CHARLOTTE – The last time Christian McCaffrey played in an amusement, he totaled 227 yards and two touchdowns in Stanford's victory prevail upon Rice on Thanksgiving end of the week.
So as energized as Panthers fans were to see their first-round pick make a big appearance Wednesday night, nobody was as advertised up as McCaffrey.
"It was for the most part fervor," he said when inquired as to whether he felt any nerves in front of Carolina's preseason opener against the Texans. "You've been far from playing against another group for so long that I was greatly energized.
"You get so lost in the granulate here and there that you overlook football is the best thing on the planet. It regarded get out there lastly play once more. Gain from it, get every one of a bad case of nerves out and now it's an ideal opportunity to roll."
Altogether, McCaffrey played four arrangement against the Texans, picking up 33 yards on seven conveys. The Panthers, clearly keeping their offense for the most part vanilla in the preseason, didn't move him around much and sent only one pass his direction. That screen from Joe Webb was batted down at the line.
McCaffrey grasped handoffs in both power and zone run plans, with his greatest gainer going ahead a counter out of the shotgun. Utilizing tight end Ed Dickson as a lead blocker, McCaffrey worked his direction 12 yards before he was stumbled up. When he got up, he furiously slapped at the ball, knowing he was a thrashing Dickson projection far from severing a significantly greater play.
"You sort of felt that he very well might pop one," head mentor Ron Rivera said. "It's energizing. He's an extraordinary switch up to what we need to do with Jonathan (Stewart), and I believe he will open up a few things for everyone."
In any case, McCaffrey would've wanted to exploit what opened up before him Wednesday night. That is the way things are as a fussbudget.
"I had an inclination that I could've made one more cut possibly and would've broken one. In any case, it is the thing that it is," McCaffrey said. "Now and then they don't fall your direction, however I had a ton of fun out there playing."
