MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Carolina Panthers All-Pro MLB Jon Beason left Saturday night’s game in the first quarter with a knee injury and did not return.
   Beason was on crutches and had his left knee in a brace after the game. He said he will have an MRI exam on Sunday in Charlotte to determine what's wrong. Beason called it a sprained knee, but said "it's definitely not (a torn) ACL."
   "We'll get some tests done tomorrow and see what happens," Beason said. "I was getting off a block and I'm not sure if someone came at me intentionally or if they fell on it. I'm assuming someone fell on it."

DEPTH CHART WATCH: True to his word, Panthers quarterbacks coach Rip Scherer is giving Matt Moore a chance to win the No. 2 quarterback job.

Moore took over for Jake Delhomme in the second half and did a pretty decent job. He completed 4-of-9 passes for 41 yards and led a touchdown drive to put the Panthers up 14-10 at the half.

Josh McCown, the No. 2 quarterback in the first preseason game against the Giants, entered the game in the third quarter.

ON THE RISE: Rookie Captain Munnerlyn might have nailed down the starting punt return job with a 58-yard return in the first half. Or maybe not. Munnerlyn fumbled his next attempt, although officials ruled he recovered the ball at the Carolina 15-yard line, thus avoiding a costly turnover.

Nonetheless, Munnerlyn showed some explosiveness with that first return, perhaps enough to lock down the starting job this season. Mike Goodson was the first-team kickoff returner and improved over his effort against the Giants with a nice 27-yard return.

What does all that mean?

It’s not good news for Ryne Robinson, who may be on the outside looking in when it comes to a roster spot. The one thing Robinson had in his corner was his ability to return punts and kickoffs along with playing receiver. If Munnerlyn can handle punts and Goodson kickoffs it allows the Panthers to keep Kenny Moore as the No. 4 receiver and makes Robinson expendable.

To make matters worse, Robinson allowed a punt to hit bounce and hit him, resulting in a turnover with 5:17 left in the game. That gave the Dolphins the ball at the Carolina 13-yard line. Robinson shouldn't have even been near the ball if he didn't plan on catching it.

BY THE NUMBERS: 3-for-4 for 27 yards – Jake Delhomme’s passing numbers on third down in one quarter of action.

BY THE NUMBERS II: 10 -- Number of fumbles by the Panthers in two preseason games (6 vs. Giants, 4 vs. Dolphins)

NOTABLE: Carolina fans were probably having flashbacks to the Jerry Janson era after rookie long snapper J.J. Jansen botched a bad snap on a field goal attempt, costing the Panthers three points in the first half.

The Panthers lined up for a 42-yard field goal attempt, but Jansen, who’s replacing veteran Jason Kyle, snapped the ball high to holder Jason Baker. Baker had no chance to get the ball down in time and rolled out of the pocket and threw the ball away with no open receivers in sight.

It’s early yet and Jansen is young, but fans are hoping that’s not a sign of things to come.

PLAY OF THE DAY: Who says Dan Henning lacks creativity?

Proving once again that Henning’s offensive license was limited when he was here under coach John Fox, the offensive mastermind used some trickery leading to the play of the game.

With RB Ronnie Brown in the Wildcat formation, he took the snap from center out of the shotgun and handed off to fellow RB Ricky Williams who was coming around on a reverse. Williams then pitched to QB Chad Pennington, who’d lined up at receiver on the other side of the field. Pennington then chucked the ball 35 yards downfield to RB Patrick Cobbs for a 35-yard gain.

When was the last time the Panthers tried a play like that?

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS: We saw a lot of things on Saturday night, but we didn’t see much of DE Julius Peppers, who was relatively invisible for most of the first half. For the second straight game the million-dollar-a-game star failed to register a sack as Dolphins Pro Bowl OT Jake Long kept him in check.

INJURY UPDATE: The Panthers were without starting WRs Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammad. A team official said that Muhammad has a mild groin strain and the team wants to rest him. The injury is not considered serious.

WRs Dwayne Jarrett and Kenny Moore stepped in for them.

Also sitting out were RB Jonathan Stewart, S Nate Salley, LBs Thomas Davis and Landon Johnson and OG C.J. Davis.

NOTES: The Panthers started in a two tight end set with Jeff King and Dante Rosario on the field. TE Jeff Barnidge check in on second down and promptly dropped a pass from Delhomme… Rosario emerged as a weapon again, catching three passes for 54 yards… Moore was targeted four times, but caught only one pass for 9 yards… RB DeAngelo Williams had eight carries for 40 yards, 25 of those coming on a nifty touchdown run that would have made Barry Sanders blush.

ON THE MOVE (AGAIN): After working all of last week at safety, Dante Wesley only played cornerback on Saturday. Wesley said he'll return to cornerback this week in practice. "I'm just a reserve safety in case they need me the rest of the year," Wesley said. "That's just in case they need me there the rest of the year I'll have had some reps at it. But I'm going back to corner. But I will do whatever for the team."

ON TAP: The Panthers have Sunday off and resume practice Monday morning at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.