Brad Hoover (Correctly) Feels Like the Panthers Abandoned the Run a Little Early

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.

But here's the other thing (and please, I'm not taking away from the Cardinals defense ... it was very, very tough): if you're going into desperation, "heave it deep" mode, how on Earth does Steve Smith still only end up with two catches on the day? Especially when one is a very late, worthless touchdown grab?

It's fairly inexplicable, aside from the fact that the Panthers coaches may or may not have overlooked the Cardinals, at least in terms of preparing a game plan on both sides that could enable the team to win.