Fan Fest

Lack of aggressiveness discourages O-line coach

By Darin Gantt The Herald
(Published August 9‚ 2005)

SPARTANBURG -- Carolina Panthers offensive line coach Mike Maser isn't one to hold his feelings in.

That's why, after watching his first and second lines give up four sacks in 24 plays during this past Saturday's FanFest scrimmage, he made sure his players knew where he stood when they returned to work Sunday.

"I was discouraged," Maser said Monday of his line's play against their teammates. "Not from the standpoint of the technical aspect, I was discouraged about what I considered our lack of aggressiveness. I felt like we were waiting for the defense to make a move and we were going to counter-punch them. I'd like to go out there and knock somebody out right out of the box, and I didn't see that.

"So that bothered me a little bit, and I let the players know that last night. I didn't lose my mind or anything like that, but I just told them, 'Hey, we've got to be more aggressive.' This game is played with an aggressive attitude, and you've got to be aggressive when you play. You can't be a passive individual. You've got to go after people and play hard."

If he could get their attitudes in line with their aptitude, this should be a better season for the Panthers' blockers.

They added high-profile free agent Mike Wahle, moved two incumbents to new positions and drafted three in hopes of overhauling last year's group, which was a mess early and acceptable late.

Maser said he's not completely in the tank with his group, saying the progress has been "up and down," early in camp. Contrast it to last year, which went in the blender early with the surprise retirement of Adam Meadows, and Maser's generally optimistic.

"We're light years ahead of where we were last year," the veteran assistant said flatly. "We've got five quality guys, and hopefully we can keep those five quality guys together for a period of time so they can get used to each other and understand what we're trying to accomplish. And we'll keep on going."

The biggest questions this year center on the tackles. Second-year man Travelle Wharton, last year's third-round pick, has been installed as the starting left tackle. The four-year starter at tackle for South Carolina showed promise last year playing left guard, but coaches believe he's athletic enough to cover Jake Delhomme's blindside.

That wasn't the case Saturday, as second-string end Kemp Rasmussen worked Wharton over, collecting a sack early.

"He's coming, he's getting the reps he needs to get," Maser said. "He's got to see as much as he possibly can before we get started. The practices and the four preseason games will be a good indicator of where we are and what he needs to work on.

"Travelle's got a lot of talent. Travelle has to play with maybe a little more aggressiveness to his style. He's a little bit of a laid-back guy right now. He's looking and watching and trying to analyze. I'd like to see him get a little more aggressive and get after people."

That hasn't been a problem on the other side, where Jordan Gross is back at right tackle in hopes of replicating his rookie success. There was a difficult transition last year when he went to the left side, but the hope is he'll get back to the style that had many thinking he was on the verge of being a Pro Bowl regular.

It's hard to tell that's the case during practice. Unlike in the scrimmage, the starters work against each other daily, meaning Gross has been looking across the line at Julius Peppers.

"It's hard, but it's more of a challenge than a difficult situation for me," Gross said. "He always practices hard and I really take my hat off to him because he's always working and working to make you better, too. He's a good player; it's good to go against somebody who's going to make me better every day.

"What makes him tough is, pretty much every move that people do, he's got in his bag of tricks. You see a lot of different things out of him. It should get me ready for whatever we're going to face this year."

He should hope the competition makes him better. If practice is an indicator, it could be a rough season. Peppers makes many tacklers look bad because he's more athletic than all of them. Gross is little different. Peppers has handled him with seeming ease, although Maser disputes it's a one-sided affair.

"If you watch the tape close, it's pretty close to 50-50," Maser said, defending Gross. "Julius Peppers isn't eating his (expletive) lunch every day. Once in a while he'll handle Julius. We'll do some things to handle that situation, but Julius isn't out there making every tackle on the field."

Either way, things can't possibly be as bad as last year. After Meadows retired, the line was beset by injuries, with guard Tutan Reyes' high ankle sprain bothering him most of the year. The problems also forced them to shuffle personnel often, and it wasn't the greatest personnel to begin with.

Two of their opening day starters (guards Doug Brzezinski and Rich Tylski) aren't in the league this year, and that number would be three except St. Louis signed tackle Matt Willig last week.

Despite the tongue-lashings from Maser, Gross can tell things must be better this year. When things started going south last year, Gross was asked to talk about them daily. Now, he gets the occasional request.

"Yeah, we aren't getting anywhere near the questions we were last year," Gross said with a grin. "Every day, that's all anyone wanted to talk about. So that's a good thing.

"The best thing you can be as an O-line is anonymous, and that's what we're trying to work for."

http://www.buzzfans.com/sports/football/panthers/story/5086991p-4634278c.html

 

I'd like to know how specifically he looked better, too.

But yeah, he's decent quality for a 3rd guy, IMO. OK size, decent hands, a little shift in his gait. I wanted to see more of him last year, but we ran the shit out of Goings.

 

Jordan getting beat by Peppers on a regular basis is a concern, but not a huge one. Peppers is going to make a lot of RT's look inept this year, I think.

However, Wharton getting schooled by Rasmussen is. And I haven't heard of Maser being this pissed off since he's been here. I'm skeered.

 

I've been worried about Wharton cutting it all along. No surprise. I guess they're commited to letting him take his lumps and learning on the job. We'll probably see Jake sliding away from Wharton as he did when Stuessie was here.

 

Panthers offensive line coach resents rookie's disagreement

Associated Press

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Always animated Carolina Panthers offensive line coach Mike Maser didn't take kindly to being questioned by rookie offensive lineman Evan Mathis on Wednesday.

After getting chewed out by Maser during practice for missing a block, Mathis openly disagreed with the coach on the sidelines.

But Mathis' attempts to plead his case ended when Maser quickly put the team's third-round draft pick in his place.

"Are you telling me what I saw, and that I'm wrong?" Maser shouted before telling Mathis to keep quiet.

Neither Maser, who is entering his 12th season in the NFL, nor Mathis was available for interviews after the practice.

"I mean Mike's Mike; that's the way he is," offensive coordinator Dan Henning said. "Sometimes he does it for effect, sometimes he gets definitely upset. As long as he doesn't abuse them, I don't have any problem with it. As long as they understand where he's coming from."

Offensive line coach Mike Maser wasn't the only one who appeared frustrated Wednesday.

Quarterback Jake Delhomme often threw his hands in the air and tore the chinstrap off his helmet after certain plays failed to work in the morning practice.

"It can be a frustrating game," Panthers head coach John Fox said. "There was probably a time when everybody got a little frustrated today."

Offensive coordinator Dan Henning said the Panthers have pretty much settled on Travelle Wharton, Mike Wahle, Jeff Mitchell, Tutan Reyes and Jordan Gross as the team's starters with Todd Fordham being the "swingman," able to come in and play all five positions in case of one of the starters goes down.

"I think the first five guys are sitting there pretty much in place, the way we planned it in the offseason," Henning said. "I think it's going to pretty much stay that way. There are some young guys that could compete, but it's not going to be easy. We think we've got two or three young guys that have an opportunity to play in this league and they're going to get all the work we can get them in the preseason to find out."

As for the seventh guy the Panthers activate on game day, Henning said that job is probably up for grabs between tackle Dave Kadella and rookie draft picks Evan Mathis, Geoff Hangartner and Joe Berger.

http://www.wcnc.com/localsports/panthers/stories/081005ccjrwcncpanthersnotebook.5fb95faf.html

 

I just wonder if Mathis had a momentary lapse in memory and thought that he was still in college and forgot that he was in the NFL now. I guess that a 'tude like that is normal in college but that it doesn't cut it in the NFL.

 

Maser is probably pushing all his buttons just to see which ones get the best results.