Panthers Defense Looked Alive Against Colts; Still Waiting to See Delhomme

There are many questions entering the 2008 Carolina Panthers season. The Panthers first preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts gave some answers.

The main question is how QB Jake Delhomme looks after Tommy John surgery. Well, we don't know. Delhomme played just two series ... which is commonplace for a quarterback this early in the preseason. However, both series began off Colts turnovers deep in their own end.

Delhomme threw just one pass -- a fade route to Muhsin Muhammad that fell incomplete. Other than that, he turned around and handed the ball off the DeAngelo Williams five times ... with two of them ending in touchdowns. And that was all for Jake.

Maybe we can get a better look against Philadelphia this week.

We got a great look at the Carolina defense that set up those two early TD drives.

On the game's first drive, Julius Peppers blew by Colts rookie Tony Ugoh to sack Jim Sorgi and force a fumble. On the first play of the second drive, Peppers forced Sorgi to hurry up a pass which was deflected and intercepted.

Peppers has moved to the right side of the defensive line ... which means he will come at the quarterback's blind side. This comes in his contract year and after a very sub-par season. Obviously, he has taken to his new role rather well.

The two turnovers allowed Williams to explode against a star-depraved Indianapolis defense. Despite who wasn't on the field, the Panthers offensive line looked to be physical and Williams looked aggressive which is John Fox football.

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

8-11-2008 @ 7:56AM

mark said...

Dream all you want about their defense but considering the Colts didn't even have 16 of their best players at the game to rotate in the mix, most notably Sanders and Freeney, yeah their defense looked pretty good.

8-11-2008 @ 1:27PM

Harrison said...

Hey mark, since when do Bob Sanders and Dwight Freeney play offense? How could their absence make the Panthers "D" look good? Hate all you want, but the Panthers won the game and statistically came closer to being in the Playoffs this year. The exhibition season (aka preseason) may seem pointless, but the fact is that only a couple of teams in NFL history have lost every preseason game and still made the playoffs. By winning against the Colts, the Panthers are out of that hole. Also, Adam Seward looked like a beast!

8-11-2008 @ 5:16PM

Hey Harrison

Read the title of the article it's about the D, say what you want if Sanders alone was back in for their D they would never had gotten the 14 from the two turnovers let alone with Freeney in their QB would have been getting up off his behind more than he was passing. D wins games.

8-12-2008 @ 4:30PM

The article was about the PANTHERS' defense looking good, not about the Colts lack thereof. In fact, the Colts are hardly metioned at all. Here's hoping the Black Cats put a hurting on Philadelphia Thursday night!