Breaking Down The Carolina Panthers Preseason: Questions Grow Larger

(Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)

This week marked the halfway point of the Carolina Panthers' preseason. While the first two preseasons games don't get "game plans," the third contest will. So, this Saturday's home opener will be the first real look at the Panthers since the team's abysmal playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals in January.  

A quick glance back to this past January shows just how the Panthers arrived at where they are now.

Following the playoff loss to the Cardinals, lots of Panthers fans were irate and many still are. The coaching staff received some heat for allowing the game to go down the way it did. More specifically, fans were upset with quarterback Jake Delhomme for having a record night—that record being throwing interceptions in a home playoff game.

The Panthers faithful were also upset with a defensive scheme that saw their beloved Panthers going up against one of the top wide receivers in the NFL in a single-coverage package facing the Panthers' weakest cornerback.

Many fans and Monday-morning quarterbacks could not figure out why the league's hottest receiver, Larry Fitzgerald, had been allowed to run free that night while not being double-covered. Since Fitzgerald was only covered by one defender, why at least, did the Panthers not use arguably their best cornerback, Chris Gamble, to be that defender?  It made little sense to anyone.  

By the end of the first quarter, most Panther fans in attendance realized the game was over and some jokingly thought the white "growl towels" they were given when they entered the stadium were a bad omen. A note to the Panthers organization: Next time. Please do not hand out the surrender flags before the opening kickoff.

After that brutal night, Panthers fans started to hear rumblings that sounded impossible. One of the team's superstars indicated he wanted out. As if the playoff loss was not hard enough, hearing North Carolina native Julius Peppers talk about parting ways with the team who had drafted him was the straw that broke the camel's back.

After a trying time, Peppers finally agreed to play but only after the franchise tag was placed on him. The only thing was, by the time Peppers agreed to sign his tender offer, the team had used its only viable bargaining chip (their top draft pick) to find a replacement player if Peppers had refused to play.

Not only was next year's first-round draft pick used to try and shore up the defensive end's position, but almost every spare penny left under the salary was used to pay Peppers' healthy one-year franchise tag.

Fast forward to the 2009 preseason. The offseason goings-on seemed overwhelming. However, when it all settled down, there were only a few things Panthers' fans actually knew for sure before training camp started.

One, the Panthers have one of the league's toughest schedules to contend with.

Two, there was little room for any type of real injuries to crop up in the starting lineup. Namely, there was no space for a defensive tackle to even catch a cold.

With that in mind, the Panthers' training camp could not have started off worse. Within thirty minutes into a defensive line warm-up drill, Ma'ake Kemoeatu, the team's most effective defensive tackle and largest run stopper, ruptured his Achilles tendon. He was placed on injured reserve and lost for the season. 

The loss of Kemoeatu stunned the Panthers and their fans. Panthers fans remembered all-to-well when Kemoeatu went down with an injury last season, and just how much the defense suffered because of it.

The team's once strong run-stopping defense was suddenly relegated to working behind a patchwork defensive line. The defense found itself abused when they faced any team with little more that just an average rushing attack. Could it be that way going into the 2009-2010 season?

The Panthers 12-4 record consisted of more than a few games where lesser opponents simply had to be outscored in order for the Panthers to win. This was the first time John Fox's Panthers had ever really been pointed in the "offense first" direction. The defense had always been the cornerstone of the team and the offense was simply asked to go out and try and put together 17-20 points and rely on their defense and special teams to force games to fall their way.

For the first time the Panthers' game plan relied on the offense to go out and try to outscore the teams they faced. Last year's schedule permitted that formula until the Panthers met up with stronger teams.

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