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Catch
the Damn Ball Hey, Armanti Edwards...I'm talking to you. Hey, Carolina Panther wide-receivers.....I'm talking to all of you, too. The display of offensive football provided by the Carolina Panthers on Saturday night was.....well, offensive. While the defense was flying around making plays and saving Armanti Edwards' ass, the Panthers' special teams unit along with their below-par wide receivers were putting on a display that set the NFL back a few decades. I was really impressed with the intensity and tackling from the defensive unit. They were motivated, focused and played great. I know it is August football, but when the Jets, their nasty defense and of course the HBO cameras showed up....so did the Panthers. When you limit a team to only 112 total yards, you're getting the job done. Unfortunately, that's where the accolades end, in this week's pre-season progress report. The Panthers have some serious problems, and they are now at the halfway point of the pre-season schedule. Can anybody guess at which one of the Panthers' wide-receivers you would start alongside Steve Smith? Seriously......Dwayne Jarrett completely sucks. He can't get off the line of scrimmage. When he catches a ball it's by accident, or the defense forgot he was on the field. The fact that he's in a Panthers uniform in year four is an embarrassment. Oh, by the way, the latest excuse for Jarrett is that he's only 23.....who gives a crap? Can you play or not? I'll answer that one....."no". I want Brandon LaFell to explode and take over the position, but he hasn't made anybody go "wow" yet. I still like the pick and his potential at the position, and I think he will eventually be the man for the job....but I want to see him take ownership of the position. Kenneth Moore might be the only guy that has actually made a play in each of the first two pre-season games at WR. Unfortunately, he sometimes gets a case of fumbles (as he did with the punt), and it makes you question if he can get it done on a consistent basis. Armanti Edwards is not a NFL wide-receiver......he's also not a NFL quarterback. And right now, he doesn't have the skill or confidence to be a NFL punt returner. What he is right now, is embarrassing. Oh wait, I forgot; the spin by the local media covering the Panthers is that he's a "project". That's BS. Projects are late-round picks....not guys that you move up in the draft and give away future second round draft picks for....Edwards needs to man-up in a hurry. If this keeps up, we can read about that Armanti is only 22 years old. I didn't expect him to be a big-time player, but I did expect him to be able to actually catch the football. You know it's ugly when the Panthers are outscored by the NY Jets, NY Yankees and NY Mets on the same day. The team even had more turnovers than points. It has to get better...at this point, the defense has already outscored the offense, and that combo spells for a long season. Kyle Busch can probably catch punts, too. Maybe the Panthers should call him, since he's finished up kicking everybody's rear end in NASCAR. Not a bad week's work for "Rowdy", after making history by winning the truck, Nationwide and Cup series races in the same weekend. He's the first driver to ever accomplish the feat. That's pretty impressive......even Junior fans would have to admit. There are still Dale Jr. fans, right? The Bristol sweep also propelled Busch in the Cup standings where he is now in third place, with only two more races to go until we determine the 12 drivers that will battle for the title. It was also good to see a NASCAR race on TV that was actually sold out.....it's been a while since we witnessed a race without the aluminum seats glaring off the sun or lights. But Bristol is a special place, especially the night race. And Busch's accomplishment will go down in history, too. You don't have to like the guy, but he's a heckuva driver and great for the sport. These have not been the best of times for Tennessee football. Since Lane Kiffin's dramatic exit in the middle of the night from Knoxville, the Vol Nation doesn't know if they are coming or going. The guy they once praised for his no-care attitude towards fellow SEC coaches and traditions is now a traitor. The Vols have since hired Derek Dooley, who appears to be a straight-laced guy, but doesn't seem to have captured the same spirit or enthusiasm as the wonder-boy Kiffin. Now the Vols have turned down the chance to play Kiffin and his Southern Cal Trojans to kick-off next year's college football season.....and they've followed it up by trying to buy themselves out of the North Carolina series, which is scheduled to begin next year in Chapel Hill. Needless to say, the natives aren't happy with the perception that Big Orange is turning yellow. It's also obvious that the Vols' neighbors are taking note of the change of heart, too. Leave it to Steve Spurrier, to get under the skin of Vol Nation. The "Ball Coach" made it a weekly habit while he was on the Florida sideline of sticking it to UT any chance he could, and now he had a relapse to the glory days, during last week's coaches show in Columbia. Spurrier stated: "Golly...times have changed, when Tennessee doesn't want to play North Carolina in football because they're too good....we're not going to bail out from playing UNC the way Tennessee did." Now, that's the Steve Spurrier I know and love.....the old ball coach letting them rip, with no worries about anybody or anything. Meanwhile, UT prepares for another trying season and a trail for the NCAA investigators to ponder. It's tough times for the Vol Nation, indeed. The release of the Southern Fried Football™ Tour was a hit.....literally. In a span of 48 hours, we had over 300,000 webhits on the site (www.southernfriedfootball.com). Apparently, fans loved that Bama is now on SFF Probation for their inability to spell "Mississippi" correctly on their game tickets. I hate that the Board of Governors placed the Tide on a one-year ban, because I was planning on being down in Columbia on October 2nd for the Alabama-South Carolina game, but obviously that's not happening due to the Board's ruling on the Tide. We open the season at Catawba (who saw that one coming?), and we look forward to seeing everybody on the road this football season. Be sure to catch the Southern Fried Football™ Radio Show every Thursday night from 7-8pm, following "PrimeTime with the Packman". So, Brett Favre returned to the Vikings? Who knew? Oh that's right......everybody. |
Packman
on Sports Commentary
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