Monday quick slant: the airport edition
A quick thought on "preseason"
AMERICAN AIRLINES LOUNGE, CLT - Greetings from the happiest place on earth.
I’m about to take a long awaited vacation and figured I’d drop a few thoughts on the latest preseason snoozer.
At least the Carolina Panthers finally scored a touchdown in 2024.
I do think it’s absolutely insane for a team coming off of a 2-15 season to not play their starters - but I understand the why behind it - especially for the offense.
The drop-off from the starters to the backups is quite immense. That’s what happens when multiple personnel decisions haven’t worked over the last six years.
I still think the starters could use at least one or two series against Buffalo on Saturday. But, I think the likelihood of that occurring is pretty slim. (BTW - if you’re going to Buffalo to watch the Panthers this weekend, swing by Nine-Eleven Tavern for these wings.)
Defensively, it was nice to see Trevin Wallace fly around the field. This team desperately needs to hit on draft picks in general, but hitting on multiple picks after round one would be nice. The fan base would love to see another great linebacker in the making here. After all, this franchise is built off of superb linebacker play. There’s nothing wrong with that in any era of football, no matter how much the spreadsheets despise it.
T.J. Smith is another nice story developing from this preseason. He’s taking advantage of his opportunity.
Offensively, there hasn’t been much to write about. Jake Luton should get a majority of the snaps on Saturday.
We’ll see what Dave Canales decides for Saturday, but the regular season cannot get here fast enough.