We got our first look at the first team offense during the Carolina Panthers’ second preseason game against the Bills, and it wasn’t pretty. Fortunately there are two more opportunities to work out the kinks should the coaching staff choose to utilize them. The first is against the Jacksonville Jaguars, who are coming off a preseason win over another NFC South team in the New Orleans Saints. The Saints didn’t play any of their key starters, and the Jaguars defense suffocated the players that did play. After a one play touchdown drive following a long kickoff return, the Saints offense went 3-and-out, 3-and-out, one-play fumble before a 15 play drive finally earned them a field goal.
The Panthers will obviously be hoping for more success against a Jaguars defense that will probably be playing a little bit closer to full speed for their penultimate preseason contest. Here are a few things to be watching for this Friday night:
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Can the first team offense find some rhythm? Bryce Young and the boys got three drives last week. All of them went for three plays and a punt and totaled a whopping 12 yards. It’s still just preseason, so we don’t want to overreact, but it’s fair to be slightly unsettled to see the offense struggle with things that were possible concerns before the season started. The offensive line didn’t get any push in the run game and Bryce Young didn’t make any effort to push the ball down the field or even complete a ball to a receiver in the passing game. Even if the results aren’t fully there on Friday, it’d be nice to see some processes that could grow into good results as the regular season gets started rather than a bunch of nothing. Like, just one first down would be nice.
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Can Jonathon Brooks get rolling? Brooks didn’t get much in the way of space to operate, so it’s hard to judge his preseason debut. Hopefully the offensive line can open some gaps for him so we can really see how his explosiveness is looking coming off two torn ACLs.
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Can Ja’seem Reed continue to make his case for a roster spot (if he plays). The wide receiver room looked crowded before Reed started showing up, and now he’s making more and more of a case to be one of the players to make the final 53. He’s largely playing with reserves, but he keeps popping up as a play maker when he’s on the field. He caught all three of his targets last weekend, including his second touchdown of the preseason. I’m interested to see if he gets any reps earlier in the game with more starters on the field and if he’s still able to find a way to earn targets. This is all with the caveat that he missed practice earlier this week and his status is unknown for Friday.
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Let’s see some pop. The Panthers got a couple of explosive gains in the first preseason game, but they were pretty much nonexistent in the second against a better team. I’d really like to see some chunk plays in either phase, but I’d really like to see the passing game connect on a couple of intermediate to deep routes just to remind us that it’s in there.
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