The Panthers have signed 27-year old center Chris Morris.  Morris played in 16 games (10 starts) last season for the Raiders.  He has now played in 47 games (11 starts) in his four years in the NFL.  He will provide solid depth to the interior of the O-Line for the Panthers going forward.

The Panthers have released 26-year old DT Louis Leonard.  Leonard played in 2 games for the Panthers this year and he had 2 tackles.  In 2 years with the Panthers, Leonard played in 4 games finishing with 8 tackles.  The Panthers won’t miss Leonard much as he didn’t do much with them in his time in Carolina.

The Panthers averaged 156.1 yards rushing per game last season and they have the same cast at running back this year.  But, the Panthers are only averaging 98.3 yards rushing per game and 3.6 yards per carry.  DeAngelo Williams has 43 carries for 180 yards (4.2 ypc) and he has also caught 3 passes for 20 yards (6.7 avg) so far this year.  Jonathan Stewart is off to a very slow start though as he has carried the ball 21 times for 68 yards (3.2 ypc) with 1 TD run.  He has also caught 2 passes for 18 yards (9.0 avg) so far this year.  Williams & Stewart will get rolling at some point this year but it’s hard running against 8 or more players in the box.  The reason for that is that no team is scared of the Panthers’ passing game right now.  The Panthers are averaging 162.3 yards passing so far this year and the QBs have a pathetic 43.9 rating.  Until the QBs start making some good throws, Williams & Stewart are going to have to fight for every yard they get running the ball.

The Panthers were awful on offense yesterday as they only had possession of the ball for 23:38 and it cost them this game because the D played pretty well.  Jimmy Clausen looked like a deer in headlights in his first NFL start.  He completed 16 of 33 passes for 188 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 INT.  He also carried the ball 6 times for 10 yards (1.7 ypc) and he also lost two fumbles.  DeAngelo Williams (10 carries, 64 yards) and Jonathan Stewart (8 carries, 13 yards, TD) didn’t give the Panthers much in the way of ground support.  RB Mike Goodson was the top receiver for the Panthers in this game with 4 grabs for 47 yards (11.8 avg).  The Panthers finished up with 87 yards rushing on 24 carries (3.6 ypc) and they also completed 16 of 33 passes for 180 yards.

The Panthers’ D didn’t play that bad as the Bengals had a lot of short fields and they bogarted the football.  Safety Charles Godfrey led the way for the Panthers in this game with 11 tackles, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception (38 yard return). LBs James Anderson (9 tackles, 2 passes defensed and 1 QB hit) and Jon Beason (9 tackles, 1 pass defensed) also had solid games for the Panthers yesterday.  CB Captain Munnerlyn pitched in with a interception in this game.  The Bengals finished up with 120 yards rushing on 37 carries (3.2 ypc) and they also completed 19 of 37 passes for 185 yards.  The Panthers are now 0-3 on the year.

The Panthers have a tough matchup this weekend in front of them.  The Bengals have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball and the Panthers will likely be overmatched personnel wise in this game.  Here is a look at the matchups in this game:

When the Panthers have the ball:  The Panthers are going to run the ball this whole game.  DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart are going to take turns pounding away at the Bengals’ D which has allowed 113.5 yards rushing per game and 4.9 yards per carry.  The Panthers better hope they have success running the ball because Jimmy Clausen will be making his first start of the year and the Panthers’ O-Line has already allowed 8 sacks this year.  That coupled with the fact that the Bengals have a great pair of corners could spell big trouble for the Panthers passing the ball on Sunday.  Steve Smith will likely be doubled the whole game by the Bengals.

When the Bengals have the ball:  I have little doubt that the Bengals are going to come off the team bus throwing the football.  The Panthers only have 1 sack this year and they are giving up 218.0 yards passing per game so far.  I see Palmer throwing the ball downfield to Chad Ocho Cinco and Terrell Owens a lot in this game and that’s bad news for the Panthers.  The Panthers must also keep tabs on rookies (WR) Jordan Shipley and (TE) Jermaine Gresham who have been doing the dirty work for the Bengals on the short stuff.  The Bengals will also likely attack the middle of the Panthers’ D quite often with Cedric Benson & Bernard Scott.

PREDICTION:  BENGALS 27, PANTHERS 7

Opposing teams are rushing for 106.5 yards per game against the Panthers this year but they are only averaging 3.0 ypc so far this year.  That is because the linebackers of the Panthers have played very well so far this year.  James Anderson (20 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 pass defensed and 1 interception), Jon Beason (19 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss and 1 pass defensed) and Dan Connor (19 tackles, 1 sack and 3 tackles for a loss) have been a wrecking crew for the Panthers.  The Panthers will need to have this trio to keep playing at a high level if the defense is going to play well.

The Panthers have decided to go with rookie Jimmy Clausen as the starting QB this week against the Bengals.  Clausen has completed 7 of 15 passes (46.7%) for 59 yards with 0 TD passes and 1 INT (29.6 QB Rating) in the Panthers’ first two games.  He also has carried the ball 1 time for 0 yards this year.  Clausen will be replacing Matt Moore who has had a rough start to the season.  Moore got a concussion against the Giants in the first week of the year and he still looked foggy yesterday against the Bucs.  Moore has completed 20 of 49 passes (40.8%) for 307 yards with 2 TD passes and 4 INTs (41.8 QB Rating) so far this year.  He has also carried the ball 3 times for 17 yards (5.7 ypc) this year.  I don’t think I like this move unless Moore is injured.  That’s because the Bengals picked off 4 Joe Flacco passes yesterday and they will likely be licking their chops with a rookie starting against them.

The Panthers couldn’t get anything going on offense and they gave the Buccaneers some short fields to operate with which proved costly.  Matt Moore started this game at QB as he completed 6 of 16 passes for 125 yards with 1 TD pass and 1 INT.  He was replaced by Jimmy Clausen who finished up the game by completing 7 of 13 passes for 59 yards with 1 INT.  DeAngelo Williams led the way on the ground for the Panthers in this game with 54 yards rushing on 17 carries (3.2 ypc) and he caught 3 passes for 20 yards (6.7 avg).  Jonathan Stewart pitched in with 43 yards rushing on 8 carries (5.4 ypc) in this contest.  WR Steve Smith (3 rec, 66 yards, TD) and TE Dante Rosario (3 rec, 47 yards) led the way in the passing game for the Panthers yesterday.  The Panthers finished up with 119 yards rushing on 33 carries (3.6 ypc) and they also completed 13 of 29 passes for 159 yards.

The defense wasn’t that bad for the Panthers yesterday.  LBs James Anderson (10 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss) and Jon Beason (9 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss) led the way for the Panthers’ on D yesterday.  DT Derek Landri pitched in with 7 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss against the Bucs.  The Buccaneers finished up with 95 yards rushing on 34 carries (2.8 ypc) and they also completed 12 of 25 passes for 178 yards.  The Panthers are now 0-2 on the year.

The Panthers got beat up pretty good last week by the Giants.  That could change this weekend as the Panthers will likely be the bullies in the home season opener against the Buccaneers.  The Panthers swept the Bucs by a combined score of 44-27 last year.  Here is a look at the match-ups in this game:

When the Panthers have the football:  The Panthers are going to be conservative this weekend and why not?  The Panthers rushed for 424 yards on 81 carries (5.2 ypc) with 4 TD runs last season in the games against the Bucs.  Look for DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart to have very heavy workloads this Sunday.  The Panthers still aren’t sure if starting QB Matt Moore will be ready to go but it won’t likely matter too much as I don’t see them passing much.  I expect the Bucs to be double covering Steve Smith this week but he’s no stranger to that set-up and he still makes big plays anyway.

When the Buccaneers have the ball:  The Panthers need to do a better job against the Bucs running game.  Cadillac Williams rushed for 169 yards on 33 carries (5.1 ypc) with 1 TD run against the Panthers last season.  If the Panthers can stop Williams and force Josh Freeman to throw the ball they will be in good shape.  Freeman threw 5 pickoffs in his only start against the Panthers last year and he has a very young receiving corps so mistakes will be there for the Panthers to capitalize on.

PREDICTION:  PANTHERS 20, BUCCANEERS 10

It doesn’t really matter if Matt Moore or Jimmy Clausen starts this game at QB…..the Panthers are going to run the ball early and often against the Bucs.  The Panthers carried the ball 81 times for 424 yards (5.2 ypc) with 4 TD runs in their sweep of the Bucs last year.  In the first meeting last year in Tampa, both DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart went over 100 yards rushing!  The Giants ganged up on Williams (16 carries, 62 yards) and Stewart (5 carries, 12 yards) but the Buccaneers have nowhere near the quality front seven that the Giants have.  Look for one or both of them to have big games this Sunday.