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September 09, 2007
Rams' Little impressed by Smith
Want to know what the league thinks of Steve Smith? St. Louis defensive end Leonard Little is fairly typical. "With Steve Smith, anything fuels him, if you say anything about him," Little said after his team had been torched for seven catches and 119 yards by Smith on Sunday. "He is fueled every time he steps on that field. That's what makes him a great player. "He's a playmaker. He always plays with a chip on his shoulder. I told him that during the game. He's one of the best receivers in the league. The offense runs through him. If he has a bad day, then the offense is going to have a bad day. They got him involved early and kept on rolling from there." STAN OLSONPosted by Observer Sports on September 9, 2007 at 11:20 PM | Permalink
Comments
Little shoulda talked to his coaches. Maybe they would have rolled a safety towards 89 all game lone rather than let him run free.
I still don't know what the DBs saw on the TD -- it was like Smith had a cloaking device.
That game had a very weird vibe. Almost like that after the Rams had to kick a 2nd FG the fans AND team got restless and bored.
But I'll take it.
However, the OL -- particularly Hartwig, who was crunched a couple times -- will need to play much, much better against the Texans, who held Larry Johnson to 43 yards and picked up 3 sacks.
Conversely, if we don't put Schaub on the ground at least 6 times, Trgo should go paint houses.
Posted by: JAT | Sep 10, 2007 6:10:25 AM
High praise coming from a murderer.
Posted by: Harry | Sep 10, 2007 7:53:18 AM
JAT seems to be one of those negative fans who gave up in the preseason. One of the same people who wanted Wenke to replace Jake last year; the same people who want foxy fired every time sombody farts in the huddle. You no nothing of football.If you knew as much about football as you do about "smokin pole" maybe I could stomach your garbage opinions. Anyway, I was quite impressed with our performance Sunday. We had a nice running game and we actualy used the tight end and even the fullback. Great performance by the D. A few dusty mistakes but other than that everything looked great. Go Panthers!!!! Note to self: Send JAT a coupon for some Playtex Manpons and a punch in the face.
Posted by: JGK | Sep 10, 2007 8:10:38 AM
Steve Smith is great and carries this offense on his shoulders, but someone will have to step up and become the secondary receiver in order for this team to advance in the postseason.
Posted by: mattdaddy | Sep 10, 2007 8:37:46 AM
It's the season opener so I'm trying not to get too high, but we looked great. Were there some wrinkles like a bad snap, sure - and we need to fix those, but overall the Panthers looked great against a good rams team.
You know why the Texans held LJ to 43 yards? Because LJ wasn't in camp. I don't care who you are - you can't skip training camp and play well on week 1.
I will agree that we need to get more aggressive w/ blitzing, our front 4 (esp. Peppers) are not getting enough consistent pressure on the QB... I'm not sure why Bulger didn't pick us apart. I have to say, I love the physical play of our secondary. The comentators said it during the game, Holt took a couple of shots early and was afraid to go after the ball for the rest of the game.
Jon Beason = animal. The guy reminds me of Ray Lewis. Anybody see that collision with Steven Jackson early in the game? POW!
Posted by: Dave | Sep 10, 2007 9:43:00 AM
JGK --
Let's see if you are right about anything, anything at all.
Did I ever ask for Weinke? Nope, never. Always maintained Jake was not the problem.
Have I ever wanted Fox fired? Nope, never. Never jumped on the nutty lets-get-Cowher bandwagon. Fox will coach Carolina for as long as he wants.
Do I know anything about smoking pole? Trick question, although it is entirely possible that JGK does not know about receiving said smokage.
Is JGK contesting that Hartwig did NOT get blown up several times or skid a snap back to Jake that had the potential to be every bit as horrible as Gamble's punt-pass was last year? Either he did not watch the game or only listened to it with Manpons in his ears.
I'll further stipulate that when Bridges comes back, Kalil will slide to center and Hartwig will go the bench unless he picks up his game.
As for the Texans, it is unclear what JGK's complaint might be. They played well -- got TOs, bottled-up one of the league's best backs, got an OK outing from Schaub. In short, they look to have improved.
This is the NFL, that happens. How that is negative escapes me.
Bottomline, the Panthers really need to stomp on it next week and open 2-0 with three straight winnable division games ahead .
In fact, I'd go so far as to say that sound drubbing of Houston will position the Panthers for a 5-0 start. How in the world is that negative?
Posted by: JAT | Sep 10, 2007 9:57:40 AM
They cant look past Houston, but the Texans did beat a very very bad Kansas City team, plus their starting safety is now out for the year. I'm not convinced of Matt Shaub's ability to come in here and be successful against a very good panther defense.
Posted by: mattdaddy | Sep 10, 2007 10:21:01 AM
I thought we looked really good on Sunday. Outside of that opening drive by the Rams...they did nothing. The refs game them the other 6 points they got on some bad pass interference calls on Kenny Lucas. They never stopped out offense, we stopped ourselves with bad snaps and penalties. On opening day an away game and with the way we looked in the preseason...it definitely gives fans reason for optimism...but like people here have said, it's the first game so we'll see. I thought they played well though but Robinson needs to clean up his returns...too much side to side running...GET UP THE FIELD!! On the texans, they were playing a team that went 0 & 4 in the preseason and has Damon Huard for their QB. Eddie Kennison also got hurt in that game and Dwayne Bowe can catch a cold so far so what do you do? Stack the box to keep LJ in check and double team Gonzalez. If you can't stop that then you shouldn't be able to play in the league. KC's defense was on the field the whole game and it's not like the Texans lit up the scoreboard on them so I like our chances against them. KC is just a young team so that wasn't a good barometer to see how good the Texans are. We passed a much harder test against a much better team. I think we'll wipe the field with them in our home opener. I'm just glad we got out of that game yesterday with no injuries!
Posted by: JT | Sep 10, 2007 12:33:42 PM
Nice article Stan. Maybe you should do a follow up article and ask some other MURDERS like Charles Manson or Ted Bundy what they think of Steve Smith.
Posted by: killer | Sep 10, 2007 12:35:15 PM
they will all be on the band wagon in january saying they knew the panthers would be a great team despite their negatives now.with everyone touching the ball on offense smith is going to lead the league or be the ultimate decoy.if you try to pull an extra safety on smith, davidson(oc) is going to burn you across the middle or on the other side of the field.and on the defense we are playing smash mouth football beason looked like a beast and jenkins, rucker, and moorehead get a few games under their belt qb's better watch out or they might be a replay like the one on chris simms last year. panthers definately nfc champs ...super bowl????
Posted by: rutherford county res | Sep 10, 2007 1:31:45 PM
The last person I want an opinion from on anything is Leonard Little. He should be in jail, not on the field.
Posted by: Matt | Sep 10, 2007 4:10:27 PM
JT: send some of that upfield advice to DeAngelo, too.
As for you people whining about Little, it is certainly a sad situation, but the legal process ran its course and meted him the punishment he deserved under the law. No amount of jailtime, probation, or anything else will ever take away his thoughts about thta incident.
Posted by: Michael Procton | Sep 10, 2007 5:55:18 PM
Procton do us all a favor and shut up. People are entitles to their opinion and do not need your overinflated opinion of yourself to tell them what they can and cannot do. How many other people are tired of Procton and his continual talking down to others?
Posted by: Shut Up Procton | Sep 10, 2007 7:01:43 PM
JAT,
Nice comeback with the "Said Smokage" comment. Good stuff! You're correct about the whole recieving smokage thing. I'm married and may only recieve "said smokage" once or twice a week. Sad huh? Well at least the individual comiting the act of pole smokage isn't a dude!!! Panthers looked good and leave it at that. I watched most of the games this week and the panthers looked better than about 90% of the other teams. We ran the ball well, Spread it around, Stopped the run, 0 interceptions, 3 tds, and most important we got a W. I know we had 2 fumbles and Hartwig made a few mistakes but that is football. There is never going to be a game where you look back and say "nothing could have been done better". No need to be overly critical. Is that why you're so lonely. You just can't find the right GUY for yourself can you. Always pickin em apart. What an ass.
Posted by: JGK | Sep 10, 2007 7:02:47 PM
I agree, do us all a favor Michael Procton and stop acting like your opinion is better than everyone else's. I have never seen a more arrogant and annoying poster than you. Do us all a favor and give an opinion but stop acting like you know it all and only your opinion matters.
Posted by: Panthers Phan | Sep 10, 2007 7:08:47 PM
Panthers Phan is a chode.
Posted by: j | Sep 10, 2007 8:06:06 PM
Yea! Panthers Phan is a tard!! I heard he still pees the bed. Hey panthers phan!! You gotta call on line 1......Its Gayness!!
Posted by: Tar Bisquit | Sep 10, 2007 10:11:50 PM
MattDaddy - Seems like Carter stepped up as the second receiver - 2 TDs - did you see the game???
Posted by: MattDaddy'sDaddy | Sep 11, 2007 12:57:31 AM
Panthers are swell. Go Team. I feel as though this will be a jolly season. If I had my drothers I'd pick them to when the super ball. My favorite performance was that of Bruce Delhome when he Intercepted that pass from the other guy. He also put a whalloping knacking on Jolly-Tom Staffordshire. What a match. I say.....Victorious performance this week? What a team. Let us all give them numerous imaginary high fives. I m sending them a thankyou card and some flowers. O Joy!!!
Posted by: Jolly-Jim Dribblechin | Sep 11, 2007 7:41:52 AM
mattdaddy's daddy----consistancy!!
Posted by: mattdaddy | Sep 11, 2007 8:42:38 AM
Let's hope Procton's in the next car Leonard Little decides to blindside when he goes on his next bender.
Posted by: Harry | Sep 11, 2007 10:02:32 AM
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