Pittsburgh @ Carolina / The Final Preseason Game

By Eric Quackenbush

The preseason has been a tedious one for the Panthers up to this point. Overall, the defense has looked pathetic, special teams has improved, and the offense has also improved.

On Thursday night, we will see very limited action from the starters, if any at all. For the final preseason game last year, coach John Fox elected to sit the starters and let the backups have their time to earn roster spots.

This week I'm not going to talk much about the starters. we'll see them in a little over a week, when wins and losses do count. As of right now, linebacker Jon Beason, running backs Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams will all be ready for the regular season home-opener against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Some things worth mentioning in the meantime; the Panthers passing game is averaging 167 yards a game, and the running game is averaging 100 yards per game. Not bad numbers for exhibition games, but enough to have some semblance of an idea of what this team has the potential to do in regular season.

Do remember that the bulk of rushing yardage has not come from DeAngelo Williams and certainly nothing has come from the lame duck--pun intended--Jonathan Stewart. The bulk of this yardage has come from rookie fourth-rounder Mike Goodson, who has the bulk of 25 carries and 118 yards rushing. Decori Birmingham, who has had limited playing time until last weekend, has 22 carries for 80 yards and two touchdowns; second behind Goodson.

Thursday night we're truly looking at pure battles for roster spots. The first-team guys have pretty much done whatever they can to state their worth or lack thereof in some cases, and now the replacements get their time in the spotlight for a full 60 minutes.

One problem has been for the defense to contain the run. We may or may not see newly acquired Louis Leonard in the game tonight, but if we do, we'll have a good idea of what he's capable of doing. The Steelers' running game would be a very good test for Leonard.
I'm not sold on Leonard being the answer to what's needed, but he just might surprise us and fit in nicely. Three things I like about him are his height, 6-foot-4; his weight, 325 (five pounds lighter than Kemoeatu); and last I like his experience. He's been in the league for a few years, and he does have a little game experience under his belt.

As long as he can effectively contribute to stopping the run, then I don't care whether or not he's able to make a sack on the quarterback. In his career as a panthers, Ma'ake Kemoeatu has yet to register one sack. In this area stopping the run is much more important than registering a sack.
We most likely won't see Chris Gamble (to the relief of many) or Richard Marshall in the game tonight, so we'll get to see a lot of Capatian Munnerlyn, D.J. Clark, and Dante Wesley. I'm not too sure on the status of Sherrod Martin, so he could be a game time decision.

Also in the defensive backfield, we should see another new face. The Panthers also signed Kevin Kaesviharn as a safety, which in light of the injury to Charles Godfrey and Nate Salley being placed on the Injured Reserve, will hopefully pay off for the Panthers.

Kaesviharn is another veteran with some decent gametime experience, whom the Panthers had trouble offensively against in the past. Hopefully he still has that edge in his game.
Matt Moore, Josh McCown, and Hunter Cantwell should see a decent amount of playing time against the Steelers as well.

Moore has looked hot and cold this preseason, as has Josh McCown. A question I asked Matt Moore last night, during his guest appearance on the Rhys Lloyd show, was what were his thoughts on Hunter Cantwell?

I don't have the direct quote but to paraphrase, Hunter has a cannon for an arm, and the Panthers got a steal getting him as an undrafted free agent, as he was the starting quarterback at Louisville.

It's still not clear whether the Panthers will carry four receivers, three tight ends, or four running backs yet. I tend to believe that there will be four receivers, and either three tight ends or four running backs. That could also be wishful thinking on my end.

At other positions, tight ends Dante Rosario and Andrew Davie; receivers Dwayne Jarrett, Marcus Monk, Larry Beavers, and Kevin McMahan get one more night to make a statement why they deserve to remain in a Panthers uniform. After the Steelers game the cuts go from 75 to the final 53 man roster...That's 22 cuts to be made, a short amount of time with which to do it, and hopes that the best players for the job are retained.

I asked my brother to sneak a peek at the simulated outcome of tonight's game on Madden '10, and so far Madden has been scarily accurate...Scarily, is that a word? I think it is...I digress, Madden simulates the Panthers to go 1-3 during preseason. Their one win comes tonight against the Steelers by three points.

I'm going against my trend of picking against the Panthers and this time I'll side with the simulated results of a video game...Panthers win this one by three points.