hepcat

Low scoring defensive game. Turnovers make the difference. Saints 17 Panthers 13

Fitterer threw a Hail Mary trading for Young. If it works out, he’s set for Young’s tenure on the team. If he fails, he’s out. He is lucky to have even gotten the opportunity to do that after his numerous failures in 2021 and 2022. But here we are, he made his biggest move to date and he gets to be around long enough to see if it pans out or not. It sucks but that’ll be the case most likely.

After showing life late last season under Wilks, with the coaches they brought in, and the price they paid to get Bryce Young… if you think we shouldn’t have reasonable expectations that the team is competitive this season well I guess keep expecting nothing and you’ll never be disappointed (except I know you will be)

Hell yea I was skeptical in 2021. I’ve thought Matt Rhule was a fraud since the day they hired him. Sam Darnold was Jets reject and those never pan out well. That was easy to see. But like a broken record I will keep saying it, we were sold on a high priced “all star” coaching staff and a #1 overall pick at QB, so damn right expectations should be higher. Starting 0-2 in the division while the rest of the division is 2-0 after all the moves they made is a bad look no matter what excuse you want to make. This is professional football.

I was skeptical of that 2021 start as much as anyone. The easy schedule was a cautionary tale. Sad thing is that was the best start this team has had since 2015. The whole point of this thread is that the division teams have started hot and if the Panthers lose two division games to start the season with a rookie QB and first year coaching staff, it will be tough to compete for the division this season. I guess most of the fanbase is saddled up for a 6th straight losing season though.

Honestly I didn’t want them to trade up at all because the 2024 draft is stacked with QBs and I would have been fine if they signed Darnold or some vet to a 1 year deal and continued to build the roster. After the trade I guess I preferred Stroud of all of them but none of them really excited me. Young was the safest choice with the highest floor.

It’s not panic talk. First game of the year was a bit rough and the rest of the division is undefeated. Expecting some results from all the big name coaches they have on the staff isn’t crazy. This is professional football. Big turnarounds happen every single season. Look at the Giants last season. You’ve gotten used to the Panthers futility for too long if you’ve stopped expecting any improvement.

I didn’t really want Young. He looked overmatched and overwhelmed against a mediocre Texas defense last season and I didn’t think he was going to be a great pro QB. Alabama as a whole is trending down. But that’s who we have for better or worse and I hope he succeeds. It’s probably going to take awhile to get the right pieces since he’s the kind of QB that needs playmakers around him to elevate the offense. For a first overall pick I’m not thrilled about that but, again it’s what we have and we can just hope for the best.

I am not sure on that last part. Rumor mill also said they loved Richardson. I think the staff and Fitterer made the QB pick. The head coaching and GM hires have Tepper’s fingerprints everywhere though.

5 straight losing seasons will do that to a fanbase. Never having back to back winning seasons will do that to a fanbase.

Again, I am not panicking. I’m just observing what is going on around the NFL and with the Panthers and stating my conclusions. The reality of the situation is a loss to the Saints digs a hole this young team probably can’t dig itself out of this year. Call it a rebuilding year or whatever excuse you want but that’s the reality. The team spent an exorbitant amount of effort to sell the illusion of “legitimacy” with the “all star” coaching staff after 3 seasons of having known fraud as the head coach. I get it, they have to drum up interest in the team. They didn’t try to reinvent the wheel this time and hired a proven NFL coaching staff. What a concept! But after what Steve Wilks was able to do with Matt Rhule’s roster compared to the price of the current coaching staff I’m expecting more than another “rebuilding” season. It’s time for results. Plenty of teams have success in the first season under a new staff. We’re just used to how bad the Panthers are and it’s a foreign concept to the fanbase it seems.

Final say was with Tepper. We all know that.

The team spent the entire off-season selling the fanbase on the “all star” coaching staff and how pro-ready and cerebral Bryce Young is, meanwhile CJ Stroud, Anthony Richardson, and even Sam Howell all look better than the guy they traded up big assets to get. Bryce has played one game, I get it. Lots of time for him to prove himself so I’m not panicking. But at first glance we have a wildly undersized QB and a wildly overpaid coaching staff that needs to deliver results or else all that smoke the team sold the fans on will lead to more and more empty seats and visiting fans at the stadium for yet another season under David Tepper.

Right now I’ve got Frankie Luvu as his best FA signing and I’ll agree production wise vs his pay, that’s a win. Contact wise the DJ Moore contract extension was very reasonable but also one of the reasons they were able to trade him in the Bryce Young so that’s a wash at best. Draft wise are we saying his best pick is Icky? I can’t say it’s a long list of good decisions.

The New York Giants having a private jet in Waco ready to take Rhule to the interview is why that whole thing happened to me. Tepper likes to “win” the deal and he thinks he beat the Giants by not letting him leave for the interview. In the end Tepper was the one who looked like a fool and all the other owners hate him for throwing off the coaching pay scale by overpaying a wildly unqualified college coach who didn’t even beat a ranked team.

Didn’t say she interviewed Rhule and that whole situation about her not completing the DE&I requirement was weird. And let’s be real, Tepper went to Rhule’s house and agreed to cut the checks for the $60m guaranteed contract and you think it wasn’t Tepper’s call to hire him? Damn y’all

3rd and 4th for Corral while Sam Howell looks legit is the nail in the coffin. Could have just stayed where they were, drafted Howell and called it a day. It’s like he can’t help himself on draft day and has no patience to let the draft come to him. Bad trait in a GM.

Tepper and his wife (who didn’t complete some kind of diversity training before interviewing the candidates from what I remember) interviewed the head coaching candidates. Tepper personally went to Matt Rhule’s house to interview him. Tepper was heavily involved with the GM search as well. He’s as hands on as an owner can get to a fault. Anyone saying otherwise is straight up wrong.

True we don’t know what decisions were truly Rhule or Fitterer, but I know for damn sure it wasn’t Rhule’s idea to inexplicably pick up Sam Darnold’s $19m 5th year option before he played a down for the team. And as I said earlier in the thread, at least Hurney could identify a star player. He sucked in many other ways but I cannot deny his ability to draft absolute studs in the first round.

I just can’t even believe you of all the posters here would post something so wrong

For real it’s like this fanbase will make any excuse to defend what, the highest paid assistant coaches in the NFL? A GM that has repeatedly made shortsighted and downright stupid decisions? This team is still a clown show with the appearance of legitimacy.

Wilks + a good QB would have meant more. It was Ron Rivera level competency which was a huge improvement over the Matt Rhule clown show running college schemes

Good for Ron smacking two former nemesis who had his number in one game (Payton and Wilson)

That might be the winner

You play the teams on your schedule, isn’t that what everyone always says? We make excuses for when a coach wins but it doesn’t matter when we lose?