Steve Smith analyzed the Panthers game better than the team played — when you could hear him

For most people involved, it was fortunate that the Carolina Panthers’ first game was fake.

The Panthers’ 21-18 road exhibition loss to Indianapolis Sunday was glitchy, goofy and hard to watch — and that was just the local TV broadcast.

Large chunks of the first and second quarter disappeared for fans watching on TV in the Charlotte market, replaced by a “We are experiencing technical difficulties: Please Stand By” sign on WSOC-TV. In the fourth quarter, an international soccer game briefly appeared on Charlotte-area TV screens rather than the Panthers, with no explanation.

When the Panthers did show up, there were some nice moments by two rookies. Wide receiver Terrace Marshall turned a short pass into a 60-yard catch-and-run, and running back Chuba Hubbard broke out of a pile and blasted 59 yards on another play.

But neither rookie scored on those chunk plays, and that was a shame, because the penalty-prone Panthers couldn’t finish drives — also, as you will remember, a common problem last year. Carolina ended up with four Joey Slye field goals — he also missed a fifth attempt, from 63 yards, as well as a 43-yard extra point. Carolina’s one touchdown came on quarterback P.J. Walker’s freelance scramble of a throw to rookie tight end Tommy Tremble, a 7-yard pass that Walker admitted later was directed at another receiver entirely.

The Panthers’ most embarrassing moment came midway through the fourth quarter, when three consecutive false-start penalties on the offensive line turned a 3rd-and-2 into a 3rd-and-17. Will Grier then threw an incompletion, and Indianapolis used up the final six minutes on the clock and won the game on a short field goal with 7 seconds left.

By then, it was backups vs. backups, and in fact that’s all it ever was for the Panthers, who played their reserves the entire game.

No Christian McCaffrey. No Sam Darnold. No Brian Burns. No Jeremy Chinn. Carolina coach Matt Rhule sat out all of his starters, hesitant to risk injury to his top-tier talent.

That meant that one of the biggest stars of the day was actually in the broadcast booth in Indianapolis, where former star wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. made his debut as a TV analyst for the Panthers (he’s calling the three preseason games with solid play-by-play announcer Taylor Zarzour).

And once WSOC’s technical glitches had subsided and you could actually hear him in the home market — and if you didn’t live in Charlotte, this was largely not a problem — Smith proved to be very much worth listening to. He said plenty of complimentary things about his former team, as anybody working for the local team telecast is wont to do.

But Smith also dealt out the sort of tough love that you don’t often hear from “team” announcers, who generally like to bend over backwards trying not to criticize the team that is paying them.

Smith, though, is a broadcaster with an edge, just as he was a player with an edge, which is exactly what he should be. That way the compliments seem more genuine, because you know he means them and that he’s not going to just throw out 100 verbal bouquets per game.

So while the Panthers’ debut — on the field and on TV — was spotty, Smith shone in his role.

A sampling of Smith:

▪ On Panthers offensive tackle Trent Scott after his second penalty: “Trent Scott is in over his head.”

▪ On a Colts defender who had committed a needless personal foul: “You know what that flag is for? Being stupid.”

▪ On Panthers QB Grier, just as he debuted in the second half: “In practice, he’s been patting it — not throwing, not risking anything, just throwing the checkdowns. I’m not being critical of him because I don’t think he can play. I’m being critical of him because I think he has a heckuva arm and can bring a lot to the table. He just has to believe in himself.”

▪ On the Panthers in their joint practices with Indianapolis Thursday and Friday: “We watched practice with the Colts. They got — I don’t want to say pushed around — but they seemed to be a little bit polite. And the Colts weren’t.”

Smith turned out to be a welcome antidote against second-half boredom, which is always a possibility in the preseason.

The Panthers themselves? The early emergence of more rookie offensive playmakers for Carolina will be the best thing to remember from this one. That’s truly a positive sign.

The rest of Sunday? Forgettable.