s pumped up’, but he’s willing to toss the little stuff to CMC (Christian McCaffrey) earlier, and that’s fine. The backup QBs did fine in their first action, Gilbert’s TD throw to Moses Frazier was a beauty, Curtis Samuel had a 4 catch for 39 yards night, and if we didn’t hear from Damiere Byrd this game, he’s been very visible in practices, so hang in there about ‘Where was Byrd?’ questions.

While the Carolina Panthers defense gave up a late (1:10 left) TD to Josh Allen on a seeing-eye catch- and 338 yards on 25/39 attempts overall—many early question marks going into start of camp on July 26^th have check marks next to them this Friday morning. No Dontari Poe or Peppers Monday night, but David Mayo was around, and what the heck, give an attaboy! to Lorenzo Doss for five tackles.

Having repeatedly stated that a primary quality of Moore’s is how tough getting him on the ground can be, his small leap over a diving tackler, then staying upright after another hit and turning upfield before the foul was an immediate mmm-mmm! moment. Four catches for 75 yards overall makes you a QB’s buddy fast. Toss in Elijah Hood’s 21-yard TD reception from Heinicke as an extra measure of offensive Good. Heinicke said it was ‘funny’ because they’d had the same (defensive) look in practice and he’d passed up what would have been an easy touchdown to Hood, that’s exactly the connection you want to get from guys with training camp reps.

Give Heinicke credit for taking a whack from Bills linebacker Julian Stanford on the throw to Moore, noting “(I)Haven’t gotten hit like that in a while,(but) when you glance up and see your guy caught the ball, it always feels better.”

The Panthers began addressing the offensive line from post-draft and OTAs, so it appears they knew how they’d go about building that part of offensive unit all along (from 5/10/18 blog):

"Over seven rounds and some recent free agent signings, Panthers general manager Marty Hurney did pretty well in selecting personnel to fix trouble spots from last year — defensive secondary, elite receivers, team speed at skill positions. Offensive line and running back got ignored to some degree in the draft and while there aren’t guaranteed replacements for running back Jonathan Stewart or All-Pro left guard Andrew Norwell, coach Ron Rivera expressed confidence that Carolina already had pieces (Taylor Moton, Tyler Larsen, Greg Van Roten, Amini Silatolu, Blaine Clausell) ready to be developed through competition. Center Ryan Kalil will anchor the line in his swan song year."

Yeah, that secondary made all three Buffalo QBs look strong (Peterman 9/10, 119 yds., TD/Int; McCarron 7/10/116 yds; Allen 9/19/116, TD), although watching it, the impression wasn’t about leaky or not up to snuff. We didn’t hear much from Gaulden last night, Donte Jackson continues to be a man in many right places, and as Seymour noted, having a short memory is sort of a requirement for D-backs and secondary.

For offensive line play, a lot of times its Patience.