Something new to talk about

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What a difference a week makes. Returning to traditional Panther strengths of of not only running/pounding and kicking, but strategically taking away their favorite target, and winning the balance sheet on clock, third down, sacks/pressures, turnovers and penalties, … Whoops. If we can just get the penalties back to favoring us, too, we are suddenly in position to take the division by beating the Bucs twice? Like Matt Ryan, Tom Brady threw two picks and lost this week. Are our kicking and OL and defensive depth really gelling, or was this a mirage? — Dean, Zionville, NC

Dean contains multitudes. At least, his questions do. The man packs a lot into every email; I’ll give him that.

And while I appreciate his enthusiasm, I do feel like I’m the emergency brakes on his runaway truck going down the Highway 421 of a long season.

It was a good win. Seriously, they needed that one. But you can’t turn every week into a referendum, or it will exhaust you.

The defensive depth is getting there, certainly.

Running the ball 47 times and not giving up a sack made it the offensive line’s best game of the year. The Falcons are also near the bottom of the league in pressuring quarterbacks, so it’s worth putting it into its proper context.

But I do think they’re getting better up front. Adding big ol’ Michael Jordan to the starting lineup at left guard has made them a more physical group, definitely better in the run game. Trent Scott played reasonably well at right guard last week, considering he was going up against some guy named Grady Jarrett (and I suspect having a salty veteran in front of Jarrett why it was Scott and not Brady Christensen or Dennis Daley there).

Do I think that offensive line is fixed? Not really, but that’s not the kind of thing that can happen at this time of year. As they retooled the defense over the last two offseasons, you know the next one will be devoted to getting the offensive line together. There’s a decent crop of free agents available next offseason, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them spend significantly there.

As for kicker, Zane Gonzalez has been all you can ask for from an in-season replacement. He’s hit 13-of-15 field goals, 13-of-14 extra points, and he’s a more reliable touchback guy on kickoffs since he got here (four of five against the Falcons). And not to overstate things (there’s plenty of internet that specializes in that), but he kind of crushed that 57-yarder the other day, about two-thirds of the way up the upright. He said after the game he thought his range was 61 or 62 yards, and while he’s not going to be that kind of deep threat every week (being indoors helps), he has proven to be acceptably dependable. That’s all you want your kicker to be unless you’re paying him a bunch of money.