electro's horse

wouldn't say he's bailing, he's just burned out he's said multiple times he isn't going to be one of those coaches who runs himself into the ground and dies at 65. and he's got an easy 15/mil a year studio job waiting for him. Good for him. Get out. Plus.....that wife...

Reminder that Ross did this exact same thing with Tony Sporano the first time Harbaugh came out, and it was so far along that Sporano had packed up all his stuff. He had to be given an extension to come back.

so this is either being misreported or misinterpreted by the uncle (or both, most likely) this doesn't really mean anything.

if Harbaugh had just come to Carolina in the first place we'd be in year 12 of the Pax Pantera and the super bowl banners would be hanging from the rafters like the salmon of Capistrano

Not gonna follow the thread but I read your post and am responding to key points because this forum is dire right now and effort needs to be acknowledged Darnold acquisition - I have a theory based on everything that overpaying for him, signing him, and hiding him in preseason was all some kind of weird attempt to boost his ego and try to right the ship from NYJ. Rhule and Tepper made a huge deal about hiring team psychologists to help players through hard times (a great move, imo) and that all just adds up. It was also the college coach in Rhule; remember the hype videos where they threw him a party and filmed it? I really don't think that was Tepper; it just doesn't add up Burns - Yeah, hard to defend it at this point. Burns vanished in the biggest game of the year against a left tackle who has struggled all season. Only argument against the trade is that Burns helps Fitterer keep his job now, and trading him for picks does not. If the Panthers were gonna make that trade, he'd need assurances he'd be around to use the picks and we don't know if he was given them. Fields - Fields is a very boom or bust QB who's taking advantage of teams playing 2 high zone and leaving the flats empty. He's an incredible athlete and once he's at top speed he's not getting touched. He's got a great deep ball but struggles with reads. It's unclear if his passing struggles/inconsistencies are due to that, or Chicago being what it is. I think it's too early to tell with Fields. And maybe they'd be in a position to attract a top flight coach, but what if fields was JUST good enough to keep rhule around...or he used the "gotta keep things consistent for a young qb" argument to buy another year? And I think it's really unfair to Horn that he keeps getting compared to Fields, especially since he had a fluke foot injury and then a fluke friendly fire broken wrist. If Horn shuts down Evans yesterday and the Panthers are poised to get into the playoffs, we're all singing a different tune. Thomas - no fuging idea. nothing about it makes sense. He's banging Tepper's wife and she ordered her husband to keep him around....and reward him.

Honestly Wilks being a member of the Rivera staff is hurting him on this board. fans are projecting grievances from that era on to him.

DE, MLB Panthers are down their top two corners. No team has the kind of depth to overcome that.

Discourse around those first half punts will be insufferable

oh it wasn't the saints that murdered us it was the goddamn bucs fox would punt the ball down 5 with 10 minutes left and Jeff Garcia would lead a 9 minute, 40 yard, 17 play drive that was nothing but screens and PA roll outs.

We run more screens than anyone and are slightly below average at it. Most successful is San Fran. Seattle hardly ever runs them and sucks when they do. Ravens should probably run more.

Buccal fat removal and one plastic surgeon on YouTube thinks he did.

Panthers entered the year with high expectations. They stumbled out of the gate, and when the dust settled they had one win, tons of losses, and were complete afterthoughts in regards to the playoffs. To make matters worse, they had lost their best offensive player. However, things began to stabilize and the team started to play better. They began leaning on an afterthought running back. Their line solidified, helped in part by a first rounder playing his first season at left tackle. The defense began playing very well. They were led by a young DE, and first round draft pick corner, and a veteran linebacker who was playing out of his mind. By the end of the season, the Panthers were poised to make the playoffs, and were generally considered a team that no one wanted to play. All they had to do was beat two teams: the Bucs and the Saints. of course that was 2004, but the similarities are....interesting. Both teams failed to live up to expectations but for far different reasons. In 2004 the Panthers were coming off a close Super Bowl loss (less said about it the better). This year was the fabled third year of "the process" and the NFC south was prime for the taking. In 2004, the Panthers season was derailed by injuries. In 2004, the Panthers lost Davis, Smith and Foster within the first five weeks of the season. On defense, they lost Kris Jenkins (the teams best player in 2003), and Dan Morgan was in and out with several injuries. In 2022, the Panthers have been derailed by...Matt Rhule. The panthers were in even worse shape record wise in 2004: they were 1-7 compared to 1-5. The one early win in 2002 was in Kansas City, which was most memorable for a TD pass Delhomme threw backwards while literally being spun around. In 2004, Steve Smith broke his leg the first game of the season against Green Bay. Thankfully Moose was in Contract Year Mode so the significance was readily apparent at the time, but Smith had just signed a new contract, was considered the future of the team, and I always like to think back on how we would have done if he'd been healthy. In 2022, the Panthers also lost their best offensive player. Instead of injury they traded him instead. A big part of the ship getting righted in 2004 was the offensive line. Gross switched to LT from RT due to some injuries and shuffling around, and by midway through the season things had really solidified. Today, the line has been solidified with another young high draft pick LT. Since losing CMC, the panthers offense has played much better. Foreman is a better fit for what they're doing right now and the talent they have at the QB position. It's weird, but the team just isn't good enough right now to maximize him. Back in 2004, it was Nick Goings, who was averaging close to 100 yards a game as the Panthers lead back in the 2nd half of the season. He wasn't fancy; he just leaned his head forward and took what the line gave him. In 2022, it's Foreman and a couple other nobodies. If the circumstances were different, I think the Foreman acquisition would compare favorably to Stephen Davis...just with less broken jaws after Michael Westbrook haymakers The two defenses have a lot of similarities. Obviously we have Burns, Horn, and Luvu now, but back in 2004 it was Peppers, Gamble, and Fields. Burns is good, but I don't think anyone is going to confuse him for Peppers. Peppers was probably the best player on the team in 2004, and in my opinion it was his best season as a Panther. He was just unstoppable at times. Reminder, he did this all without Jenkins. Horn isn't a rookie per se, but he didn't play much his first year. Gamble was a rookie in 2004 and played lights out. Most people don't remember that his 2005 campaign was actually somewhat of a disappointment compared to his 2004, and in 2005 he would be supplanted as the "number 1" corner by Ken Lucas. I think I'd take Horn over Gamble any day, but I think he's also the Real Deal, and have always thought Gamble was overrated. Luvu is a heat seeking missile and one of the most fun players on defense to watch, but he's no Mark Fields. Fields finally got over his treatments for NHL about halfway through 2004. Recall that Fox and Del Rio had actually designed the defense around Fields. We all know the story; at half-time of the niners game in 2004, Fields called everyone together and told them to get their poo together. Panthers came back at halftime and went on a tear. Fields was a monster for the rest of the season. Luvu has a flare for the big play, but he's not the constant presence Fields was back then. And hey, look how we finish the season this year! Back in 2004, both the Bucs and the Saints were flagging. The Bucs Super Bowl window was firmly shut and they were desperate for an infusion of young talent. They ended the season losing 5/6 games and the Panthers routed them. The current Bucs are probably a season away from something like that. They're a banged up team led by a washed up tom Brady who's barely effective. They're winning close games against bad teams due to Brady's "intangibles," but this is a team clearly on the way down and staring at a likely full rebuild and new coaching staff regardless of whether or not they make the playoffs. The saints are currently staring at a big rebuild too, without draft picks to boot. Back in 2004, they were kinda in perpetual 8-8 hell. Heading into week 17 against Carolina, they'd won three in a row to get to 7-8. The panthers were "win and they're in" and most people assumed Carolina would blow them out. But the Saints could ALSO make the playoffs if a bunch of other stuff happened. The panthers defense came out and destroyed the saints on their first drive; I remember this because I was at the game and Delhomme came out onto the field to celebrate with the defense when they forced a punt on the Saints first possession. Unfortunately, the Saints defense just murdered the Panthers that day. Jake took 6 sacks and they couldn't get anything going. It was the kind of game where, in the stands, everyone realized very early that New Orleans had come to play and the Panthers had not. Of course there was another game late in 2004 towards the end of the season that ended in an overtime loss and we are absolutely not going to talk about it ever again. Lots of difference between the two seasons, obviously. But I don't think these teams are really heading in the same direction. In retrospect, 2004 was kinda the last best chance at a Super Bowl for that first wave of the Fox panthers. Yeah they beat Chicago in Chicago in 2005 (top 5 panthers game ever) but that team was very inconsistent. The offense was very weird (the 2nd leading receiver was Deshaun foster) and a lot of the older pieces, especially on the offensive line, started showing their wear and tear. Looking back 2004 was the best chance for a SB in the Fox era, and in my opinion would have been a better team than 2003 if not for the injuries. I think this Panthers season is actually closer to 2002. That season, they had a new coach, they had a lot of early growing pains, but by the end of the year they were playing very good football, and everyone on the Super Bowl team said the strong finish in 2002 propelled them into the next year. All they needed were a couple of draft picks, hit on a couple of free agent choices, and bada bing bada boom Super Bowl. Oh yeah, that kid returning punts is actually a hall of fame player, so uh, time to step it up Shi Smith if we want this comparison to continue.

Baker looked good against a Raiders team that can lose to anyone and a Broncos team that has completely quit and might be in open revolt. He looked like...Baker...against the Packers. Obviously I'm happy for the guy and I don't hold any ill will towards him. Things were a poo show here in Carolina for his sting, and McAdoo is on record saying he didn't want Baker coming out of college and didn't think much of him. But he's had 2 games against dead teams, and he's with probably the best offensive mind in the league.

hell, same

If it’s a close game in the fourth then all of the flags will fly.

Brady is washed and the window is almost completely shut on Tampa but there's no way in hell they're losing to the Trace McSorley led Cardinals

oh and ftr I work ortho trauma on the side so I literally look at, set, reduce, and splint broken bones all day and I am working on xmas day and if you argue with me about this I fuging swear to god

I generally only worry about "injury prone" if they're soft tissue, non contact, or neurological. he broke a bone in his foot on probably the worst field in the NFL that is actually large palettes of grass that are just kinda stuck together. It's a crime that this field is allowed to exist but the McNair family just HAS to be able to host the annual Texas cattle suck and fug or whatever it is. This wrist looks like it was from a team mate slamming in to him from a weird angle while he was making a tackle. Bones break, it's what they do. Wrist is a weird area where there's a long of vasculature and nerves and you risk SERIOUS life long injury if you don't listen to the doctors. It sucks but he went the entire year on his foot without issue and it's not like he's Julio Jones with a hamstring that locks up every 2nd quarter.

By all accounts from the beat writers, baker looked better in practices.

well in his defense he's shown very good hands this year

absolutely not

hm?

he literally just deflected that pass he can't control the refs and there's Luvu, doing Luvu things

that's a bad call

honestly pretty amazing drive.