Let’s get it out of the way. The Panthers did not have a good practice today in Nashville. Between drops, bobbled passes that turned into interceptions, missed blocks, and coverage breakdowns, the amount of miscues on the Carolina side of the ball would alarming if it were a continuing trend. The good news is that not only is it an aberration, almost everyone found it unacceptable. Rookie running back Christian McCaffrey said after practice that the team has a standard “and it’s higher than that.” Coach Ron Rivera was more explicit. “Today there were some things that were terrible that we looked at, that we’re going to make sure we work on and get corrected, because we can’t have that. If we expect to win football games, we can’t do the things that we did today.” It wasn’t complete doom and gloom, as there were some highlights, and it must be stated that some key components on both sides of the ball were given the day off for rest. Julius Peppers, Charles Johnson, Thomas Davis and Mike Adams were out for the defense; Jonathan Stewart and Ryan Kalil were watching from the the sidelines on offense. While the play was bad today, there needs to be tape that the players can learn from, and the Panthers certainly will have some tape to watch tomorrow. As always, here were the storylines we noticed from the Panthers final joint practice with the Titans here in Nashville:

Cam Update

Newton again progressed forward in his rehabilitation from shoulder surgery, throwing in individual drills as well as seven-on-sevens. He did not compete in team drills against the Titans defense, although that was somewhat to be expected as it has appeared for the last week that the team was heading down the road where the quarterback is rested again on Saturday in Nashville. Perhaps it was a combination of the poor play from the rest of the offense and the lack of usual trash talk competitor Thomas Davis which kept Newton fairly quiet, at least compared to his normal level of chattiness throughout practice. He had some bad misses during both seven-on-sevens and individual drills, struggling with his accuracy throughout his short day.

McCaffrey Update


While he had another “break the internet” video in one-on-one drills, the rookie struggled the rest of the day, finding little to no room to run on both inside and outside runs. McCaffrey received a fair amount of reps today with Jonathan Stewart getting the day off, and he was unable to get a rhythm going in the run game. While McCaffrey said that he would go home, watch the tape, and learn from his mistakes, he actually performed admirably in pass blocking during individual drills as well as the team portions. Obviously, that will be an important role for him in the regular season, so it is good to see him getting used to the speed and power of the NFL.

Pass Catchers’ Bad Day

Brenton Bersin

It was a bad day overall for the offense, but the pass catchers were particularly poor, with tight ends Chris Manhertz and Ed Dickson dropping multiple catchable balls and wide receiver Brenton Bersin having a bobbled pass bounce directly into the hands of Titans linebacker Wesley Woodyard, who promptly took the interception back for a touchdown. Even when good plays were made, they were immediately followed by mistakes. Kaelin Clay, who is fighting with Bersin for a sixth wide receiver spot, had a spectacular catch 40 yards down the field and spiked the ball in celebration, which drew a flag from the official. “You don’t do that kind of bullshit. You really don’t,” Rivera said. “It makes no sense, because now you’re in a situation where you got to move the ball 40, and now you move it back 15 yards.” Even new fan favorite Damiere Byrd had multiple drops on the day, including during one from Newton during seven-on-sevens.

Secondary Depth

With Mike Adams out, the Panthers moved Colin Jones into the starting safety spot; Jones is obviously the Panthers choice for both strong and free safety as he spelled Kurt Coleman yesterday. When the second team defense was on the field, Colin Jones and Dezmen Southward were at safety with Zack Sanchez and Teddy Williams on the outside. While the Panthers have experimented with both Cole Luke and Captain Munnerlyn on the outside, both are much better suited for the nickel cornerback role. The Titans seemed to move the ball at ease, with tight end Delanie Walker in particular appearing to be wide open whenever he was targeted. While this almost certainly has to do with the absence of Davis and Adams, the play of the backup secondary may be an issue as the Panthers move into the regular season. Don’t be surprised if the Panthers make a free agent signing before September 10th in San Francisco.

Armah’s Big Play

Alex Armah

The most spirited plays of the day were on the middle of the three practice fields involving the special teams gunners, in which the gunner would line up against two defenders and try to get past them. A simple drill, half the time the gunners would win by either splitting the double team or shedding the block to sprint down the field, and the other half would end with the gunner on his back. In the final drill, and most likely the play of the day, rookie fullback Alex Armah absolutely blew up the defender trying to block him, resulting in this celebration, heard across all three fields:

Fun.

Be sure to follow us on twitter at @RRiotReport for constant updates as they happen, including the fantastic food and music we’ll be enjoying here in Music City.

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Josh Klein
Editor-In-Chief at The Riot Report
Josh Klein is Editor-In-Chief of The Riot Report. His favorite Panther of all time is Chad Cota and he once AIM chatted with Kevin Greene. Follow Josh on Twitter @joshkleinrules.