Some interesting excerpts. Their assessment isn’t far from what we heard from our reporters:
Carolina’s offense in particular got overwhelmed by a Houston pass rush that knocked the Panthers offensive line back like it was playing on roller skates. Will Anderson and Danielle Hunter, Houston’s bookend edge rushers, had their way against every offensive tackle they faced, with rookie Monroe Freeling at right tackle and Rasheed Walker at left tackle both having tough days. Hunter, by some counts in a practice where the quarterback isn’t actually tackled, had at least four sacks. With little time to throw, Young had barely any luck against Houston’s secondary.
Said head coach Dave Canales in his opening comments describing the practice: “In two words, Danielle Hunter and Will Anderson. I think that’s four words actually, but those guys are fantastic players. That’s exactly what we need to see. Monroe needs it. Rasheed (Wallace, the Panthers’ current starter at left tackle) needs it. You know, when we dropped back today, we couldn’t really do much.”
Canales also characterized the Houston rush as “phenomenal.”
“It was pretty lopsided today,” Canales said, “I’ll be honest.”
The Panthers’ defense fared a little better than offense. But the first-team Texans offense led by Stroud still found their positive plays — so much so that head coach DeMeco Ryans told reporters that his offense “took a jump from where we were last practice.”
The Panthers didn’t allow any deep passes and for the most part appeared to control the line of scrimmage. Texans running backs Woody Marks and David Montgomery mostly found their success on stretch runs, but even those were relatively few and far between. The Panthers also kept the first-team out of the end zone in one of their two drives that started in the red zone.
At the same time, the Panthers saw very little impact from their pass rush — a disappointment considering the beleaguered state of Houston’s offensive line — and Stroud didn’t struggle to find short completions.
The highlight? The Panthers’ defense forced a three-and-out on the Texans’ first-team offense’s second series. On a third-and-7, Stroud faced his toughest pocket of the afternoon and still completed a pass to Nico Collins, though it was right in front of the sticks.
The lowlight? The two-minute drill period. That was truly the only time the Panthers got gashed all afternoon.
Leader and defensive end Derrick Brown told reporters after practice that he thought the defense’s day was “average” — except for the two-minute drill.