FanHouse Brad Hoover

The Carolina Panthers got flat out pummeled by the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday night. Take out the first possession from each team and it was one-sided the entire way. Let's put it this way: if Edgerrin James has more rushing attempts than DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart combined, you can be pretty certain that the Panthers gameplan crumbled.

And Brad Hoover, P-Cats fullback and Davidson County (woot, woot, etc) native, thinks they probably abandoned the run a touch early. Well, duh.

"Our plan was to try to run the ball on them. That's what we've hung our hat on all year, being successful in the running game, and I still think we could have done it," Hoover said. "Not to question things but, when you start putting yourself in a hole, and we did pretty fast, it's hard to just run the ball when you've put yourself in pass situations."

And, hey, not to question a coaching staff for giving Jake Delhomme more throws or anything, but the game kind of unfolded like a Madden mismatch (me = Lions, my brother = Patriots) where one team just doesn't have the kind of firepower/gameplan to play catch-up and just ends up making more mistakes.

Notes from the press box at Bank of America Stadium for Panthers - Cardinals.

Five plays. Fifty yards. Three-oh-four on the clock. Those are the stats for Carolina's first drive tonight and they're telling because the Arizona Cardinals don't exactly look fresh right now.

After holding the Cats to a quick long-and-third, the Buzzsaw coughed up a 10-yard gain to Brad Hoover. That was immediately followed by a 31-yard DeAngelo Williams rip that appeared housebound. Jonathan Stewart then played the mop-up duty roll, walking untouched into the end zone from nine yards out.